Schumacher leads NHRA qualifying

Tony Schumacher raced to the Top Fuel qualifying lead Friday in the NHRA Southern Nationals, and Robert Hight topped the Funny Car field at Atlanta Dragway.

Schumacher, winless in 29 races since October 2010, powered his dragster to a track-record time of 3.815 seconds at 322.58 mph, putting him in position to earn his first No. 1 qualifying position of the season.

Atlanta Dragway is the only track on the circuit where the seven-time Top Fuel world champ has yet to win. He has 67 career victories

"I've always had confidence here,'' Schumacher said. "We've been in the final several times. Antron (Brown)) has beat me a few of them, the last couple of years. We have a great car. It's been dynamite racing, thousandths of a second, what the fans pay for. I've just been on the losing end of those things, and it's about time we turn that around.

"I would like to get this done. I think it would be really cool to have gone so many races and then go to the one track where we haven't won and close the deal, finish it off. We've won every track, several of them many times, and this one has just eluded us.''

Hight, a four-time winner this year, set the pace in Funny Car with a 4.104 at 308.35 in a Ford Mustang.

Jason Line topped the Pro Stock field, and Hector Arana had the Pro Stock Motorcycle lead. Line had a run of 6.612 at 208.68 in a Pontiac GXP, and Arana finished in 6.894 at a track-record 193.82 on a Buell.