Leah Pritchett had a tough act to follow Friday night at Sonoma Raceway, and she nearly authored some history of her own.

Pritchett powered to a time of 3.669 seconds at 304.80 to earn the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot in her Papa John's Pizza/Mopar Top Fuel dragster.

That impressive time was overshadowed by the national record speed of 339.87 mph executed by Funny Car driver Robert Hight.  But Pritchett seemed content with her performance.

“It feels incredible,” she said. “I’m just overly impressed with my team. The thing about these Q2 sessions is that you have to hang it all out on the line from a crew chief standpoint to a driver standpoint because things are going to get funky out there. And they did. The car got with it sooner than it ever had before and we didn't even make it to the finish line."

Around 100 feet from the finish, the engine on Pritchett’s dragster sputtered after losing the blower belt.

“We really could have popped out a (3.63) if the belt didn't give out," Pritchett said.

It has already been a breakthrough year for Pritchett, crew chief Todd Okuhara and her Don Schumacher Racing team.

In February, she established the Top Fuel national elapsed time record with a run of 3.658-seconds at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Phoenix during the first day of qualifying for the Arizona Nationals. Pritchett has also recorded three wins and four poles. She has advanced to five finals, including last week at Denver.

In her post qualifying press conference Friday, Pritchett admitted that her team was hoping to make a jaw-dropping, headline-grabbing pass.

“I knew we were going after it,” she said. “We talked about it all week and all day, and prepared for it. I can't thank Papa John's enough and Don Schumacher enough for supplying me with the greatest people and the greatest organization to work for."

Brittany Force is No. 2 in qualifying after a run of 3.689 at 330.63 while Doug Kalitta (3.694, 331.28), Antron Brown (3.705, 329.42) and Tony Schumacher (3.709, 328.30) rounded out the top five in the 15-car field.