It wasn't hard to see Jason Rupert had a lot on his mind.

It was Friday morning, and his first run in an NHRA Big Show Funny Car was just hours away. One might have thought with the intensity and focus Rupert displayed; the run was just minutes away. 

Rupert has been accustomed to pressure in his career, first as a front-running NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car driver back in the day and then later as a multi-time nostalgia Funny Car champion. 

This pressure was a different story as Rupert did his best to adapt to the challenge. 

Sure, Rupert had brought in veteran journeyman Johnny West as his "make stuff happen" man, and behind the scenes, had championship-winning tuner Rahn Tobler helping out in an advisory role. 

Still, Rupert couldn't help himself. 

"I'm doing my best not to overthink the situation," Rupert said as he looked on at the team meeting being conducted by longtime friend and team member Brad Littlefield. 

Team meetings aren't Rupert's forte. 

"Brad likes to do it," Rupert admitted. "He's pretty good at it. Besides they say I'm too mean."

Rupert paused, and smiled, "I'm just kidding I'm really not."

"You can only do so much yourself so you got to trust people and delegate," Rupert said. "I got a good group of guys here. I'm pretty happy about that.

Rupert pondered the moment he officially would become a NHRA Drag Racing World Series driver. 

"I'm going to try not to make any mistakes," Rupert said. "I'm trying not to overthink it. If the car does anything that it shouldn't do I'll just lift off the throttle."

True to his word, when Rupert hit the throttle in Friday's lone session, the Ford Mustang Funny Car made a turn inside, and true to his word, he lifted. 

"It left the starting line decent, and I was a little late on the light, but I was concentrating a little bit more on making sure I drove it straight and all that kind of stuff," Rupert said. "That was the good shot though. Now we get to run in the heat.

"I would have like to make it down the track, but I mean, it happens. We didn't hit nothing and it felt good."