Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel pilot Larry Dixon's 3.813 from the first session of qualifying carried through on the second day of the 46th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals to preserve his perch atop the pole for the time being. Though his run Saturday was cut short when he lost traction, the stout pass of the day before was unsurpassed by his rivals, including U.S. Army driver Tony Schumacher, his closest competitor for the Full Throttle Series championship title.

"Whether it's a good run or a bad run, it's good information all the time," said Dixon, who is aiming for a ninth low qualifying position of the season and the 49th of his career. "That run there, it was just too fast. The clutch wasn't slipping enough early and it just pulled the tires loose. Pretty simple. You always try to spin a positive out of it, and I'm thrilled that it happened today and not Sunday. It's one of those things, you learn from it, and you make the adjustments, so we'll go tomorrow and try maybe a little bit softer set up in that area and get our Al-Anabi car down the racetrack."

Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel pilot Larry Dixon's 3.813 from the first session of qualifying carried through on the second day of the 46th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals to preserve his perch atop the pole for the time being. Though his run Saturday was cut short when he lost traction, the stout pass of the day before was unsurpassed by his rivals, including U.S. Army driver Tony Schumacher, his closest competitor for the Full Throttle Series championship title.

"Whether it's a good run or a bad run, it's good information all the time," said Dixon, who is aiming for a ninth low qualifying position of the season and the 49th of his career. "That run there, it was just too fast. The clutch wasn't slipping enough early and it just pulled the tires loose. Pretty simple. You always try to spin a positive out of it, and I'm thrilled that it happened today and not Sunday. It's one of those things, you learn from it, and you make the adjustments, so we'll go tomorrow and try maybe a little bit softer set up in that area and get our Al-Anabi car down the racetrack."

Schumacher's 3.855 was the second quickest of the session for a pair of bonus points, but Dixon was unperturbed.

"[It's about round wins], he can have two points, and I can have 20," he said. "We talked a little bit about it yesterday, but last year, I came in this race one or two points behind [Schumacher]. It doesn't matter; I have a lot of confidence in our team and in the car. We've done really well this year, and I'm still planning on that kind of a weekend where we can hold our own and not be defensive. We'll just go out there and race hard. It's a pretty good car; I'm not worried about two points. Not at all. Not yet.

"The thing about it is, I went into race day last year needing to win the race and then we would win the championship, and we got beat in the semis. That's all on us. We didn't wish any bad luck on anybody or anything, just, we'll race and we'll win it on our own merits, and we didn't do it last year. Probably a lot of that came from racing with Dick LaHaie for race wins and championships. You go in there and you race hard every time, let the chips fall, and know that you've done everything you can to get it done. Don't play defense, play offense. It's more fun."

Bonus points were also awarded to Las Vegas non-qualifier Doug Kalitta, who was quickest of the session with a 3.841, and Shawn Langdon, who entered the day without a time after having troubles in the first session but recovered with a 3.881 to nab a point and move into the No. 5 spot for now.

---

{source}
<div style="float:left; padding:5px;"><script type="text/javascript">
google_ad_client = "pub-8044869477733334";
/* 300x250, created 4/3/09 */
google_ad_slot = "2028912167";
google_ad_width = 300;
google_ad_height = 250;
</script>
<script src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</div><div style="padding:5px;">

<script type="text/javascript">
sr_adspace_id = 2000000613807;
sr_adspace_width = 300;
sr_adspace_height = 250;
sr_ad_new_window = true;
sr_adspace_type = "graphic";
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ad.afy11.net/srad.js?azId=2000000613807">
</script></div>
{/source}