Mike Castellana powered to the qualifying lead Friday during the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the Lucas Oil NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway. This weekend’s Pro Mod racing, presented by Pro Line Racing and FuelTech, is the fourth of 12 events this season.

Castellana ran a 5.739-second pass at 250.92 mph in the lone qualifying session in his Al Anabi Racing ’17 Camaro. Qualifying sessions for the Pro Mod series was cut short due to persistent rain.

"It's great, we made a great pass, we're glad we're number one,” Castellana said. “We have some work to do, unfortunately. The parachute went under the car, wrapped around the wheel and broke a brake line. So I was down a chute and I had no brakes. We went into the sand pit, but we're working on it now and we'll be ready in the morning."

Khalid Al Balooshi qualified second with a 5.796 pass at 248.61, and Jonathon Gray qualified third run at 5.796 at 248.20.

Castellana is currently leading the Pro Mod points standings after coming off a victory at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals.

J&A Service Pro Mod Series qualifying continues Saturday at approximately 11 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. with the first round of eliminations is slated for 3:15 p.m.

Friday's results after the first one of three rounds of qualifying for the 37th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway. The fourth of 12 events in the NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series.  Qualifying will continue Saturday for Saturday's first round of eliminations:
 

Pro Modified -- 1. Mike Castellana, Chevy Camaro, 5.739, 250.92; 2. Khalid alBalooshi, Camaro, 5.796, 248.61; 3. Jonathan Gray, Camaro, 5.796, 248.20; 4. Steve Jackson, Camaro, 5.825, 244.74; 5. Steven Whiteley, Cadillac CTS-V, 5.832, 248.98; 6. Danny Rowe, Chevy Corvette, 5.837, 247.79; 7. Kevin Rivenbark, Corvette, 5.881, 242.54; 8. Doug Winters, Chevy Chevelle, 5.882, 244.60; 9. Von Smith, Camaro, 5.889, 246.30; 10. Chuck Little, Corvette, 5.894, 244.78; 11. Todd Tutterow, Camaro, 5.900, 247.07; 12. Sidnei Frigo, Corvette, 5.925, 250.27; 13. Jim Whiteley, Camaro, 5.965, 244.38; 14. Michael Biehle, Ford Mustang, 6.074, 241.89; 15. Bob Rahaim, Corvette, 6.403, 215.07; 16. Mike Knowles, Mustang, 6.406, 223.84.  Not Qualified: 17. Shane Molinari, 7.690, 126.23; 18. Eric Latino, 8.006, 119.78; 19. Mike Janis, 8.625, 106.66; 20. Harry Hruska, 9.349, 95.61; 21. Kevin Fiscus, 9.378, 96.30; 22. Larry Morgan, 9.741, 92.17; 23. Steve Matusek, 10.512, 82.68; 24. Shannon Jenkins, 14.267, 86.81; 25. Pete Farber, 15.257, 64.27; 26. Ruben Tetsoshvili, 16.749, no speed; 27. Troy Coughlin, 17.705, 35.03.