Greg Anderson is no stranger to winning NHRA Pro Stock world championships – he has five (2003-2005, 2010 and 2021).

However, Anderson is going to have to have a lot of pieces fall into place to get title No. 6 this weekend.

Anderson arrived at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif., in second place in the world standings trailing Erica Enders by 114 points.
 
With 150 points available at the season’s final race, Anderson still was in the mix for a world title and kept himself in it Friday by capturing the provisional pole spot with his 6.495-second elapsed time at 211.69 mph.
 
Through the two qualifying sessions Friday, Anderson collected six bonus points to Erica Enders' four to draw within 112 points of her lead. 
 
“The points deal is obviously not exactly playing in my favor right now, but it's like the old lines of 'Dumb and Dumber': ‘So you're saying there's a chance.’ Until they tell me, ‘You don't have a chance, buddy, you got to leave,’ I'm not leaving,” Anderson said. “Obviously I need to find a way to have a great run of qualifying and score bonus points. Basically, not lose bonus points to Erica, because that would put her another round ahead and make it where it's locked up. That's the No. 1 goal, qualifying ahead of her and not losing bonus points.

“Day One in the books, mission accomplished. We did great today. We did all we could do today, and I got all the confidence in the world this team will do all we can possibly do. The rest of it, it's up to the gods. You just never know what's going to happen, but these races are not raced on paper, so you just never know. It's not over until it's over. We're going to keep swinging until they tell us it's over. That's absolutely a great day so far. I love racing here. My car obviously loves racing here. My guys obviously love racing here, so it's good to be back.”

 
Anderson is right about having good vibes at Pomona. He’s won at the facility a Pro Stock-record 14 times. He also was thrilled with his 6.495-second lap in Q2.

“That was definitely the goal in the last session,  and then we knew we had to get everything we could, and we did. It was a very nice run. (We) did all we could do. And there's so many cars that are capable of it right now. Anyone can be number one. Anyone can be No. 8, No. 16. It's incredible," he said. "The class is just incredible right now if you're lucky to be part of it, but it's going to be a lot of fun the rest of the weekend. The weather conditions are going to stay similar to what we had today -- maybe just a little bit warmer -- but it's going to be great racing connections all weekend. You're going to have a hell of a day on Sunday. I can't wait. Wish we can fast-forward right now and start racing the first round.”

Anderson, who has two wins this season, was reeling a little bit after his final-round loss to Enders in Las Vegas.

“I certainly didn't come in here with a ton of confidence, but I came here with a chance, and you race all year long and, honestly, if anyone can promise you back in February or March that when you get to Pomona, you'll have a chance at the championship, that's all you can ask for,” Anderson said. “That's what you build for all season long and you hope and pray that you're not knocked out of it before you get to Pomona. And might be close to knocked out of it, but we're not knocked out of it. It's still a possibility. That's all I can ask and it's just, it's up to the race of gods. We'll see what happens from here, but we're going to do all we can possibly do, everything we can control. That's all we can do, and trying to do the best job we can.

“Day One was a great, great day and I'm proud of the boys, proud of everybody, what they've done. And we've got a great hot rod. There's a lot of great ones out here, but we've got one, so it feels great.”

Anderson is the mastermind behind KB Titan Racing team, and he has proved to be selfish in building up his powerhouse team. He did acknowledge he has turned the focus more on himself with a championship on the line.

‘I can't lie, for the last 10 days I have focused on my car, and I've definitely tried to figure out what I think is the very best engine in the fleet that I've got,” Anderson said. “I think I've got a lot of great ones, and you just never know until you take them on the racetrack and run and the engine, I've got in my car was in Kyle Koretsky’s car last week and it ran great in Kyle's car, so we decided that was probably our best shot. We swapped between Kyle and myself, and I think I've got the best we've got in the fleet.

“I'm the only one with a chance left. The rest of them, I'm sorry, but they're out. We don't come to race for second, third, fourth and fifth. We come to race for No. 1. I'm the only one with a chance to race No. 1. It was time for (me) to be a little bit selfish. I try not to be, and I don't feel that I have been all year long. I've given everybody the same exact opportunity I've had to reach this point and somehow it was me that made it here. Yep, I was selfish this week and I don't feel sorry at all.”

Anderson will try and hold on to the No. 1 qualifying spot, through Saturday’s final two sessions.