Warm weather and a tricky racetrack all but froze qualifying positions throughout final qualifying kept Friday leaders Larry Dixon, Robert Hight, Jeg Coughlin, and Eddie Krawiec atop the pack as the final fields were set for Sunday's final eliminations at the 23rd annual O'Reilly NHRA Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals at Texas Motorplex.

With the Countdown to 1 playoffs underway, all eyes will be on eliminations and there will be several head-to-head first-round matchups Sunday morning between championship hopefuls: three in Top Fuel, two in Funny car, three in Pro Stock, and two in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

Larry Dixon

Dixon and Don Prudhomme's U.S. Smokeless team sat out the final qualifying session, but Dixon was on the starting line to see if anyone could surpass his field-leading 3.820 from Friday. No one could, so he pocketed his third straight No. 1 qualifying spot and his fourth of the season.

"We had a fuel-system malfunction on our first run today and it hurt the engine pretty good, so instead of hurrying up just to come out here and just make a run, the guys wanted to stay in the pits and make the car perfect for tomorrow," said Dixon, whose No. 1 spot is the 31st of his decorated career. "We knew that even if we got bumped down it would only to be second or third. I'd rather have a perfect horse for tomorrow.

"We probably could have gone out there and run anywhere from a high .80 to a low .90, and what does that do? We did that yesterday in the first session. So we're going to go out there and see if we can win tomorrow from the pole this time."

Other than those outside the top 12 Friday, the field was unchanged with Brandon Bernstein second with a 3.842 best in the Budweiser dragster and Hillary Will third with her 3.849 in Ken Black's digger. Bob Vandergriff Jr. will enjoy his best starting position of the season with the UPS rail from the fourth spot. Top Fuel rookie Spencer Massey, who also is competing in Alcohol Dragster at this event, qualified in his NHRA debut with a 3.902 in Mitch King's rent-a-dragster for the No. 11 spot.

Morgan Lucas qualified on the bump with a 3.96, recorded on his final qualifying run. He'll face off with Dixon in Sunday's first round.

Points leader Tony Schumacher again struggled in qualifying, finishing just eighth, and he'll draw fellow a Countdown competitor and seasonlong rival, sixth-place Rod Fuller, who qualified ninth, in the first round, and probably in the first pairing of that initial stanza. Last week in Charlotte, Schumacher qualified just ninth, ran in the first pair, and went on to win the race.

Other Countdown clashes scheduled for round one will pit seventh-ranked Doug Herbert against eighth-place Bernstein and fifth-place Will against Kalitta Racing teammate Doug Kalitta, who sits ninth in points.

Countdown contender Dave Grubnic failed to qualify in the DHL dragster, denting his championship hopes as he'll slip to more than 200 points behind class-leading Schumacher.

Robert Hight

Hight's dazzling 4.063 from Friday, the second quickest Funny Car pass in the 1,000-foot era, easily held onto the No. 1 spot, his fourth pole of the season in the Jimmy Prock-tuned Automobile Club of Texas Mustang.

"I feel very fortunate right now because we broke the throttle cable at the end of our last run today, and that easily could have happened in the first round tomorrow instead," said Hight. "How lucky could I be? If it would have made it through that round, it probably would have broken tomorrow morning. With the Countdown, to not qualify or have a first-round loss, it just kills you.

"We lost our first run today because a clutch lever came in too early, which also could have happened tomorrow. That was a good time for it to happen because we know we won’t let that happen tomorrow."

Teammate Ashley Force held onto second with her Castrol GTX Mustang, the second time she'll start from the No. 2 spot this season. Del Worsham maintained third with the Checker Schuck's Kragen Chevy and Melanie Troxel fourth with the R2B2 Dodge.

On the heels of the DNQ by his boss, John Force, at the first playoff event in Charlotte, rookie of the year contender and Countdown participant Mike Neff failed to qualify. He'll drop to 10th place, behind Force, who qualified No. 7 in his return to Dallas after a terrible accident last year at Texas Motorplex. Force had the quickest pass of the final qualifying session, much to the delight of the partisan crowd.

In round one Sunday, Force will face Cruz Pedregon in a rematch of their memorable 1992 final-round race here, one of two all-Countdown matchups that will highlight the first round of Funny Car. In the other battle, fifth-placeTim Wilkerson will face off with seventh-place Ron Capps. At the closeof qualifying, only two points separate the top four drivers, with Pedregon and Beckman tied for first.

Jeg Coughlin

Coughlin not only stayed atop the Pro Stock field to claim his 14th career low qualifying spot, but did it in style. Although he was not able to improve on his Friday-leading 6.631, he had low e.t. of the final qualifying session with a 6.641.

"We made a great run this morning but drifted off to the right and got into the marbles and I had to short-shift 3rd gear to get it back into the groove and lost about a hundredth, so it was important to rebound tonight," said Coughlin, who also was the low qualifier earlier this year in Chicago.

"We're looking at pretty much the same conditions tomorrow, so we feel good. We've run .63, 63. a low .65, and a low .64, so I think we probably were the most consistent car during qualifying. We've been running very well on Sundays here lately so, other than fighting a little bit of a fever, I feel great behind the wheel."

The remaining members of the top eight also remained unchanged as Summit Pontiac teammates Jason Line and Greg Anderson finished second and third, respectively, followed by Dodge frontrunner Allen Johnson. Coughlin's Cagnazzi Racing teammate, Dave Connolly, had the second-best run of the final session at 6.649 and remained fifth.

Countdown playoff participant Ron Krisher, staring down a second straight DNQ and the probable end of his championship hopes, bumped his way into the field on his final pass, improving by more than a hundredth to a 6.697 to leapfrog incoming bump man John Nobile's 6.701. Krisher, seventh in points, will face the low qualifier, third-ranked Coughlin, in Sunday's first round. Both cars utilize Cagnazzi power.

Other first-round Countdown clashes will pit points leader Kurt Johnson against sixth-place V. Gaines and fourth-place Line against 10th place Greg Stanfield .

Eddie Krawiec

Krawiec, who suffered transmission woes and had to abort his first Saturday pass, claimed his third No. 1 qualifying spot aboard the Vance & Hines Screamin' Eagle Harley, his opening 6.970 from Friday holding on through all three subsequent sessions.  By claiming the eight points for low qualifier, he's just one point out of third place and only two points out of second.

"This is my third No. 1, and to come at this time when points are so crucial because we're all within one point of each other," said Krawiec, whose previous poles came back-to-back in Norwalk and Denver. "The championship could be won or lost by one point.

"We had a transmission part break in the first session and had to switch out motors and to come out and run low low e.t. of the last sessions on a motor we hadn't run before makes a statement about how focused and determined we are. It took a big weight off my shoulders. Tomorrow, I'm just going to focus on making clean straight runs. You're really racing yourself out there. Keep focused, stay in your lane, and worry about what's going on in your lane."

Krawiec's 6.992 was the quickest run of the final session, but only barely as Harley teammate Andrew Hines, the No. 2 qualifier, and Drag Specialties Buell rider Chris Rivas, the No. 3 rider, were hot on his heels with passes of 6.998 and 6.997.

Reigning world champ and current points leader Matt Smith overcame his early-race doldrums to bash out a 7.001 in the final session aboard his Nitro Fish Buell, improving by more than two-hundredths and jumping to the No. 4 spot. Smith was elated and the field disappointed as had he not improved Smith would have stayed No. 8 and raced second place Steve Johnson, the No. 9 qualifier, in round one. Now Smith will face defending event champ Peggy Llewellyn and Johnson will meet Karen Stoffer. The only other head-to-head Countdown battle will pit Angelle Sampey against Craig Treble.

Mike Berry finished up on the 16-bike bump spot with a 7.111 recorded Saturday morning aboard his MB Precision Suzuki. He'll oppose Krawiec in the opening round.

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