The 2023 NHRA Countdown to the Championship has, so far, been a time to shine for the powerful KB Titan Racing (KBT) team. In the first two events of the six-race playoffs, KBT has populated both positions in the final round, and the first two trophies of the most critical races of the season have come home to their shop in Mooresville, N.C. This weekend’s event at the illustrious zMAX Dragway concluded with KB Titan’s Greg Anderson earning a fourth Charlotte trophy in front of family, friends, and a ton of HendrickCars.com supporters to keep the points lead in the hands of KBT.
Anderson didn’t have an easy go of it in the final as he had to race fellow KB Titan driver Dallas Glenn – the 2021 NHRA Rookie of the Year and the Pro Stock driver who led the points for the majority of the season – but their meeting proved fruitful for the now 102-time Pro Stock winner and the most winning driver in the history of the class. Anderson, a five-time world champion, used an efficiently quick .018-second reaction time to get the jump on his friendly opponent’s .043, and he closed the deal with a powerful 6.554-second pass at 209.23 mph to defeat Glenn’s strong 6.590, 206.73.
“That was incredible,” said Anderson, who has raced in an incredible 174 final rounds. “It was my day, and I haven’t really had many ‘my days’ this year. It’s definitely sweet to do it here at Charlotte, my home track, with all my family, my friends, all the support, the Hendrick group. This is just perfect, absolutely perfect. I had a couple of storybook wins last year, and this one is right up there.”
Anderson’s most recent win was at the NHRA Finals in 2022, when he defeated Erica Enders on a holeshot. At this weekend’s event, he came up against Enders again, this time in the semifinals after collecting round wins over Jerry Tucker and Cristian Cuadra – and he simply had a better car. His well-tuned, aptly equipped HendrickCars.com Chevrolet flew down the quarter-mile to a 6.546, 209.30 to defeat the defending Pro Stock champion’s 6.590, 208.97 and set up the seventh all-KB Titan Racing final of the season. The win over Enders also protected KBT’s position at the top of the standings, which is currently held by back-to-back Indy and Reading winner Matt Hartford.
“My team has been doing a great job all year long, and I’m very proud of that,” said Anderson, who claimed the 10th win of the season for the hard-hitting KB Titan group. “[My car] has just been a tick off each race; we’re capable of winning, we just haven’t been able to make four perfect runs down the racetrack without the car or driver making a mistake. Well, we did that today. We did not make any mistakes, the car was fantastic, and I didn’t screw it up.”
After two consecutive – and very uncharacteristic – first-round losses heading into this event, Anderson was ecstatic to be back in the game. He now has an astounding 929 round wins in 530 career races. With the victory, he moved up from eighth to No. 4 in the Pro Stock standings and only 61 points (just over three rounds) out of first.
“It’s tough out there,” said Anderson. “It’s hard to win, especially in the playoffs because everybody brings their A-game. Everybody’s effort ratcheted up for the playoffs, but we found a way to race better than they did on Sunday these last two races.
“To make a final round with two KB Titan Racing cars last weekend and again this weekend, it’s just a fantastic team effort. I couldn’t be prouder, because we didn’t back into a win today – we earned a win today. We outran everybody and did a better job racing, and to have Dallas in the final right alongside me – it shows that it’s not just one car in the fleet; it’s all of them. That’s a pretty great feeling. Today scrambled the points up quite a bit. We climbed the mountain this week, and we’re back in the hunt. It’s going to be exciting, these next four races. I can’t wait to get to St. Louis on Friday.”
The next event on the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series tour will be the NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis, Sept. 29 – Oct. 1.
This story was originally published on September 25, 2023. 
