Four up, four down.

Greg Anderson was untouchable during qualifying to open the first two days of racing at Route 66 Raceway in Chicago, recording low elapsed time of every round and setting himself up nicely for Sunday in earning his 98th career number one qualifier Saturday at the 21st annual JEGS Route 66 NHRA Nationals.

While Anderson has been strong throughout much of the 2018 NHRA Mello Yello season, earning four top qualifier awards while qualifying inside the top four at every race, it was the first time Anderson has been perfect in every run, giving him plenty of confidence entering eliminations.

“This is my fifth (number one qualifier), but I haven’t had a clean sweep. This was a clean sweep,” Anderson said. “Every run I was low ET of the session. That is a good feeling going into Sunday. We all know I’ve had a great qualifying car all year, but we haven’t been quite able to get the job done on Sunday. But if I can’t get the job done tomorrow, something is wrong.”

Anderson earned the top spot with a 6.546-second pass at 211.03 mph in the Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro, holding off Tanner Gray who had a 6.556 at 210.18 mph in the second position. Matt Hartford qualified third with a 6.559 at 209.95 mph, while Jason Line (6.560) and Vincent Nobile (6.564) round out the top five.

While Anderson has been strong in qualifying, he has yet to earn a win in 2018 and he hopes to turn that around on Sunday as he faces Dave River in round one.

“The car is there. The horse is under me. It’s up to me to ride it,” Anderson said. “I feel great. I know we are going to have great weather conditions again Sunday. This is a great place to race and right now all signs are positive and it is looking great for me. The only thing I wish I could change is I wish we could race tonight because, for some reason, Sunday has been a bit of a hiccup for me.

“My Summit Chevy is getting better every single race. This class is so tough, if you can gain thousandths per weekend, that is a mile in our class and I think we’ve done that. I have outrun everybody every run. We’ve obviously made a step forward and as long as I do my job Sunday on the starting line I’ll have a great chance of going the distance.”

Anderson also reflected on earning his 98th career top qualifier award as he sits just two shy of 100 for his career.

“Obviously that is a big number and quite a feather in the cap for the whole KB Racing team,” Anderson said. “It’s not me, it’s the team doing this. I just have to do my job on the line. There are so many great cars and drivers in the class right now that it’s not a shock when anybody wins or anybody loses anymore. At least 12 of the 16 cars should win the race Sunday, but only one can. You just hope it is your turn.”