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Larry Dixon, Jack Beckman, and Mike Edwards will lead their fields into Sunday’s final eliminations at the Virginia NHRA Nationals, the fourth of six events in NHRA’s Countdown to 1 playoffs, after a record-setting day of qualifying Saturday.

Morning rain showers delayed the start of action at Virginia Motorsports Park by about two hours, and after a get-acquainted session with the newly rain-washed track, the Pro Stock teams especially took advantage of the cooling temperatures in the evening session to record the kind of performances for which this track has become known. In all, 13 Pro Stock drivers ran quicker Saturday than Edwards’ Friday field-leading pass and Edwards himself recorded the second quickest pass in class history to lead the field. In Top Fuel, Antron Brown reset the national speed record in Top Fuel with a pass of 319.60.

Larry Dixon

Dixon is now a perfect 4-for-4 in pole positions during the Countdown playoffs after powering his Jason McCulloch-tuned Al-Anabi/Alan Johnson Racing dragster to a career-best 3.783, the fifth quickest pass in the 1,000-foot era, in the day’s first session despite losing an engine in the process. Dixon had the second quickest pass of the final session, a 3.791, to earn five bonus points on the day. The No. 1 spot is the eighth of the season of Dixon, a personal best. With just 15 dragsters on hand, Dixon will earn a crucial first-round bye and he tries to track down points leader Tony Schumacher and vie for a third world championship.

“It kind of exploded maybe 850, 900 feet — I felt the car put a hole or two out,” said Dixon of his pole-setting run. If you took a back-half of what say Antron ran that time, it would probably have been a low .76, high .75, but it didn’t make it. I think we made a great run the second run just the fact that it was all put together. It knocked the blower off of it, and it made a mess of the drivetrain, but credit goes back to the team because they replaced everything from the firewall back. To go out there with new blowers and injectors and short blocks and anything that you’ve got and run a .79 and have it all together that time, all the credit goes to the Al-Anabi team. They’re great to watch. They do a great job.”

“I’m obviously happy to be on the pole here. I’ve never run a 3.7 before, so getting two of them in was cool. With 15 cars here, low qualifier gets a bye run, and that’s 20 points right there. And, when this bonus point program came into effect this year, that really put an emphasis on getting poles. You need poles because it’s not so much the one point between No. 1 qualifier and No. 2 qualifier, but it’s being low of sessions. You need to be low of those sessions to get those extra bonus points because that adds up. We made up almost a round last week. We didn’t do it this week, but we still gained ground on Tony [Schumacher]. If you can do that at the next couple of races, including this one, you could make up a round of racing. From where I’m at, a round of racing would be real nice right now.”

Friday leader Cory McClenathan bettered his previous-day best of 3.815 and slotted his Todd Okuhara-wrenched Fram Tough Guard dragster No. 2 with a 3.784, the best pass of the final session and also a career-best pass for the veteran. Spencer Massy made it three career-best passes atop the field as he wheeled Don Prudhomme’s Donnie Bender- and Todd Smith-tuned U.S. Smokeless rail to a 3.789. Defending event and series champ Tony Schumacher, whose 3.771 here last year still is the sport’s quickest pass, finished fourth with a 3.796 and record setter Antron Brown was the final driver in the 3.7-second zone with a 3.797; his best is a 3.778, recorded at the Winternationals in February. Brown’s new speed record at 319.60 bettered his own 319.22-mph record established in Indianapolis.

Jack Beckman

Beckman lived up to his “Fast Jack” moniker by grabbing the No. 1 spot in the final session of Funny Car qualifying with a 4.044 to earn his first No. 1 spot of the season with Don Schumacher’s Johnny West-tuned Valvoline Engine Guarantee Charger. The run is a career best by .004-second.

“There were some quality cars behind us, but that was a stout number,” said Beckman. “I knew we didn’t leave a whole lot on the table that run, so they were going to have to be darn-near perfect for them to get around us. It’s always interesting watching the television monitor down [at the top end] and watching all these cars flames roof high, right down the middle of the lane, charging. In your mind, you’re thinking, ‘That’s going to be pretty close.’ A lot of them came close after they ran.

“I think Tommy DeLago [teammate Matt Hagan’s crew chief] can take a bow for helping us run that number because he showed us what the track was capable of. When people go out there and run a 4.09, you think, ‘OK, if we can hit a homerun, we can run a 4.08.’ Well, he goes out there and runs a 4.05 in the third session, so I think Tommy D. showed us what the bar was set at. We knew that the track was going to give us low-4.04s if we hit the tune-up right.”

DSR teammate Ron Capps, trying to make up ground after a disappointing playoffs outing so far, pushed his special-edition Susan G. Komen NAPA Auto Parts Dodge to the No. 2 spot with a 4.046, also in the spectacular event session, while Matt Hagan, who led the field after three sessions after posing a career-best 4.051 in the day’s first session, finished third with the Tommy DeLago-wrenched Fram/Shelor Charger to make it a 1-2-3 finish for Schumacher Racing.

Tin Wilkerson wheeled his Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford to a career-best 4.052 for the fourth spot while Robert Hight, who holds the track e.t. record at 4.005, set here last year, finished fifth with a 4.059. Hight’s teammate, points leader Ashley Force Hood, led Friday's qualifying but will start from the No. 6 position after booting her Dean Antonelli- and Ron Douglas-tuned Castrol GTX Mustang to a 4.066 at 311.27 mph, the third fastest speed in the 1,000-foot era and a track record. She picked up another two bonus points Saturday to go with her six from Friday and could reset the national record Sunday if she can better her own 312.13 record.

Former Top Fuel racer John “Bodie” Smith qualified in his Funny Car debut on the bump spot with a 4.82 and will take on Beckman in round one.

Mike Edwards

Edwards completed yet another clean sweep of qualifying bonus points as his ART/Young Life Pontiac was the quickest car in both sessions and, most importantly, when it counted most in the incredible evening session. Edwards, who had run 6.587 in the first session to better his Friday 6.606, scorched the VMP quarter-mile with a track-record 6.531, the second quickest in Pro Stock history behind Greg Anderson’s 6.528, recorded at the season opener in Pomona in February. Edwards’ speed of 211.26 grabbed the other end of the track standard. Edwards scored the maximum points for the two days, 12 for leading each of the four sessions and eight for again finishing in the No. 1 spot, his 14th pole position in 22 events this season.

“What a scary qualifying session for Pro Stock,” said Edwards. “When you pull up there and guys are making their career best runs and it’s the last session, it gets a little nerve-wracking. We were low with a .58 last session and I bet that’s not even in the top half now. Hats off to my guys. We made another really fantastic run and I’m just so proud of them and everything that they’ve done. I praise the Lord and give him all the glory.

“We’re extremely happy with the way that things turned out for us. When it comes down to one run like that, it can make or break you. We’re really pleased.”

Kurt Johnson continued his recent improvements with his ACDelco Cobalt and zipped into the No. 2 spot with a career-best 6.546 just ahead of Anderson, whose Summit Pontiac finished third with a 6.547. Anderson’s teammate, Memphis winner Jason Line, slid into the No. 4 spot with a 6.556, just ahead of Greg Stanfield, who clocked a career-best 6.559 for the fifth position. Ronnie Humphrey, in the third Summit Pontiac, finished sixth with a 6.566. Five of the top eight qualifiers all recorded career-topping passes. In all, nine drivers ran career-best e.t.s.

The quick day ended up shy of last year’s record 6.590 bump, as V. Gaines wound up in the final spot with a 6.616 and will face Edwards on round one. The biggest surprise of qualifying, however, was Dodge campaigner Allen Johnson’s failure to qualify after posting just a 6.621 best with his Mopar Stratus. It’s Johnson’s second DNQ of the season and probably puts an end to his championship aspirations.

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Friday: Cory Mac, Force Hood, Edwards are opening-day leaders in Virginia