The NHRA Midwest Nationals, the third event of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoffs, marked the mid-point of the six-race battle for the Camping World Drag Racing Series title, and Greg Anderson and his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro came out on top. Anderson powered his way to a win for the second consecutive race and vaulted all the way up to No. 2 in the championship chase to give himself a real chance at a sixth world title.
“I’m back in the game,” said Anderson, who started the Countdown with a heartbreaking fumble in the first round at Reading that dropped him down to eighth in the points. He now sits 25 points – a little over a round – outside of first.
“I legitimately have a shot at this championship with three races to go. I was knocking on the door of knocking myself out of it after Reading, and I knew if I didn’t have a big recovery at the next race, I was out of it. Well, I’m back in the fight.”
Anderson’s win last weekend at KB Titan Racing’s home track, Charlotte’s zMAX Dragway, gave him a big boost up in the points – there he went from eighth in the standings up to fourth – and ignited the momentum necessary to make hay in the Countdown. In St. Louis this weekend, the most winning driver in the history of Pro Stock proved that he is not only well equipped with a fast and capable racecar, he’s also still got what it takes to get the job done.
In the first round of eliminations at World Wide Technology Raceway, Anderson left the starting line ahead of Jerry Tucker and was well ahead as his opponent rattled the tires and slowed. Anderson’s 6.543-second pass at 210.21 was one of the quickest and fastest of the weekend, and it gave him lane choice over KB Titan Racing (KBT) teammate Deric Kramer in the second act.
There, Anderson again left first, clocking a .025-second reaction time to Kramer’s .032, and he made the quickest run of the round for the win light, 6.537, 209.75 to 6.566, 208.88. That victory handed him lane choice over Erica Enders by a thousandth of a second, and he and his crew chiefs used it wisely to select their starting point. Eager to advance to the 175th final round of his career, Anderson dug deep and found a brilliant .002 reaction time, then sailed smoothly ahead while his challenger, who clocked a .019 at the tree, shook the tires and was taken out of competition.
The productive rise-up against one of the fiercest competitors in the pits (and the incoming points leader) added fuel to Anderson’s fire, and in the final round he was again first to leave the starting line next to one of the category’s young and capable drivers, Aaron Stanfield. Anderson launched with a .021 to a .028 and kept just ahead all the way down the quarter-mile for a 6.552, 209.92 win over a 6.567, 209.14.
Anderson’s victory marked the 10th of the season for KB Titan, their third in three races in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship, and Anderson’s second consecutive win of the year and 103rd of his career. With just three races remaining before the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Pro Stock champion is named, Anderson is on a roll but unwilling to make any assumptions.
“This HendrickCars.com Chevrolet is a great hot rod,” he said. “But there are so many great cars, so many great drivers in this class right now. It’s incredible, and these next three races are going to be a bare-knuckled brawl. I have no earthly idea who the favorite should be or who is going to win this thing, but I feel fantastic about the way things have gone, the job my guys have done on my racecar, and even the job I’ve been able to do behind the wheel.
“We didn’t have a great start to the season, and I thought, maybe it’s time to step out and put somebody else in the car. But these two races, I’ve shown that I can still win. I can’t quit yet.”
With the intense three-in-a-row to start the Countdown to the Championship in the books, the NHRA tour now heads to Dallas for the Stampede of Speed at Texas Motorplex and the NHRA FallNationals, an event that Anderson has won six times and in four of his five championship seasons. The 38th annual Texas NHRA FallNationals will take place Oct. 12-15, 2023.
This story was originally published on October 2, 2023. 
