He finished the 2012 season with five victories, going a weekend-best 3.857 at 195.22 mph in his Al-Anabi Racing 2012 RJ Race Cars Camaro to beat Mike Janis in the finals. Janis ran 4.488 at 121.90 in the final.

“Knowing we had already won the championship, that made us relaxed for the finals. Getting that win was sort of the icing on the cake, I guess you would say,” Castellana said.

Castellana trailed Jeff Naiser by more than 100 points heading into the weekend, but Naiser didn’t qualify and Castellana was in the 3.80s all weekend, edging out Pat Musi for the championship and running past Janis in the finals.

“We figured we had a chance, but we knew we had to have some things go our way,” said Castellana, who has 14 career wins between Pro Nitrous and Aeromotive Pro Modified. “Shannon and the crew did an amazing job with the car, and I just have to thank Sheikh Khalid (Al-Thani) for supporting us.

“Winning five events is just awesome and shows what this team can do.”