Enders' discretion was proven in the second round, when Shane Gray crashed after his car slipped out of the groove and Dave Connolly also had to abort his run when his GK Motorsports ride slid around in the same area. Both cars were in the left lane, and after Connolly's run, NHRA decided to work on the track.

No. 14 qualifier Gray, a third-year competitor in what is arguably the most competitive professional category, easily got past a troubled Greg Anderson in the first round and was off to a strong start against veteran Pro Stock driver Warren Johnson in round two before his Tire Kingdom Service Central Chevy Camaro got very loose in the left lane and made a harsh turn toward the guard wall. The car then slammed into it, turned over and slid on the roof before flipping over backwards, landing right side up, and sliding to a stop against the right guard wall.

Thankfully, Gray emerged from the wreck uninjured.

"It happened so quick," said Gray. "The car barely drifted, and then all of a sudden it darted and rolled. The NHRA guys checked me out right away, and other than being a little sore, I'm okay."

Just prior to the Thunder Valley NHRA Nationals in Bristol earlier this year, Gray parked his Pontiac GXP and debuted the Chevy Camaro. Although the Camaro is out of commission for the time being, Gray is already making plans to return to the dragstrip in the very immediate future.

"We're going to pull out the GXP again," said Gray. "And we will be racing in Dallas next weekend."

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

(Ron Lewis photo)

Andrew Hines scored his fifth win of the season and 30th in his career in Pro Stock Motorcycle, beating teammate Eddie Krawiec to the finish line with a time of 6.862 seconds at 194.49 mph on his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson.

“We just tried to stay calm,” said Hines, who had a bye run and then beat Shawn Gann and Hector Arana Sr. to advance to his 51st career final round. “We just had to keep our focus all day long and we were on a mission when we came here, to defend our regular season win streak of 10 in a row and we needed to come out here and see if we could do that. Luckily, everything all in the end panned out for us and it’s just a great feeling to start off the Countdown this way.”   

Krawiec, who has won the other six PBM events this year, continues to lead the Countdown to the Championship points by 10 over Hines.