And maybe a fresh hello to a seven-year veteran who, like Worsham a few years ago, ended a drought and began a march to prominence. Worsham waited 10-plus years after his first two career victories before his win at Seattle in 1999 elevated his status. He has earned 13 of his 15 career victories since then.

"I would like to follow in his footsteps," Burkart said.

Schumacher, hoping to repeat his own 1999 championship, said once again he owes it to his crew and crew chief Alan Johnson. "I have such an unbelievably focused team," he said. "And we all know Alan is the single best guy in the world. Alan learns and he changes things. You say 'genius' only so many times, but 'Genius.' He's a genius. Alan could have picked any team to work for. I'm just glad he picked us, and I'm glad to be a part of it."

Anderson (photo) said he's enjoying his string of success so much that "it's pretty scary -- I'm almost impressing myself, astounding myself." But he went one further than Schumacher, citing the help of "everyone, from owner Ken Black to our truck driver, Brad Campbell."

But mostly, he said, the car takes center stage. "The engine's obviously the best out here. The crew is the best out here. But the car's so crisp, so clean. It will not do anything wrong," he said.

"I'm running out of things to talk about. We're waiting for someone to reel us in and catch us," Anderson said, "but it seems to be going the other way. I thank the good Lord above. I can't imagine what I did to deserve this much good fortune. . . . But right now we have to ride this wave like the best surfer you ever saw."

EXTRA NOTES

Del Worsham, who had won the previous two events and entered with a 110-point lead over closest Funny Car challenger, John Force, was a firt-round loser to Whit Bazemore.

His new Chevy Monte Carlo body was ready when he arrived in Las Vegas, but, because rain wiped out the first day of action, he decided to keep the Pontiac Firebird body for the weekend.

"We could have run the Monte Carlo, and planned to if we would've had four runs, but with only two I just felt we had to go with the old reliable," Worsham said. "After all, that Firebird had won the last two races, so we were pretty comfortable with it. We're comfortable with it like it's an old sofa, but we know we need new furniture. We'll just bring the Monte Carlo out in Houston."