When Doug Kalitta crossed the finish line first in the opening round of qualifying Friday at Brainerd International Raceway, he was pleased, but not satisfied.

This rocket still had more in the tank.

As fate would have it, however, Kalitta and his Mac Tools team would not find out just how much more it had left as an oildown, a quickly setting sun and a facility sans stadium lighting added up to a canceled second session and a largely unexpected No. 1 for Kalitta at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals.

“I didn’t think that was going to hold up at all,” Kalitta said. “You never can tell really, but this track is usually really good. I was hopeful that we could get down it and it was unfortunate that we didn’t get that second run. We ran out of daylight. But I’m really proud of my guys. We’ll just see how it holds up for tomorrow.”

Kalitta ran a 3.757-second lap at 330.31 mph in his Mac Tools dragster during his one and only look at the track on Friday, edging out Steve Torrence and the Capco Contractors team by one-thousandth of a second.

Brittany Force slotted in third with a 3.762 at 331.45 mph, while Leah Pruett (3.777) and Antron Brown (3.780) rounded out the top five.

A few hours later, as the sun began to sink lower in the skyline following a lengthy oildown during Q2, Kalitta and the rest of the Top Fuel class were left waiting until word ultimately came from officials that there was not enough light to run the second session. That call left Kalitta as the surprise provisional top qualifier as he looks to secure his second pole position of the season.

“We were obviously planning on going up there and running whatever Alan (Johnson) had up his sleeve,” Kalitta said. “We will just have to see how it works out tomorrow, but we are happy today for sure.”

What lies ahead tomorrow are warmer projected temperatures and a more challenging track. If it proves too much of a challenge for the teams, that could lead to big things for Kalitta as he seeks his first No. 1 since the second race of the season.

“The track will be as good as they can get it for what we’re going to do tomorrow,” Kalitta said. “We’re planning on stepping it up and running better, but it’s good to have that 75 to fall back on. We’ll just see how it goes. They do an awesome job with this track and I am pretty confident we’ll have two good lanes for tomorrow.”

Kalitta is looking to rebound this weekend after an up-and-down past few races. After reaching the finals in back-to-back races in Denver and Seattle, Kalitta has since suffered first-round defeats the past two races as he continues to hunt for that elusive 50th win of his career.

“We’re definitely hungry for a win,” Kalitta said. “We had a couple of final rounds in the Western Swing, so that was definitely a boost. The last couple of races, however, we’ve struggled a little bit. This would be a great place to get back going rounds and hopefully get to another final.

“Obviously this place would be a great place to do it. I love coming to Brainerd. Connie (Kalitta) would come up here and win. It was actually one of his better tracks and overall our teams have done well here. It’s always great coming back here and seeing what we can do.”