When Tyler Hilton said he wasn't going o change anything but the paint scheme on his new Hemi front-engine Top Fuel Dragster once campaigned by Tony Bartone and Steve Boggs, he meant it, and it's working in his favor. 

Hilton rocked the house in the final qualifying session, which was run under the lights on Saturday night due to numerous delays. Hilton lost the number one qualifying spot after the second session on Saturday afternoon to Pete Kaiser. But the driver of the Great Expectations Top Fuel Dragster was able to wrestle the number-one spot right back in the final session. Hilton recorded another career-best elapsed time in a thrilling and dramatic last qualifying session of the 2022 season, running a sizzling 5.633 at 241 miles per hour.

"Run was good, "Hilton said. "I ad brain fade backing up and up there on the line, but whatever it was qualifying. The thing left good picked up a little all the way. It was spinning pretty good from half-track on. The track was losing heat. I went down to about a thousand or eleven hundred feet. The motor is happy. Just drive it a little further when we need to."

Hilton, who came into the season finale in Bakersfield in the fight of his life for the 2022 NHRA Heritage Series Top Fuel Championship with Bret Williamson, now sits just one win light away from the title on Sunday. In a shocking turn of events, the championship points leader, Bret Williamson, failed to make the eight-car show, forcing him to sit on the sidelines to see how his fate plays out on Sunday. 

Two other Top Fuel drivers also have an outside chance of stealing the championship away on the season's final day. If Hilton is defeated in round one on Sunday morning, then third or fourth in the points, Adam Sorokin or Bryan Hall needs to go on to win the entire event to win the championship.  

Hall controls his destiny as he matches up with Hilton in round one. But a devastating explosion for Hall in the final qualifying session on Saturday night has the H&H Nitro Nomad doubtful of a return to action. Adam Sorokin will square off against Tyler Hester. 

The Fuel Altereds are also in action this weekend at Bakersfield, running a Chicago-Style format with the two runs scheduled for Saturday afternoon and the plan of the top four cars coming back and duking it out on Sunday. Well, due to the numerous delays on Saturday, which forced the action well into the evening, the Fuel Altered guys were only able to make one run on Saturday, and Tom Padilla, behind the wheel of The Red Dragon, was the one to make the most of it.  

A wild and wacky first session for the Alterds saw Padilla set the pace with a 6.146 at 200 miles per hour, a full seven hundredths better elapsed time-wise than the next best guy. That next best guy happened to be your 2022 Night Fire Nationals winner in Fuel Altered, James Generalao Jr. Generalao stopped the clocks at 6.210 at 225 miles per hour to put him in the number two spot. While Kyle Hough, who is making his final start behind the wheel of the legendary Nanook for a move to Nostalgia Top Fuel next season, rounded out the quick three with 6.259 at 172 miles per hour. 

The Nitro Funny Cars kicked off their first round of eliminations on Saturday night under the lights in Bakersfield, and no one shined more than the four-time and reigning champ, Bobby Cottrell. 

Cottrell set low elapsed time for the round with a 5.623 at 260 miles per hour against Jeff Utterback, who replaced Geoff Monise as an alternate to advance into round number two on Sunday.

In Round number two on Sunday, Cottrell will have a date with the man known for his excellent driving capabilities and starting line prowess, James Day. Day struggled in qualifying, not making it into the show til the last shot on Saturday afternoon. But the driver of the Matthews Motorsports Nostalgia Funny Car was able to step up big time in round number. Day made his best run of the weekend at 5.706 at 247 miles per hour to topple Michael Peck Sr and keep his season alive. 

Billy The Kid Morris, at the wheel of the Problem Child Nostalgia Funny Car, recorded the second-best time of the round at 5.664 seconds at 257 miles per hour to take out Brad Thompson and advance into round two. But the upset of the round had to be when your defending California Hot Rod Reunion champion in Nostalgia Funny Car, Drew Austin, fell in the opening round to Nathan Sitko, filling in for the ill Ryan Hodgson.

Austin got a significant advantage on the starting line, but Sitko had the power and reeled him in to take the round-one win. Sitko ran an impressive 5.717 at 251 miles per hour to Austin's 5.831 at 242 miles per hour. Sitko will race Billy Morris in round two. 

Cory Lee, who barely got around Dan Horan in the opening round, will square off against Tony Jurado, who took down Bill Windham in round two. 

And finally, Tim Boychuck got around Chris Davis. He will take on Matt Bynum in the quarter-finals, as Bynum took care of business against the reining Legends of Nitro, rookie of the year in Nostalgia Funny Car, Kamala Pocock.