There was no shortage of drama in the Funny Car category during opening day at the Auto Club NHRA Finals.

Robert Hight entered the NHRA season finale holding a narrow two-round advantage over championship rivals Ron Capps and Matt Hagan. He ended the day having lost that extra round advantage, while Hagan was able to leapfrog the defending series champion into second, just 59 points behind Hight.

Meanwhile, while all of that was going on further down the order, veteran Cruz Pedregon stunned the field with a 3.840-second pass at 322.58 mph during the first round of qualifying, good enough to give him the provisional pole after two of four qualifying sessions at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

If his time holds, it will be his first No. 1 qualifier of the season and the 62nd of his career.

While it was certainly a joyous moment for Pedregon and his crew after a horrid season, the exciting news had to wait as Pedregon had removed his radio from the car.

“I’ve been surprised before at the finish line, but nothing like this. I took the radio out of my car because, whatever I need to know, they’ll tell me afterwards,” Pedregon said. “So I didn’t know what we ran the first run. I thought it ran another 88 because that is what we ran when we tested in Vegas on Monday. I thought if it ran close to that 88 I’ll be happy. When they said 84 and started pounding on the hood I was excited.

“But I’ve got to be honest, both 84s were a surprise to us. If anybody on my team tells you that’s what we were trying to run, that’s just not the case. We were trying to run an 88 again and, with these cars, they’ll surprise you now and then. And our Snap-On car did today for sure.”

Pedregon actually had two noteworthy laps, backing up his chart-topping 3.840 with a 3.849 in session two as his Snap-On Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat was second quickest of the session.

“To say I was happy, excited and relieved all in one would be an understatement,” Pedregon said. “It was such a great run, and honestly the car had a cylinder out about three-quarters of the way down the track on that one. Had we been able to put the back half of this run with the first one, it would’ve been a little bit better.”

Meanwhile, behind Pedregon the top three championship contenders had a mixed bag of results. All three failed to make clean runs during the first qualifying session, robbing them of crucial bonus points. In Q2, Hagan had low elapsed time of the round, earning six bonus points and slotting him in behind Pedregon in second with a 3.844-second pass at 323.58 mph.

Bob Tasca qualified third with a 3.856 at 322.65 mph, while John Force (3.864) and Hight (3.886) rounded out the top five. Capps, who slipped to third in the championship standings, is on the bubble with a Friday-best 4.897.

After the session, Pedregon talked about how important Friday’s runs were to this team after struggling for much of 2022. With the season almost over, the team decided to change things up over the latter half of the year and the results are starting to show.

“We’ve not made it past the second round this year, so for us to show promise here, that was really the strategy,” Pedregon said. “We changed the car, the combination, the setup that we have been running. We decided around Indy, when we just weren’t getting the job done, let’s make changes. Let’s put the six-disc in it. We brought on Lee Beard who has raced with me for many years.

“To say that today was motivation for the team is an understatement. It gives everybody a pep in their step. These guys have worked hard. A lot of people are asking me, “What one thing did you change?’ I’d love for it to be a magic one, but really it’s just methodical. It’s just workmen and good guys. That is what it takes.”

Pedregon added that the combination of former crew chief Beard coming on as a consultant working alongside current crew chief John Collins has been a bonus for the team as well.

“I have to give credit to J.C. and the team for welcoming Lee onboard. And this is the result of it,” Pedregon said. “It has been a team effort all the way around and it sets us up well for tomorrow.”

With his car in the best possible position after one complete day of racing, what is next for Pedregon as he prepares for another day of qualifying and, eventually, race day?

“I’m going to act the fool tonight, celebrate a little bit, but then tomorrow it is back to business,” Pedregon said. “When you’ve done this as long as I’ve done it, you have to learn to enjoy these days because they’re not all the time.”