Stivers made his first trip to the finals since Richmond 2007 when he won his first Pro Mod Challenge event, and definitely backed up the performance advantage he's been delivering since making a move to the Brad Anderson-owned Pro Mod team. He defeated Tim Tindle, his teammate Jay Payne and Gainesville event-winner Mike Castellana on his trip to the finals.

"Danny had an incredible light, and he was just meant to win the race today," Stivers said. "We might have had the quickest car in the final, but he definitely won the race."

Raymond Commisso had Low ET at 5.884 seconds and Top Speed at 246.57 mph, but couldn’t back up the ET for the record. (Ron Lewis photo)

After a frustrating day Friday of rain delays that netted no qualifying attempts, Raymond Commisso made a run Saturday morning that rocked the world. The Toronto, Canada, restaurateur recorded the quickest legal Pro Mod pass ever in his Al Billes-tuned R2B2 Racing '68 Camaro Z/28 at 5.884 seconds and claimed the number one qualifying spot.

After the run, Commisso said with a huge smile, "That was an amazing lap. When it hit third gear, it just threw me back into the seat and I was thinking, 'this thing is just hauling!' I knew Al had things ready to go, but that was just awesome."

A look at Commisso’s powerplant.  (Joe McHugh photo)

In order for the run to be counted as a world record, Commisso needed to record another lap within one percent: a 5.942 or better. Because only one round of qualifying was scheduled, the backup would have to be in eliminations, but Commisso said he knew he had to focus not on the record but winning the round.