With each passing race, Greg Anderson continues to move his name up the list of the best to ever play the Pro Stock game.

On Saturday, Anderson moved into a tie with the legendary Bob Glidden for third on the all-time top qualifier award list, earning his 102nd top spot and ninth of the season at the 31st annual Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway.

Anderson bettered his teammate Jason Line to extend his class-leading string of No. 1 starts with a 6.515-second pass at 211.16 mph in the Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro.

“(Tying Glidden) is pretty damn cool. I think everybody that races Pro Stock respects the hell out of that guy, have looked up to him, learned a ton from him and we wouldn’t be where we are at today, we wouldn’t have this great class, if it wasn’t for him,” Anderson said. “My hats off to what he has done and it is just a heck of an honor to tie that record. We try every day to set records, break records, and to win races and today just feels great.

“I absolutely wouldn’t be here today or have the career I have had if it wasn’t for the path he set. The way he raced and the things he did, we all learned from him. He was a great teacher, even though he wasn’t trying to educate other people. He did whatever it took to win. He set the framework and showed everyone how to get it done and (today) we are just trying to take it to new levels.”

Line qualified second in his Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro with a 6.517 at 211.03 mph. Deric Kramer (6.524) and Bo Butner (6.526) rounded out a 1-2-3-4 qualifying effort for the KB Racing team. Jeg Coughlin was the first non-KB driver in fifth with a 6.530.

Despite the strong qualifying effort for the team, Anderson was reflective of the struggles the team has had on race day in 2018, with Anderson just earning his first win - despite the nine No. 1 starts - last weekend in Denver.

“A few years back on any given Sunday you probably had four, five, maybe six cars that you could pick to win that day. And there was probably one or two of them that had the best odds and everyone else just fell off. It doesn’t fall off anymore,” Anderson said. “You’ve got at least 12 cars that show up every weekend that would have to be rated at 2-to-1 or 3-to-1 odds to win and it has never been like that.

“The depth is deeper than it has ever been. People that have a chance to win, know how to win, and have won, do win. Every Sunday we show up you cannot pick who the favorite is. I’ve had a great year this year in qualifying, but those number one qualifiers are by thousandths of a second and it really means almost nothing. It is not an advantage come race day. You are basically all the same and you get the number one qualifier, but that doesn’t necessarily make you the favorite on Sunday.

“There is just not a lot of room to work on the engine package anymore. It is what we have to race with and it means you have to find a way to do a better job driving. You have to find a better way to tune the car and make a good, quality run, or otherwise you get beat.”

Anderson will face Joey Grose in round one on Sunday.