BRAINERD – A day that started off with little promise turned into a sunny day with plenty of pace as Blake Alexander, Steve Torrence and Greg Anderson secured the top spots in their classes after the first two rounds of qualifying for the 42nd annual Lucas Oil Nationals on Friday, Aug. 16, at Brainerd International Raceway.

The 13th NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series event was shortened due to rain in the morning and afternoon, but thanks to the great work of the NHRA Safety Patrol, the race was delayed by just under an hour.

“We take it for granted and the guys don’t get enough credit for what they do,” Torrence said. “I landed here at 2 p.m. and it was drizzling, and then the helicopter comes and then the jet dryer comes to dry the track and a couple hours later we’re out here doing our runs. The guys do a great job and don’t get even close to the credit for it, but without their work we couldn’t have put on this show.”

The first and second rounds of Funny Cars and Top Fuel were held, but the Pro Stock drivers managed one run on the track. Pro Stock will conduct an additional qualifying round on Saturday, August 17.

Two weeks ago in Sonoma, California, Alexander blew his engine to pieces on the first run and ripped the body of his car on the second. He ran an ET of 3.874 at 331.61 mph in his second run, passing first-round leader Austin Prock.

“I got engaged here 11 years ago,” said Alexander. “I got disqualified right after, so it was a love test right away. Not on the race track, I didn’t get engaged in the ‘zoo’, but outside in a beautiful place. Not that getting engaged in the ‘zoo’ is a bad thing. It’s a special place and I have a lot of family and friends here.”

Alexander’s run continued until the end of the second lap. Surprisingly, 2023 Lucas Oil champion Ron Capps finished 13th in the 17-car field as his car retired in both runs.

“It was very nice under the circumstances of the last race (at Sonoma), but I think we are capable of doing it,” Alexander said. “It wasn’t surprising, but it was surprising because the race went so poorly, especially on Friday.”

“I think we all needed that. I don’t think anyone has any idea how hard these men have to work on these cars when a mistake like this happens. And part of the desperation is that we understand how much work and money it takes to get here.”

It was also the first race for the John Force Racing team since Force’s accident in Virginia. Jack Beckman, who had not raced for the past four years, got into Force’s car and finished in seventh place.

Alexander, who competed in the Funny Car class in 2011 and has qualified for the playoffs twice, is 10th in the points standings, so a long run on Sunday would significantly increase his chances of making the countdown.

“We’re having our best season yet, we just haven’t won a race yet,” he said. “That gets lost in this business because you’re only as good as your last race.”

The first round of qualifying in the Top Fuel class began with the debut of Swedish driver Ida Zetterstrom. She responded with an ET of 3.809 at a speed of 326.87 mph.

Tony Stewart also completed his first run at the BIR and was in eighth place after the first run.

Brittany Force, who begins the weekend 10th overall, was seventh after the first lap and Shawn Langdon led after running an ET of 3.705 at 330.07 per hour.

In the second round, Stewart matched his best time of the year with an ET of 3.688 and a speed of 332.18 mph to move into the lead. Torrence also ran a 3.688 but won the tiebreaker over Stewart with a speed of 335.32 mph.

Doug Kalitta, who sits atop the Top Fuel standings, finished third with an ET of 3.703.

Torrence, who won two consecutive races at Brainerd in 2021 and 2022, has 59 career wins to his name but has also gone through a phase in his 18-year racing career.

“We’re moving into a new office, so the other day I packed up all my Wallys and sorted them by year. There were 11 in 2017 and 11 in 2019 or ’20,” he said. “There were four years where there were at least five or six races a year. You take a car that does that and then you say, ‘We need to get better,’ and that can be frustrating.

To get the maximum impact out of the car, he and his team took the car apart and rebuilt it, and now he “sees a light at the end of the tunnel.”

“Sometimes it’s hard to stick with the girl you brought to the dance when there are a lot of supermodels there,” Torrence said. “But you have to do it, and that’s what we did, and now it’s bearing fruit.”

In the Pro Stock class, Anderson, who is from Duluth, feels very comfortable on his home track and secured the first qualifying spot after the first day.

He managed one of the runs of the day and made it a real success, running 207.08 mph and an ET of 6.641, ahead of Aaron Standfield, who ran an ET of 6.642 at 206.26 mph.

Dallas Glenn, the 2023 Lucas Oil winner, was in fourth place and Erica Enders took sixth place.

Anderson is seeking his fifth No. 1 qualifier of the season and his third in four races.

“I was hoping we could go a little faster, but the bottom line is we did everything we could do today and got all the points we could,” Anderson said. “At the end of the run we were No. 1 and tomorrow is a new day for us. There is definitely tuning data so we know we can go better, but we also know other cars can do it too.”

“The race number is definitely not safe. Tomorrow will be better, but I know we can race better tomorrow. I’m excited and I love racing here in Brainerd. When it’s cool and cloudy like it is now, the race track is great. The bottom line is that the race track today was better than what we expected.”