Greg Anderson is no stranger to world championship fights, and he’s not about to back down from his latest one.

Anderson, who has won five NHRA Pro Stock World Championships, is trying to add No. 6 to his resume in 2024.

Anderson, who drives the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro for KB Titan Racing, kept himself in the world championship hunt by qualifying No. 1 at the Ford Performance NHRA Nationals on Saturday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Anderson, who was also No. 1 after Friday’s two sessions, clocked a quicker ET in Q3 at 6.596-second time at 206.89 mph to secure the top spot.

Anderson, who faces Chris McGaha in Round One, is third in the points standings 84 points back of his teammate Dallas Glenn, who qualified in the fifth spot. If they win their first two rounds of eliminations, they would meet in the semifinals.

This was Anderson’s seventh No. 1 qualifier of the season and 131st in his career, which is second all-time in the class behind Warren Johnson’s 138.

“We should have probably opted to not go up for Q4 as it turned out, but that’s OK because we learned some things,” Anderson said. “We learned that we are not going to be perfect every time down this racetrack. We had three great runs before the last one and that’s all we are going to think about right now and all we are going to go off for (Sunday) and we have a lot of confidence. I have a lot of confidence that my race car is going to be great .

“It’s going to be a hell of a battle. It is just going to be awesome. The intensity is absolutely ratcheted up. No question about it, it is now or never. It is get done or go home, honestly. Your season is either going to be alive after (Sunday) or it is going to be over. It is really that simple, and I don’t want mine to be over. “

The NHRA season concludes with the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals, Nov. 14-17 in Pomona, Calif.

“The little (qualifying points) are great and who knows what it will come down to but I’m looking at the big points,” Anderson said. “That’s race day. Those round wins at 20 a pop – that’s big – so I need four of those to get back in the game and have a chance going into Pomona. That’s the goal. That’s the game plan. I’m going to give it everything I have got, and hopefully I will wake up on the right side of the bed (Sunday) and I feel like an 18-year-old – and I hope I drive like one.”

Although points leader Glenn is a key member of the KB Titan Racing team, Anderson is keeping a single focus on what he has to do.

“I’m trying to find a way to keep myself alive, so we have two chances at it when we get to Pomona, that’s what is most important to me right now:  finding a way, No. 1, for KB Titan to win the championship, and I would love go to Pomona with two horses that have a shot instead of just one,” Anderson said. “I will be sad if I drop the ball and I don’t it done, and we have to 100 percent count on Dallas and put all our faith in him.

“Hopefully for the team’s sake we will have two great cars going into Pomona that are alive for the championship. Right now, I’m not worried about racing head-to-head with Dallas just yet. I want to find a way to get on a roll and have two great KB Titan cars in the championship hunt.”

Anderson, who has won an NHRA-record 105 Pro Stock national events, also realizes nothing will come easy Sunday – or the rest of the season for that matter.

“Obviously it is a little tougher to win these days,” Anderson said. “There are 16 cars that qualified, and 16 cars can win Sunday. That’s Pro Stock in 2024. That’s what is great about and that’s why the class is fantastic. NHRA Championship Drag Racing is better than it has ever been competition-wise, and it is fantastic to be a part of it.”

Anderson has two wins this season at Phoenix and the Charlotte, N.C., spring race.

Should he win a sixth NHRA crown, it would add to the ones he won in 2003-05, 2010, and 2021.

Anderson’s 6.596-second pass for the No. 1 spot was followed by David Cuadra’s 6.605. Aaron Stanfield (6.609), Matt Hartford (6.614), and Glenn (6.615) rounded out the top five.