With the first event of the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series in the books, the most winning driver in the history of Pro Stock has an assortment of fresh data to pull from for the trio of west coast races up next. Five-time world champion Greg Anderson and his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro qualified well at the 55th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, and on Sunday, the driver and his horse powered all the way to the semifinals.
“Starting the season in March with the Gatornationals is something I’m not sure we’ll ever get used to, but it gave us more time in the shop to work on what we’ve got,” said Anderson. “The KB Titan Racing team worked so hard over the winter, and I’m very, very grateful to everyone on this team who stepped up and went above and beyond. This wasn’t the showing we’d hoped for – we wanted to win this first race of the year – but it was a good start, and I’m confident that we’re going to see the pieces start falling into place as the season goes on.”
Anderson, who claimed five of his 103 Pro Stock wins at the Gatornationals, qualified his HendrickCars.com Chevy in the No. 4 position on a strong 6.561-second pass at 208.65 mph to tee-up for a first-round meeting with second-year competitor Jerry Tucker. Anderson showed no sign of rust as he left the starting line ahead of his competitor and kept the advantage to get the win light by .009-second, 6.526, 210.70 to 6.529, 210.14.
The victory set up a second-round meeting with Anderson’s brand-new KB Titan Racing teammate, Brandon Foster, who was making his Pro Stock debut at the event. Foster had turned on the first win light of his Pro Stock career over tire-chattering defending event champion Troy Coughlin Jr. in the first round, and his 6.531, 210.47 was solid, but not enough to nab lane choice over Anderson in the quarterfinals.
Foster’s trouble at the starting line set him at an immediate disadvantage against the KB Titan team leader, and he worked hard to recover, but Anderson’s 6.553, 210.64 got the nod over a 6.593, 209.62 to send the veteran ahead to the semifinals. There, he met incoming series titlist Erica Enders, and while Anderson was first to leave the starting line with an exuberant and well-played .015 reaction time, his powerful 6.508 at 210.18 wasn’t quite enough. Enders reached the finish line first on a 6.483, 211.96.
“We made quite a run there with the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro, and that’s what we’re excited about,” said Anderson. “We know we’ve got a good racecar, and we’ve certainly put enough time and energy into our entire race program to win races this year. We’ll put this one behind us, keep working, and move on to Pomona, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. Hopefully, we can get some momentum going out West. It’s a long season, but we’re not planning to waste a minute of it.”
The next event on the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Schedule will be the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., March 21-24.
This story was originally published on March 11, 2024. 
