The Top Fuel title fight isn't quite over, and Larry Dixon is doing everything within his power to drive his Al-Anabi Racing dragster to a third career championship title with defending world champ Tony Schumacher nipping at his heels.

The 85-point lead that Dixon held entering the event is nearly too much for Schumacher to overcome, but the two made a fantastic side-by-side run in the first session of qualifying for the 46th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals in Pomona with Dixon going low of the round for the provisional No. 1, at 3.813, and U.S. Army driver Schumacher clocking a 3.840 which tied Technicoat campaigner Doug Kalitta's e.t. but beat him out for the No. 2 spot by speed.

There are still two days of qualifying remaining and three sessions, but if it stands, the pole position would be the ninth of the season for Dixon and the 49th of his career.

The Top Fuel title fight isn't quite over, and Larry Dixon is doing everything within his power to drive his Al-Anabi Racing dragster to a third career championship title with defending world champ Tony Schumacher nipping at his heels.

The 85-point lead that Dixon held entering the event is nearly too much for Schumacher to overcome, but the two made a fantastic side-by-side run in the first session of qualifying for the 46th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals in Pomona with Dixon going low of the round for the provisional No. 1, at 3.813, and U.S. Army driver Schumacher clocking a 3.840 which tied Technicoat campaigner Doug Kalitta's e.t. but beat him out for the No. 2 spot by speed.

There are still two days of qualifying remaining and three sessions, but if it stands, the pole position would be the ninth of the season for Dixon and the 49th of his career.

"Really, all this did was get us qualified," said Dixon. "We'll be in the show, but you don't know what happens with oil down penalties and things like that, anything can happen, but we'll be in the race. I think Alan [Johnson, team manager] and Jason [McCulloch, crew chief] did an awesome job. There were some cars that had trouble getting down and others that ran well, but everybody did their thing and it was just nice to make a clean run."

After lengthy oil downs at the Las Vegas event two weeks ago delayed racing for many hours, NHRA instituted a temporary fix to finish the season that equates to a disqualification and a monetary fine for any nitro team that oils the track enough to necessitate the use of equipment for clean-up. Two drivers incurred oil down penalties and their runs were thrown out: Tim Cullinan and Terry McMillen.

While Dixon, Schumacher, and Kalitta nabbed bonus points for their first, second, and third qualifying positions, Cory McClenathan, who will be released from Don Schumacher Racing at the conclusion of the season, is in the provisional No. 4 position.

Kalitta's quick 3.840 was likely very welcome after missing the field in Las Vegas for the first time this year.

The times of the quickest 12 cars will hold over until tomorrow, but everyone else's will be wiped out and they will have a go at making the field during the single qualifying session on Friday. Matco Tools racer Antron Brown, GEICO Powersports driver Morgan Lucas, and Lucas Oil driver Shawn Langdon are among those starting from scratch.

Dixon recalls the battle he had with Schumacher last year when it came down to the wire with just a two point difference between them.

"I'm glad I'm in the fight, that's it," said Dixon. "Tony Schumacher was the champ for a reason, it's a good car and a good team, but I like my car and my team, too. We'll just put the gloves on and go fight Sunday.

"I’m not by myself, either. I have a great team of guys with me and all the confidence in the world in what they've done in the past. It's addictive as far as raising your game. The entire crew is awesome, so I'm calm, I have a great team."

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