It is not often you hear a driver say that they were disappointed with a good run, let alone one that puts them atop the field.

Then again, it is not very often that a spot atop the ladder matches you with the single greatest drag racer of all time.

That was the case Saturday at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona as three poor qualifying efforts placed 16-time world champion John Force in the 16th and final spot on the Funny Car ladder. That also meant that whomever claimed the top spot would face Force in round one.

So when Ron Capps pulled to the line in his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge on Saturday, he secretly hoped that he might slot in just behind one of his opponents in second or third, but reluctantly found himself as the No. 1 qualifier thanks to an impressive run at the season opening Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com.

“Everybody in the back of their minds knew Force was No. 16 after his run. We went up there to run an 83 and it started cooling off too much. So we came back and made some changes, we had to slow it down,” Capps said. “You start to wonder, do you want to go No. 1? Or maybe two or three to stay away from Force, but this hat right here means a lot. To start off as a team owner and have all of the people here with us that helped throughout the offseason, it is huge.”

In his first race as an owner/driver, Capps drove his Dean Antonelli-tuned NAPA Dodge to three impressive runs at the season-opening Winternationals, saving his best for last in the third and final session. In an impressive side-by-side battle for the top spot with Robert Hight, Capps just edged his rival with a chart-topping 3.857-second run at 332.43 mph to earn his 30th top qualifier award.

Hight, who earned the provisional pole Friday night, slipped to second in his Auto Club Camaro with a 3.861 at 331.36 mph in that side-by-side matchup.

“Honestly, I was just hanging on. That thing was a rocket ship,” Capps said. “I could hear Hight over there (beside me) and the fact that I couldn’t see his nose, but I knew he was right there and knowing you are running against Jimmy Prock, you know you are running pretty darn good.

“It is fun to watch these crew chiefs do their thing and hopefully you do everything right and they can strut their stuff. They are the ones that want to prove their point and they did today.”

Matt Hagan, in his first race driving for former NASCAR champion Tony Stewart, qualified third with a 3.886 at 329.34 mph in a wild final round of qualifying. Cruz Pedregon (3.906) and Alexis DeJoria (3.945) rounded out the top five.

While Capps was pleased with the team’s qualifying effort in Q3 on Saturday, he was actually more proud of his pass one round earlier. With the sun beating down on the track, Capps drove to a 3.923 in the heat of the day, leading all drivers by a wide margin. And with Sunday calling for similar conditions during eliminations, Capps is excited about what potentially lies ahead.

“It is great to get the No. 1, but we went that 92 and, to me, that was a little more impressive than our shot tonight because we did that in the heat and we were half a tenth ahead of everybody else,” Capps said. “We know that will be the conditions tomorrow. To show what we did in the heat, and then to throw down like Guido did, provides so much confidence for me. It has been a great day and it ended with an exclamation point.”

Saturday’s effort was not only big for Capps personally, but it was a nice shot in the arm for the entire NAPA team during a big weekend of racing all across the country.

“This was big for the NAPA corporation. They are all down there with my teammate Chase Elliott in Daytona which is cool. They have been keeping tabs and watching what we are doing,” Capps said. “It is fun to be here in this half of the country and taking the No. 1.”

While Saturday was a banner day for his new team, it wasn’t lost on Capps that a matchup with his chief rival still looms in round one on Sunday. Capps will matchup with Force in a rare opening round tilt between racing legends.

“We have John Force tomorrow, so we can’t celebrate just yet,” Capps said. “You can never count that old man out. Every time you do, you get your ass handed to you.”