For the third time this season, Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Hector Arana raced his way to the No. 1 qualifier.

"This Lucas Oil bike is running flawless," said Arana, who qualified No. 1 for the 19th time in his career. "Now it will be up to the driver."

And while he is certainly happy about his qualifying spot at the O'Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway, the Lucas Oil Buell rider will be much happier if he can turn that into his first win of the season.

"I will like it even better tomorrow if I can make those perfect runs that I have been making here this weekend," Arana said.

Arana made his best qualifying run during the third session of the weekend – first on Saturday, when he ran a pass of 6.884 seconds at 195.08 mph.

Arana will take on Michael Phillips, who qualified 15th with a run in 7.072 at 190.59 mph, in the first round of eliminations.

And if he can string four round wins together, he will finally get that elusive first win of the season.

"It would be a load off my shoulders (to get a win)," Arana said. "It would mean a lot to get back there. Our confidence would definitely go up."

But to get there, Arana will have to contend with his son, Hector Arana, Jr., who qualified third, as well as Harley-Davidson riders Andrew Hines, who qualified second over behind Arana, and Eddie Krawiec, who qualified fourth.

"Anytime you can out-perform them it is awesome," Arana said. "I am not going to worry about the Harleys though. All I can do is worry about our program and making sure that my son and I can perform and keep up the pace with the Harleys."

Eliminations for the O'Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals get underway at 11 a.m. CDT from Route 66 Raceway.

Please visit www.LucasOil.com for more information