The more things change, the more they stay the same.

And if Sunday was any indication of the year ahead, the racers of NHRA’s Pro Stock class could once again be in for a long season.

Despite sizeable gains made by many of the teams during the offseason, the dynamic duo of Jason Line and Greg Anderson - who dominated much of the 2016 season - looked like they haven’t missed a beat, qualifying one-two and reaching the finals together for the 35th time in their careers as the defending series champion Line took the win at the 57th annual Circle K Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

With the win, Line ties Warren Johnson with five career Winternationals victories and extended his own series-best streak of 14 consecutive years with at least one win. It was also Line’s sixth Pomona final in the last seven races at the southern California track.

“It is a good way to start the season,” Line said. “I am not really into stats, but that is a cool stat. My dad is into stats. He keeps on me to make sure I win Pomona, make sure I keep the streak going. It’s a cool thing. Anytime you can come to Pomona and win it’s a cool thing. I am very excited, very happy and a little bit relieved. Just a great day for the KB Racing Summit cars.”

Line looked unbeatable much of the weekend, taking the number one spot before cutting up the field with near-flawless accuracy. In the final, Line and Anderson met for the 11th time in the last 25 races, with the defending champion leading from start to finish to collect his 46th career victory.

In the championship tilt, Line got the jump on his teammate with a .005 reaction time and never trailed en route to a 6.568-second pass at 211.10 mph. Anderson had a 6.579 at 211.56 in the runner-up effort.

“It looks like we wasted a perfectly good light on him,” Line said with a laugh. “You know you have to be close to perfect or else you aren’t going to beat him. I know how much power he has because he has the same stuff I have. Whoever lets your foot out first, that’s your winner. It really puts a lot of pressure on the driver, but today I was able to do a good job and get it done. I was really hoping this was the year Greg passes Warren for wins, but not enough to let him win.”

Line added wins over Bo Butner, Tanner Gray and Val Smeland to reach his 93rd career final.

Both Gray and Butner gave Line fits, with Gray leading their matchup until just past half-track and both drivers running comparable times to the eventual winner.

While the KB Racing team once again ruled the day when it mattered most, there continued to be incremental gains made by many of the teams as the gap continues to shrink in the new era of Pro Stock racing.

“There is always a little bit of self doubt (coming into the season). You know what everybody else did in the offseason, and for us it was more about refinement than coming up with an actual recipe, and to be able to qualify one and two and finish one-two and have three cars in the semis is a big deal,” Line said. “There is no guarantee it is going to keep going. They want to win as bad as we do and they are going to be tough, no question.

“Pretty soon, it is going to be more like it was the last few years. But with the package the way that it is, you only have so much latitude to work. So whoever does the best job tuning is going to be your fastest car. It is going to be a challenge.”

Despite the continued performance gains by the other teams, it was still Line and Anderson left standing at the end, and Line will take that any day of the week - even if the challenge of facing his teammate isn’t always the easiest.

“He’s tough to beat. If there is one person I don’t want to race in the final round, it is him,” Line said. “He wants to win more than any person I have met in my entire life. Sometimes he gets hammered on a little bit for that, but there is nothing wrong with that. It’s a great thing. If I’m hiring a racecar driver, he’s my guy.

“We enjoy racing each other. If we both get to the final, KB and Summit win, but each one of us still wants to win. Our guys take pride in the car they work on winning the race and so do we.”