They say there is no better racing than that between teammates.

Andrew Hines and Eddie Krawiec showed exactly why that is Saturday afternoon.

The Harley-Davidson riders traded the lead spot atop the Pro Stock Motorcycle field on Saturday, with Hines having the final say with his second No. 1 in the last three races at the sixth annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park.

Hines edged his Vance & Hines teammate with a 6.781-second pass at 196.19 mph, while Krawiec - who briefly took over the top spot earlier in the session - held on for the second position with a 6.783 at 195.59 mph.

“We were looking to get (the bikes) on opposite sides of the ladder. We didn’t want to have a matchup in an early round like we did in Reading. We figured Eddie, with a clean run, could get second or third and then he went all the way around me for first,” said Hines, who earned his 40th career green hat on Saturday. “But I was able to get it back. Our guys have these bikes dialed in like they haven’t been all season. I’ve been putting up my best 60-foots of the year this weekend, so that just equates to good numbers all the way down the race track.

“We have the bikes underneath us right now that are the best we have had all season long. I like getting these green hats. It is a little puff in my chest when I can stand next to Eddie because he has been whooping my butt for so many years, but my guys do such a great job keeping me calm and making sure that I’ve got a flawless motorcycle.”

Hines held the top spot in all four qualifying sessions, while Krawiec earned his way to second the hard way. He was fifth after Q1, sixth after Q2, climbed to fourth after Q3 before settling in second in the final qualifying session.

Matt Smith qualified third with a 6.792 at 197.22 mph, while Scotty Pollacheck (6.809) and Jerry Savoie (6.817) round out the top five.

Thanks to that late push, the Harley-Davidson-backed drivers will avoid meeting in an early round, but still face the possibility of meeting for the third time in the last three races, with Krawiec earning the win in each of those matchups.

Hines will face Andie Rawlings in round one on Sunday.

“We’ve been struggling with the tuneup here. We’ve been off on speed and that is frustrating for me since I do most of the tuning duties on fuel and timing,” Hines said. “The last run we were definitely closer. We got the eighth-mile speed we were looking for, but we both took the long way down the track in the last half of the run.

“Tomorrow we are looking for consistency. Today I knew what I did to his bike and I knew what I did to mine, so I knew we went in the right direction when I saw what he did. We were neck-and-neck today and hopefully we can translate that into tomorrow and meet up late in the rounds.”