Blake Alexander entered the NHRA Winternationals ranked 11th in the Funny Car standings, just two points behind No. 10 Terry Haddock with three races (Topeka, Brainerd, Indianapolis) before the fields are set for the Countdown to the Championship. FOX’s Amanda Busick asked him Friday night as he awaited qualifying results, “What's your pressure right now?” 

For a second he looked taken back by the question but quickly said, “None. None at all. We're just out here – every single time I pull up there, I do the same thing. It’s simple, very, very simple. We’re obviously trying to collect as many points as possible but we’ve been trying to do that all year.” 

That was spoken like a true Jim Head Racing driver. 

Alexander said, “It’s starting to show right now. I really appreciate all the hard work these guys [his crew] put in, and I'm trying to deliver.” 

He delivered Friday night in the Pronto Auto Parts/Head Racing Ford Mustang, grabbing three bonus points and the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot with a 3.961 elapsed time. 

“It is dark out there,” Alexander said, “and there's not a lot of groove. And I saw Cruz doing the veteran moves over there in Pomona, right-hand lane. Kind of looping it to the outside or it just sucks you in. Hey, it's fun to be out here. And when you hit the gas in one of these things at night, it’s just freakin’ gnarly.” 

Team owner Jim Head, unaware of what Alexander said at the top end of the track, said, “Track’s real good. There's no question about it. We were a little afraid of it way down there late.” 

But he said, “So I think you'll see a lot better times than that tonight.” 

His prediction was wrong, happily, for Alexander had hope of scoring his career-first No. 1 qualifying position. And he gained three qualifying bonus points, while Haddock took the tentative No. 16 starting spot overnight for this race. 

But Ron Capps and Robert Hight burst his bubble in the final qualifying session, as they leapfrogged him with runs of 3.941 seconds and 3.953 seconds, respectively. So Alexander will be the No. 3 qualifier, going in Round 1 against No. 14 Jim Campbell.