I haven't raced at a NHRA division or National event in the last ten years so Comp Eliminator may now be short on racers as I seem to remember a race last year in National dragster that had only 3 cars in Comp Eliminator
It use to be a 16 or 32 car field only and not all racers qualified to race at those races that exceeded the field size I can remember 50 + cars enter for a 16 car feild 130 stockers, 130+ S/G and so on
You needed to be at least .55 under to qualify, then the instant comp adjustment if you ran more than .58 under would make your car obsolete from one run
A lot of those racers where holding .85+ under their indexes to make sure they wouldn't get factor out of the race before the money runs