For two consecutive races, Doug Kalitta has had to watch the entire Kalitta Motorsports organization celebrate as team drivers Alexis DeJoria and J.R. Todd have earned victories on the Funny Car side.

This weekend in Charlotte, Kalitta is hoping it is his turn.

Entering this weekend’s NHRA Carolina Nationals - the first race of the Countdown to the Championship - without a win, Kalitta knows there is no better time than the present to earn that first victory of 2017.

Kalitta began that uphill climb in the best position possible - at the top - on Friday, earning the provisional No. 1 spot with a 3.723-second elapsed time at 329.50 mph as he seeks his second top qualifier award of the season this weekend at zMAX Dragway.

“It was definitely a good day. For the first day of the weekend, it couldn’t have gone much better,” Kalitta said. “This facility and track speaks for itself and they did a great job with both lanes. We got down both sides and we are just really happy that we were able to pull it out so far.

“Obviously, the first race (of the Countdown), it is pretty exciting to be a part of. We haven’t got that Wally yet this year, but hopefully we were saving it for these last six races.”

Kalitta earned the top spot by one-one thousandth of a second over current No. 1 seed Steve Torrence who crossed the stripe with a 3.724 at 327.51 mph. Leah Pritchett was third with a 3.725 at 327.98, while Antron Brown (3.728) and Brittany Force (3.749) round out the top five.

“The car left good and it stayed nice and straight. It did move around a little bit at the top end and I was hoping it didn’t scrub off too much time moving around, but it wasn’t bad and it held on,” Kalitta said. “It felt like a good run and, fortunately for us, it ended up being one.”

While Friday’s run was certainly a confidence booster for the Mac Tools team, Kalitta will admit that seeing his team in victory lane in two consecutive races has raised the morale across all of the Kalitta Motorsports stable.

“That has brought a lot of momentum to the team. I am really proud of Alexis and J.R. winning the last two Funny Car races. I guess the dragster side has to step it up a little bit,” Kalitta said. “All of the cars are running really strong. I just couldn’t be prouder of Jim Oberhofer, what he has been doing with all of the crew chiefs, working together and building what we have going on.”

Now it is Kalitta’s turn, and the bonus points he earned Friday night certainly help.

“These points are going to be pretty valuable. We will see what we can do with them throughout the Countdown,” Kalitta said. “This season makes you appreciate how hard everyone works. I am working really hard at it myself, trying to cut the best lights I can, and the guys have stepped their game up as well. I am hoping that I am where I need to be and we can have some fun here this weekend and see what we can do.”