With the momentum from his Brainerd victory two weeks ago still fresh, Blake Alexander once again found himself in an enviable position at the head of the field Friday at the most prestigious event in drag racing.

After briefly topping the qualifying sheets and going on to win the race in Brainerd, Alexander entered this weekend’s Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway riding high. On Friday, he harnessed that energy and secured his second consecutive provisional top qualifier award as he continues to pursue his first pole position in the sport.

“I think every team out here needed to do well today, and the ones who excelled like we did will be in a much better position Monday morning, which is ultimately what you come here for,” Alexander said. “If you want to win Indy, you need to put yourself in a good position. This isn’t an easy drag race to win. We are in a good spot right now, but that really doesn’t mean much because there are a lot of good race cars out here and people can eclipse you. I don’t honestly think that it is going to happen with the way the weather looks the rest of the weekend, but that is what I said last weekend as well.”

Alexander drove his Pronto Auto Service Center Ford Mustang to the top spot from the middle of the qualifying order Friday, driving to a 3.890-second pass at 327.82 mph.

Cruz Pedregon, who temporarily held the top position, dropped to second with a 3.901 at 325.53 mph. Jack Beckman, in his second race filling in for the injured John Force, was third with a 3.903 at 322.81 mph. Austin Prock (3.926) and J.R. Todd (3.969) rounded out the top five qualifiers Friday.

“We feel good" about the run, Alexander said. “We thought that it was going to be slower out there at first, and then we got up there and we saw Cruz run 3.90 and we opened it up a little bit. It is hard to make horsepower when it is really hot and really thick, but I promise you we can make a lot of power here.”

Once again outshining powerhouse teams such as John Force Racing and Tony Stewart Racing, Alexander remains steadfast in embracing the underdog mentality that helps fuel his team’s success. With career victories in both Top Fuel and Funny Car — achieved using equipment less advanced than that of better-funded competitors — Alexander consistently praises his team's efforts. Their relentless pursuit of excellence and incremental progress continues to earn them respect and legitimacy in a sport where success is measured in fractions of a second.

“People don’t realize how hard it is to take a successful step,” Alexander said. “You are asking a small team from Ohio to go out there and outrun [crew chiefs such as] Jimmy Prock and Aaron Brooks, and these guys that are making their parts down the road here. They are supported by Big Four manufacturers. They all make a lot more money than all of us do, and they all have double the staff and double the resources. For us to do well against them is extremely difficult, but we are here and there are still a lot of challenges ahead.”

Alexander went on to talk about the recent triumphs of this team and what it means to string together successes in consecutive weekends.

“When I won in Top Fuel and when I’ve done well in Funny Car, you’ve got to make good runs and not have the car be on the edge of disaster,” Alexander said. “We’ve made a lot of good runs at our race team before, but we have made repeatable good runs this year and that makes us dangerous.”

Thanks to that strong start, Alexander shared how important Friday will be in the larger scheme of a four-day race weekend that includes an extra round of qualifying and rare Monday eliminations.

“It helps to get off to a good start, otherwise it is a long and hard weekend,” Alexander said. “Otherwise, you show up tomorrow and it is hot and you are trying to make some performative runs that may not necessarily be out there. I believe that simplifies things that we did out there tonight.”