Greg Anderson is no stranger to NHRA’s Pro Stock spotlight.

After all, he is the winningest Pro Stock driver in NHRA history with 105 Wallys in his trophy case.

As he goes for No. 106, he will start from the No. 1 qualifying position at the Denso Sonoma (Calif.) Nationals Sunday.

Anderson made sure of that with his track-record elapsed time of 6.491 seconds at 211.20 mph in Q3 Saturday in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro at Sonoma Raceway.

The previous record ET was 6.499 seconds by Chris McGaha in July, 2015.

 “We need low, fast conditions, and we have to have Mother Nature do it for us. We can't dump a little extra nitro in the car, we can't speed up the blower, we can't do anything like that. We depend 100% on Mother Nature,” Anderson said. “So, when she shines on us, like (Saturday), yes, you lick your chops, you go out there and you throw it down. I didn't have a great day (Friday), but (Saturday) was absolutely a turn of fortune and we made two very nice runs today. Ran low E.T. for both runs and maximized the conditions, and here we sit atop of the chart.”

This is Anderson’s 128th career No. 1 qualifying position, second in Pro Stock history behind Warren Johnson’s 138 No. 1 spots. This is Anderson’s fourth No. 1 qualifier this season as he also was No. 1 in Charlotte, N.C., Bristol, Tenn., and Norwalk, Ohio.

“I’m looking forward to (Sunday). I don't think we're going to vary a whole lot weather-wise,” Anderson said. “So, this was a great tune-up for (Sunday) I think. And, for me, this is just a great, great place to race. I love racing out here. I love everything about it. I love the scenery, the people, just the feel out here, and my whole family loves it. I bring the wife out every year. She plays around in the wineries. Everybody's happy. So, it's a feel-good weekend and absolutely after (Saturday), the main reason we came here, we have a lot of reason to feel good about it.”

Anderson, who arrived in Sonoma second in the points standings, has wins this season in Phoenix and Charlotte.  He will face No. 16 qualifier Derrick Reese in the first round.

Anderson acknowledged qualifying No. 1 doesn’t guarantee much in the highly competitive Pro Stock class, but he wasn’t complaining about being on top of the ladder.

“There's absolutely not,” said Anderson about an advantage being the top qualifier. “But it still makes you feel good. It's what you come for. You all try to do it, and nobody goes out there trying to qualify anything other than No. 1. So anytime you do it's a great feather in the cap. Does it really mean much when it comes down to it? No, the class is so tight. Every race is pretty much decided on the starting line. It leaves the starting line first, so that's the way it is. But still in Pro Stock, there's a lot of races decided by thousands of a second.

“So, if that No. 1 spot means you up the competition by thousands of a second, that usually translates into a round win sometimes. So, I'll take it. I'll absolutely take any advantage I can get, even though it's small. I'll take all I can get and just hope I could do a great job driving.”

Anderson is aiming to win for the seventh time in his career in Sonoma to go along with the victories he captured in 2004-2005, 2007, 2011, 2016, and 2019.

“We've got a good book on it and it's a really high-quality race surface,” Anderson said about Sonoma Raceway. “That's what we love about it. You don't have to detune the race cars to go down this racetrack. You go out there and you show off the horsepower you've been able to build. Obviously (I) feel great about the job my engine shop does and my car guys do.

“And when you come to a racetrack like this where you can basically run what you brung, yes, love coming. You just love coming here. You love racing here. It has always been one of my favorite racetracks for those reasons and I hope we keep coming back here.”

Being No. 1 qualifier certainly isn’t going to change Anderson’s approach on raceday.

“You can't (do things differently), or you'll go home early. Anybody can beat anybody in this class,” Anderson said. “I lost first round last week (to Larry Morgan). Doesn't seem to matter where you qualify. You have to get it done every single round. You have to treat every single round like it's a (final) round. And that's the way I'll roll out there first round, knowing that I can get my butt whipped and sent home early if I don't do my job. So, you go up there and do the very, very best you can every single time and treat it like it's a final round, no matter what round.”

Anderson’s also aware that his team KB Titan Racing’s rival – Elite Motorsports – has won the last five races in a row. The list consists of Troy Coughlin Jr. (Epping); Jeg Coughlin (Bristol, and last weekend at Seattle); and Aaron Stanfield (Richmond, Norwalk). The last win for KB Titan Racing was delivered by Dallas Glenn in Chicago.

“It's absolutely there,” Anderson said about Elite’s winning streak. “We certainly noticed that. And the good and bad news of it is I've had a great hot rod for the last four or five races, and I could have swept all five of those races if I would've got the job done between driver and race car. We didn't. We made a mistake on Sunday, and it seems like every single mistake you make on Sunday, it's magnified and you go home. There's no room for mistakes.

“Even though I felt like I had the strongest horse to win the last five races, I didn't win a single one of them and Elite did. So, they did a better job of racing. My hat's off to them, but it's time to turn it around. It's time to turn a corner and use that great racehorse you have underneath you.

“So, looking forward to (Sunday). Feel-good racetrack, feel-good race car this weekend. The family's happy, the crew's happy. All signs are out there, and it's just a matter of going out and executing. Hopefully I wake up on the right side of the bed and we come out and we do a great job and I'm back here talking to you guys (Sunday) night.”