During late-night qualifying sessions is when NHRA Top Fuel and Funny Car teams are known to swing for the fences.

That’s exactly what Kalitta Motorsports and Top Fuel driver Doug Kalitta did on Friday at Denso Sonoma (Calif.) Nationals – and they hit a home run.

Kalitta recorded a blistering track-record elapsed time of 3.649 seconds at 336.40 mph to capture the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot at Sonoma Raceway.

“That was really cool. I have to admit. I got my first win here, so I have a lot of cool history, and that definitely that run there, I know Alan Johnson puts a lot of thought into everything about that tune-up on my car, and Mac (Savage) and all my Mac Tools and Toyota guys, they worked their tails off putting it together. But, yeah, Alan Johnson, he is one bad dude,” Kalitta said. “To be able to pull that one off, it was impressive from my seat. You could definitely tell that thing was on (a run). It was a great session. There were some pretty good runs in that session, so I'm just glad we held on for the top spot.”

Kalitta’s elapsed time, which was the quickest run of the year in any category, if it holds would be his fifth No. 1 qualifier of the season to go with the ones he had in Las Vegas, Charlotte, N.C., Epping, N.H., and Norwalk, Ohio.

Kalitta, who won his inaugural NHRA world championship last season with renowned crew chief Johnson as his primary tuner, broke the Sonoma track record of 3.662 seconds set by Brittany Force in July of 2022.

“Yeah, these kinds of conditions, he (Johnson) is in there tweaking on that car until it gets started,” Kalitta said. “He just has a ton of experience, and every time you go up to the line, he's pushing it right to the limit to see what the thing will hold, and it's impressive to have the opportunity to work with him.”

Kalitta’s the all-time Top Fuel winner at Sonoma Raceway with five career wins (1998-2000, 2004-05).

“I always say this is probably one of the nicest tracks,” Kalitta said. “(Bruton) Smith's tracks are nice, but this one here, probably just because I got my first win that's (why it is) so special. The layout and just the road course that they've got here, it's just a cool place. Years ago, my dad used to run these road-racing sidecars, and he actually came here one time and raced. It's a cool place and hopefully we can ... We'd love to get another win here. It's been a little bit of a dry spell trying to get another win, so that's now the goal for sure.”

Kalitta, who is No. 1 in the points standings on the strength of a class-best three wins in Las Vegas, Epping, and Richmond, lost in the first round at Sonoma a year ago to Justin Ashley.

Kalitta posted his stellar E.T. as the first car out in Q2, and then had to see if it would hold through the remainder of the session.

“I was actually kind of happy about running first, but you never can tell. It's a crazy balance that these crew chiefs try to figure out with these things in the track,” Kalitta said. “I thought it rattled just a little bit, but looking at the driveshaft [sensor], it wasn't much, but that thing hooked up and you could definitely tell it was on a run, so it just kept it in the middle. That's the key when you're running like that,  to just keep that thing as straight as possible. I think it was pretty straight, and that was a fun one for sure.”

There are two qualifying sessions Saturday, and the weather is supposed to be around 10 degrees cooler.  Kalitta knows his record E.T. might not be safe at No. 1.

“I would say the conditions are going to be just as good, really. I think it's supposed to be in the low 70s, and you never can tell what to expect from these guys ... I'm sure we'll get the most out of whatever we get for (Saturday),” Kalitta said.