Fans hungry for a championship battle in the Funny Car category this weekend at the Auto Club NHRA Finals have so far not been disappointed.

Each of the top three drivers in the class have experienced extreme highs and lows through two days of competition. And if Friday was an appetizer and Saturday the main course, the dessert will come on Sunday.

At the head of the table entering Sunday is defending class champion Ron Capps, who went from outside the field to No. 1 on the ladder with a head-turning 3.837-second pass at 337.33 mph, a new track speed record at historic Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

The lead makes up the ground he lost on Friday as he now controls his destiny with a potential championship-deciding matchup in the semifinals on race day.

“We started the season as the No. 1 qualifier at the Winternationals, which is crazy as a new owner. I thought, ‘How much better can it get?’ And we go on to win five races and come in here and get the pole again at the end,” Capps said. “This is what I talk about when you get into a racecar like this and you wish you could make those runs at those big moments. But when you actually have the capability and the tools and obviously the sponsors with NAPA and Toyota, and then you have the people, you strap in and say to yourself, ‘Not only do I wish I can. Not only do I feel like we can, but I know we can throw down with the best.’”

Capps entered the final day of qualifying a shocking 16th on the charts, and was briefly bumped outside the field by Steven Densham during Q3. But in typical Capps fashion, with the backing of crew chiefs Dean “Guido” Antonelli and John Medlen, the two-time champion bounced back and placed himself firmly in the field during that same session.

During the final round of qualifying, as favorable conditions once again returned to the California track, Capps said he knew that his tuners were up to something big. Moments later he overtook the rest of the field in his NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Supra, earning his sixth pole position of the season and the 35th of his career.

“I got on the radio and I was screaming and yelling like I was on Space Mountain down the road at Disneyland for the first time as a kid,” Capps said. “I was fighting for my life to keep (the car) between the guardrail and the centerline. It was hunting and moving all over the track. A lot of times you think it is taking e.t. away, but I felt the clutch come in sooner than normal. We had issues yesterday, and it turned out it was an ignition issue, but today it just had that max cackle that Gary Scelzi always talked about. When your car is banging and popping and just sounding good at idle. It sounded like that all day today.

“We were worried the conditions might cool off too much being late in the day, but it held its own. Guido got in the box a couple of times during the oil down and it got to where I was just like, ‘Let us get down the track and make a good run.’ I knew that we would show up and Guido would get it right down the track. I just have that utmost confidence. That is what has made it work all season long and I am going to continue to trust in him.”

Cruz Pedregon, who paced the field on Friday, slipped to second with a weekend-best 3.840 at 322.58 mph, while championship rival Matt Hagan is third with a 3.844 at 323.58 mph. Points leader Robert Hight is fourth with a 3.849 at 334.48 mph and Bob Tasca is fifth with a 3.856 at 322.65 mph.

In all, 14 cars qualified in the three-second zone, second-best in class history.

Entering the weekend, Hight held a lead of more than 60 points over Capps and Hagan, good enough for a two-round advantage over both. While Hight’s advantage was challenged all weekend thanks to bonus points earned during qualifying, it was ultimately Capps’ home run shot Saturday evening that moved the needle back under two rounds for the defending champion.

Capps now has an opportunity to control his own destiny on Sunday, potentially facing Hight in the semifinals on race day.

“I have been through this moment so many times and it doesn’t matter. You still wake up with that knotted up stomach, but that is what it is all about,” Capps said. “What has made this work for my team forever is, when I show up, it is Guido and John Medlen’s team. I am walking into a pit area I don’t even own. I am approaching it as a driver to do my best. I pack my chutes and I do my stuff. I just try to please my crew and do the best I can between Friday morning and Sunday night.

“It is a different day tomorrow. It is a new track, new opponents, new moments. I am going to wake up in my motorhome trackside and know that I have a chance of possibly winning a world championship again in NHRA. As a kid I watched these big moments and now I am a part of some of them.”

Capps will face Jeff Arend in round one, while Hight will battle Chad Green and Hagan, who is still a part of the championship picture, will face Steven Densham.

While nerves will be high on Sunday, Capps says that favorable weather conditions will create, what he hopes, one of the best days of racing in years.

“It is supposed to be low 60s on a Sunday at Pomona,” Capps said. “All of these crew chiefs are going to need to wear a bib because they are going to be dripping with saliva when they walk up here. As a crew chief, that is Disneyland. As a driver, you seriously pull your belts a little bit tighter because you quite possibly could go on a run you have never done like I just did today.”