With just two races left in NHRA’s 2022 Countdown to the Championship, nitro Funny Car driver Robert Hight knows every point counts.

Hight entered the Nevada Nationals this weekend as the points leader but with just a slim 10-point advantage over Ron Capps.

The John Force Racing driver did his part Friday with the quickest elapsed time in both qualifying sessions and his 3.857-second ET at 331.77 mph in Q1 gave him the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“It was huge,” Hight said of his day. “We need every point we can get. The way I look at it we are even. Ten points is nothing. It is basically a new Countdown for us. We let Capps back in at Dallas. That was really painful to have a weekend off after that. But now that I’m looking at it Jimmy Prock (Hight’s crew chief) made some changes coming here. I guarantee you in that week and a half he spent that time focusing and thinking about this race car. He was irritated. We came out and I was surprised to run that good the first run.

“It was kind of funny because we ran 3.857 twice (Friday) in two different ways. He wanted to pick it up in the middle of the second run and we were hoping to run a little quicker, an 84 or something, but it was a little slower early and went five mph faster at the eighth (mile). There are two different ways of running 85. You a lot of cars pushing too hard (Friday night), and we didn’t. The guys really have a handle on this Chevrolet, and they did an amazing job. (Getting) six points (Friday) was big for us and we need to get six (Saturday).”

The identical runs on Friday is something Hight would like a refill on the rest of the weekend.

“I will take six more of those and we will be looking good,” Hight said.

With two races left, Hight has done some simple math to get his fourth world championship to go with the ones he captured in 2009, 2017 and 2019.

“We have had good success here (In Las Vegas) and Pomona, (Calif.), (the last race of the season),” Hight said. “Points and half are a game changer. There was one scenario where I could have won four of the six races in the Countdown and Capps wins Pomona and he would be the champ. There are so many different scenarios. I like where we are at because we control our own destiny. We are leading. I don’t care if it is by one, 10 whatever it is. We are leading. We go win the next two races and we are the champs. That’s our mindset.”

If Hight’s ET holds it would be his sixth No. 1 qualifier of the season and 77th of his decorated career. Hight also has eight wins this year and 61 in his career.

Capps, the reigning NHRA nitro Funny Car world champion, walked away as the winner of the Texas NHRA FallNationals at the Texas Motorplex near Dallas Sunday.

“We did not race smart in the semifinals in Dallas,” Hight said. “We have been fighting some clutch issues and little inconsistencies and he (Prock) just came here (to Las Vegas) and made a change. With four qualifying runs (in Vegas) we needed to make a change and it worked out well.”

Hight is right in the mix to win world title No. 4, and he wishes he already had that crown.

“I would rather it be sewed up by now,” Hight said. “But we are here, and we have to perform. There’s no choice. You have to dig deep and focus, and not just me, it is my whole team. The crew chiefs, the crew members, we all have to be perfect. We have to be flawless for two races here. I would say A-plus the first day.”