The reigning world champion NHRA nitro Funny Car driver Robert Hight will start from the top spot Sunday.

Hight clocked a 3.894-second elapsed time at 317.24 mph Saturday to claim the No. 1 qualifying position at the SpringNationals at Royal Purple Raceway near Houston.

“It has been tricky,” said Hight about his first No. 1 qualifying position this season. “We came right off the trailer with that 92 on Friday. Jimmy (Prock, Hight’s crew chief) changed some things with the car over the last week. It has to do with the header angle rule change that NHRA mandated this year, so we changed the balance and it has more traction. Every run I just knew if it goes it is going to be low ET. We just had to get it down there. The right lane is better, and I definitely think it is going to be lane choice (Sunday).”

The rule changes to laid-back headers was implemented by the sanctioning body effective Jan. 1, 2018.

The changes are as follows:

Headers – Minimum angle 40 degrees (measured from the ground) (currently 32 degrees), maximum width of headers: 83 inches (currently 79 inches).

While Hight was celebrating qualifying No. 1, his boss and legendary world champion John Force suffered a DNQ.

“I’m kind of bummed the boss didn’t get in, that’s quite a streak he had going,” Hight said. “But, there’s nobody better at rallying a team and coming back than John Force. He loves this stuff and he will do whatever it takes to get his team back on top. There’s nothing to really worry about. Two of our Chevys are No. 1 and No. 2 right now in qualifying here and we just have to duplicate one of the setups for John’s car and he will be back next week in Charlotte (N.C.).”

Fellow top qualifiers Leah Prtchett (Top Fuel) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) talked about the track having more grip Saturday, but Hight didn’t see things that way from his vantage point.

“We were just too aggressive the first run (Saturday) and (Saturday night) it actually stuck,” Hight said. “We had better early numbers (Friday night) and smoked the tires. I honestly the best run that we let get away was Q2. The track was in the 70s or low 80s and that’s just perfect.”

Although Hight’s JFR crew figured out qualifying, he acknowledged Sunday is going to present a new set of challenges.

“This is going to be a new ball game tomorrow because it is fresh asphalt and the sun is going to be out more and it is going to be hotter,” Hight said. “These cars are going to spin. We spun on that run (in Q4) and it is going to be fun. I can’t wait.”