A pair of championship runner-ups were the top runners during opening day qualifying for the NHRA Winternationals. 

Shawn Cowie drove his blown alcohol dragster to the top of the Top Alcohol Dragster list scoring a 5.227 elapsed time at 275.28 miles per hour in edging out Duane Shields, who was next on leaderboard with a 5.240, 274.44. Defending champion Joey Severance is fifth.

Doug Gordon was the top runner in the Funny Car division with a 5.450 elapsed time at 272.17 miles per hour. Brian Hough was second with a 5.458, 269.03. Defending champion Shane Westerfield was fourth. 

After one session of Comp Eliminator, Scott Hedlund was tops in his A/Super Modified Cobalt with a 7.730, -0.720 under his index. 

The Super and Stock divisions completed their qualifying and will head into Friday's eliminations with Kayla Mozeris (GT/LA, 10.041, -1.009) and B.J. Graham (T/SA, 13.284, -1.116) as the respective No. 1 seeds.

The Top Sportsman and Top Dragster divisions have one session remaining, and Joe Roubicek (6.618, 208.65) and Steve Will (6.035, 235.60) hold the top spots.