Hot Rod Fuller is comfortable racing out of the No. 1 spot at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park. The seven-time NHRA Top Fuel winner raced his David Powers-owned Ohio CAT dragster to the No. 1 qualifying position Saturday afternoon at the Norwalk, Ohio race with an elapsed time of 4.629-seconds.

After losing the opening day of qualifying at the Norwalk track due to water seepage on the track on Friday, professional nitro teams were limited to just two qualifying attempts to set the 16-car field. Fuller’s Ohio CAT/Matco Tools car spun the tires at mid-track on Saturday’s first pass as the Las Vegas racer slowed to a run of 5.794 seconds at 156.68 mph. On his final qualifying effort, the University of Arkansas graduate used a tune-up from crew chief Rob Flynn to race the Ohio CAT car to the quickest pass of the day at 4.629 seconds at 311.13 mph. Fuller earned the pole at the Norwalk race last June with a run of 4.533 at 323.50. He holds the track elapsed time record at 4.533-seconds. It is Fuller’s seventh career Top Fuel pole.

“This is a great track,” Fuller said. “This is really where we made our charge last year. We were No. 1 here, went to the final round and set the track record at Norwalk. We like racing here. There’s a lot left in this CAT car. It dropped some cylinders down track on that run. We’re happy to put on a good show for the fans. It’s great to get the pole and have Ohio CAT on the car this weekend. Things have gone well so far.”

Fuller will face off against No. 16 qualifier Doug Kalitta in the opening round of Top Fuel eliminations at 11 a.m. (ET) on Sunday at the Norwalk track. Fuller is 2-0 versus Kalitta this season and has an 8-7 career mark against the 30-time NHRA Top Fuel winner. Fuller’s teammate, Antron Brown, qualified sixth Saturday at Norwalk.