Jason Line wasted no time in expressing his intentions.

During the first session of Pro Stock qualifying at the AAA Texas NHRA Fallnationals, the two-time Pro Stock champion established himself as the driver to beat as he put his Summit-sponsored Camaro at the top of the provisional qualifying list with a 6.568 elapsed time at 210.34 miles per hour.

"We didn't expect to run any faster than that one," Line, who was second quickest in the Q-2 session, admitted. "We probably could have. But we just weren't willing to be aggressive enough to make that happen. We felt reasonably safe with the first run - it was a good one. All in all, it was a good day for us."

Line ran a 6.581, 209.98 pass to close out the day, which was only bettered by the 6.579, 210.11 performance of his teammate Greg Anderson. For his part, Line scored five bonus qualifying points for Friday's sessions.

"I think [on Saturday] we will prepare for Sunday eliminations," Line said. "I think the air is going to get a little worse tomorrow. These two runs today were very important for us."

Unlike the first 14 races where he qualified no worse than third, Line said the three-car KB Racing team's qualifying performances have not been what they hoped for. Thus far he has two No. 2 starts and a No. 6 in the first-half of the playoffs.

"We've done a really bad job of qualifying during the Countdown," Line admitted. "Hopefully this will hold up. This will be good for us because then we can have a better chance at being on opposite sides of the ladder."

Ironically, all three of Line's Countdown losses have come to his teammates Anderson and Bo Butner.

"If I can avoid those two, we will be doing fine," Line said. "They are definitely my worst enemies. They really aren't my enemies, but I do need to avoid them at all costs."

Line entered this weekend’s race with a 45 point lead over Anderson, and 83 over third place Vincent Nobile.