Well, he did say it was tougher to qualify No. 1 than to win.

And that's fine with Dallas Glenn, who wasn't good enough to qualify on the pole but had more than enough to win his second consecutive national event by putting a holeshot on Gainesville winner Troy Coughlin Jr. and leading him, Cristian Cuadra and Deric Kramer through the lights en route to the sixth career victory of his relatively short career.

"I think even though I was definitely not the best today, I was just barely good enough to get it done, and that's kind of what matters in four-wide," said Glenn, who was good enough to hold the provisional No. 1 spot on Friday. "You don't have to win the first two; you just have to win the last one.

"Going into that final, Cristian, he's been driving very, very, very well, and I knew I was going to have to be good. I think TJ and I staged about the same time and then I almost didn't get my foot down. And then when I let go, it was like, 'Oh, I didn't think I got that very good."

"And I'm just running through the gears, and it goes a little bit left, and it sounded a little weird near the finish line. I just saw my win light come on and start flashing, and I was just super pumped up because I didn't feel like I did my job best that I could have."

Glenn, the 2021 NHRA Rookie of the Year, entered eliminations as the second quickest with a 6.610 elapsed time. In the first quad, he ran a 6.636, 206.51 to advance alongside Steve Graham and then a 6.654, 205.98 to advance alongside Kramer, who reached the strip first.

As Glenn puts it, his RAD-sponsored Camaro was on the mark even when he wasn't.

"This car's just absolutely the best car I've ever been in by far," Glenn said. "I mean this car, it definitely shows right here, and I just want to capitalize on it as best I can. I was really, really excited to get this win here."

Though the conversation of a championship would be great to have, Glenn understands that even though he's won 50 percent of this season's races and leads the points, he's still got a lot of racing to go.

"It's a little too early to think about winning the championship at this point," Glenn explained. "All I'm going to try to do is just keep trying to win races. That's the main goal. You just take things one round at a time, and if you just take things one round at a time, you can win races, then the points kind of settle themselves out."

Considering Glenn drives not only the race car but also the team's hauler, he will have plenty of time to think about his newfound position in the Pro Stock pecking order.

"It's going to probably bring a smile to my face every now and then, thinking that I'm on top right now," Glenn admitted. "That's something that's kind of new; I've never experienced. I'm always kind of just been hungry chasing somebody. Now I got to be fending off the wolves that are coming for me. So it's a little bit different of an experience, but I'm going to enjoy it definitely as long as I can."