This has been quite the world championship title defense for Top Fuel veteran Doug Kalitta so far this season.

Kalitta arrived at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio – the 10th race of the season – first in the points standings on the strength of three wins and three No. 1 qualifiers.

Well, Kalitta made a strong case to claim his fourth No. 1 qualifier thanks to his blistering 3.692-second elapsed time at 332.92 mph in Q2 Friday night to grab the provisional No. 1 spot.

“That 3.69 was a solid run,” Kalitta said. “Obviously, they have this place in very good condition, and once again the hospitality that the Baders have for the fans -- they have this firework stuff going on -- and it ended up being a really good night for us and the fans.

“This is a two-hour drive (from the Kalitta headquarters in Ypsilanti, Mich.) and we actually have a lot of folks from the airline and the shop and friends and neighbors here,” Kalitta said. “It was good all the way around. J.R. (Todd) had a really good run (in Funny Car), and I think he ended up second. The Kalitta Motorsports effort was good  and hopefully our main man John Force is proud of us. Best wishes for him. We miss having him out there to throw down with Austin (Prock), and I’m sure he’s proud of those guys as well.”

The legendary Force was injured during a fiery crash in a first-round win in Richmond, Va., last Sunday and remains hospitalized there.

Antron Brown stood second after Friday's action at 3.722, followed by Tripp Tatum (3.739), Doug Foley (3.744), and Tony Stewart (3.748). Nineteen drivers made runs Friday trying to make the 16-car field.

If Kalitta keeps the No. 1 spot through Saturday’s two scheduled qualifying sessions, it will be the 57th time he achieved that feat in his career. Kalitta, who won last weekend in Richmond from the No. 2 qualifying position, will compete in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge race Saturday.

“To have a race on Saturday is one of the best ideas I have seen in a while with Mission Foods and what they do,” Kalitta said. “It just brings excitement to the day, and we are hoping to do a little better. We have yet to win one of those this year, and we will be gunning to make that happen.”

Kalitta was far from dominating in Q1 as he lost traction early and clicked off the run with a 6.514-second time.

“I was pedaling it. It's probably not going to be a good idea. So, I had pretty much decided not to do that,” Kalitta said. “(Saturday), there's a chance of rain, I think, in the morning. I think we'll be fine as far as getting something going for (Saturday). Wasn't too concerned about that.

"It's always (a challenge), especially for the guys; Alan (Johnson) and the guys tuning that thing. They went up there to throw down and it stuck. So, it was really an incredible run for us. We've got the Applied Innovations folks here, we've got the DHL guys, we've got our Toyota guys. We've got all those guys standing there watching us. We were hoping to throw down, and I'm glad we were able to pull it off.

“We are just trying to keep our heads down and go rounds. Yeah, it's a hell of an opportunity for  all of us. Alan has been in this situation quite a few times. You get on a roll, and you hope you can keep it going. And certainly, we've seen him do that in the past with tuning these things. Yeah, I'm just very thankful.”