Perhaps no track on the NHRA tour possess more history and more grandeur than Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

And perhaps no driver has had more recent success at the historical track than Doug Kalitta. With two finals and a win in a pair of visits to the southern California track in 2016, Kalitta was eager to return to the facility to kickoff the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

And it definitely proved worth the wait.

After wrapping up last season with a win at Auto Club Raceway, Kalitta picked right up where he left off with the quickest run of his career and a spot atop the charts to lead the Top Fuel field Friday at the NHRA Circle K Winternationals.

“We definitely love running out here. Pomona, with its history, is probably one of the coolest tracks on the circuit,” Kalitta said. “We finished strong last year and were really relieved with a nice strong run in our first qualifying session today. It was a good way to start a weekend.”

Kalitta piloted the Mac Tools dragster to a 3.697-second pass at 325.69 mph to top the only round of Top Fuel qualifying on Friday. Rain showers interrupted the second professional session of the afternoon and forced a quick end to the first day of racing of 2017.

“We did some testing earlier this year and the last run we made in Phoenix was a 3.69, so I was hoping for that to be honest,” Kalitta said. “The track is plenty good and I think we are going to see cool conditions this weekend, so we should be in for some good racing.”

Brittany Force drove the Monster Energy machine to second on Friday with a 3.706 at 322.42, followed by Tony Schumacher in third with a 3.729 at 325.06 mph. Troy Coughlin Jr. (3.730) and defending series champion Antron Brown (3.732) round out the top five.

Coughlin’s debut in Top Fuel is one of the many offseason changes coming to light in Pomona, a number of which took place right at Kalitta Motorsports.

“T.J. brings a lot of excitement to our team. Having somebody new that is hungry and has raced all of these different classes and now has the opportunity to drive a Top Fuel car, is exciting for him and for us,” Kalitta said. “We have also done some switching around with crew chiefs and team members and we have a lot of new parts in the trailer. There are a lot of exciting things happening right now with all four teams.

“And it was really exciting to get a good run today and a great way to start the season.”

And with two more sessions on the schedule for Saturday, Kalitta has one thing on his mind to kickoff the new season.

“This is a place I love running. With conditions like this, you really think you are going to get an incredible run and it’s probably going to happen here tomorrow and the next day,” Kalitta said. “We got the last win here, so we might as well try to get another one.”