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Erica ran 6.467/214.48 against Jonathan Gray’s 6.489/ 213.60 in the final.

Erica Enders proved she's the best drag racer in the country Sunday, beating her nearest two rivals in the Mello Yello points to power to a massive 154-point advantage with just two races left in the season. It was her NHRA-leading eighth win of the year, and first in Dallas.

"I am so glad we were able to get this eighth win here in my home state," said Enders, who grew up in the Houston suburbs. "You know, I have been talking about a cowboy hat for months, just waiting to come here and win a cowboy hat, so I'm excited to be able to get that done in front of all of our friends and family. It's just a huge blessing."

A cowboy hat is the traditional winner's gift at the Texas Motorplex, a complex owned by former Funny Car driver Billy Meyer. This year, the winner's also got a belt buckle to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the event.

As usual, Enders was a demon behind the wheel, taking out Vieri Gaines in Round 1 (6.467/214.25) to set up a big match up with bitter rival Chris McGaha, who is third in the points. Helping the cause, McGaha had beaten second-ranked Greg Anderson in his opening race.

Enders against McGaha

"Those first two rounds were very significant," Enders said. "First round, we watched (McGaha) beat Greg right in front of us and then we crushed his ET by .400s to earn lane choice in our race against him. We didn't want to give him anything.

"There is a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes that people don't know about and (McGaha's) team has been running their mouths. I said from the beginning we'll let the scoreboard do the talking. There's no need to argue with ignorant people, so when I went up there and he double-bulbed me, I said 'bring it on, I don't care,' and I was able to drill him with a .008-second reaction time and then totally out-run him. I think we sent a big message. I definitely wanted to beat him, and my guys wanted to beat him even more so that was a nice deal for us."

Enders ran 6.461/214.45 to McGaha’s 6.512/213.03. There was no looking back from there as Drew Skillman (6.472/214.21 to 6.485/213.37) and Jonathan Gray fell (6.467/214.48 to 6.489/213.60) in order to give Enders the victory and the big edge in the standings.

We just have such great team chemistry and great horsepower so I'm a happy girl," Enders said. "We go into every race wanting to win more than anything in the world and we do our best to step up to the plate. You know, I talk about my guys all of the time but I'll put my money on them every single Sunday, every single round of qualifying, because they are the best. They bring it and I bring it and together I think the sky is the limit for us."

Jason Line (shown) lasted longer at this event than his Summit Racing teammate, Greg Anderson. Anderson dropped to McGaha in the first round while Line got past Alan Prusiensky (6.467/214.18 to 6.701/207.11) before falling to Allen Johnson in the second round.