One might think it's always a piece of cake watching Bobby Cottrell go to work every time he fires up the Bucky Austin AA/Fuel Coupe. 

One might be wrong; at least, that's how it played out during his first three days at the 65th Bakersfield March Meet.

The five-time NHRA Heritage Series champion, who has won the March Meet four times in a row, started the weekend with a fire while testing on Thursday. On Friday, the team couldn't get in their usual dominant groove, and Saturday's first session didn't offer much improvement as he hovered in the fourth and fifth positions. 

Then in Saturday's final qualifying session, Cottrell unleashed the beast with a 5.661 at 256.50 to snatch away the top spot from Tim Boychuck, who ended up second with a 5.692.

"It hasn't been easy; started off kind of rough for us," Cottrell ended. "We broke some stuff, and it resulted in a fire. Hit the blower pretty hard, burned up the motor. We had to walk through this thing pretty much. The guys are working hard and putting their heads together. Bucky has done his homework in the offseason. It's starting to come around."

Starting to come around was an understatement as Cottrell laid down the low elapsed time of the event with A 5.685 to easily take the measure of Chris Davis. 

The biggest upset of the Funny Cars came when No. 14 qualifier Derrick Moreira took out Cory Lee. Brad Thompson took out Kamaka Pocock in another notable upset. Headed into the second round will be Boychuck (Jim Maroney), Kris Krabill (Ryan Hodgson), Tony Jurado (Billy Morris), Ryan Horan (Mike Peck Sr.), and Drew Austin (Matt Bynum).

Tyler Hilton understood what Cottrell went through, as he, too, struggled in the early qualifying sessions, going as far as rubbing the retaining wall in Saturday's early session. It all came together in the late afternoon session as he thundered to the top spot with a 5.757 elapsed time at 250.92 miles per hour. 

"It was a ride; it just got out from under me," Hilton said of the Q2 session. "The chassis was fine. It was definitely a moment. The third run was a good one. The team came together and fixed the car. We made some changes and did some Hail Mary stuff."

Hilton has his hands full in the first round with seasoned veteran Jim Murphy. 

Mark Whynaught took the top spot in the AA/Fuel Altered division running 6.053, 240.12. 

Racing resumes at 9 AM PST with sportsman divisions before the professional divisions start at 11.