When it’s crunch time in the Meadowlands Pace, the Captain wants to come out on top.

Captain Crunch, the 2-1 morning-line favorite in Saturday night’s $682,650 Meadowlands Pace at the Meadowlands, is looking for a third win in a row, having won the $750,000 North America Cup and last week’s Pace elimination.

The 3-year-old colt pacer, trained by Nancy Johansson and driven by Scott Zeron, will start from post position 1.

“Historically, my horses usually don’t draw very well, so if I draw inside of [post] 6, I’m usually happy,” Johansson said with a laugh.

“When you have the rail, your option is pretty much to go forward. You have to leave out of there,” she added.

Zeron agreed with Johansson that if given the choice, the rail would not be where he would start from, but he feels really good about his chances.

“He’s the perfect animal. He has no limitations. It was nice to actually have the experience with the rail in the elimination to give me the confidence and give him the confidence,” Zeron said.

The Chris Ryder-trained Bettor’s Wish, driven by Dexter Dunn and starting from post 4, won the other Pace elimination and is the 3-1 second choice.

Workin Ona Mystery, trained by Brian Brown, driven by Tim Tetrick and starting from post 9, finished only a half-length behind Captain Crunch in his Pace elim and is the 5-1 third choice.

“Timmy’s probably going to have to leave, and Dexter has more options. He’s towards the middle of the gate so he can wait and see a little bit longer than what the rest of them can,” Johansson said of her main competition.

The Meadowlands’ signature event for 3-year-old pacers is race 8 on a 13-race, stakes-laden card. Post time for the first race is 7:15 p.m., and the Pace has a scheduled off time of 10:10 p.m.