PRO STOCK

Drew Skillman (far lane) gets past Chris McGaha in the first round.

To say the Pro Stock final was a surprise would be an understatement – there was no Ken Black Summit-backed car in competition.

Drew Skillman notched a 6.661 at 209.36 in his Ray Skillman Auto Group Chevy Camaro to knock off Alex Laughlin’s 6.708 at 208.30 in his Gas Monkey Garage Chevy Camaro. Skillman, who won earlier this year in Brainerd, Minn., tallied his third career win with the performance. This was his first final round appearance and win at Dallas. The 2015 Rookie of the Year award winner moved to sixth in points. He eliminated Chris McGaha, points leader Jason Line and Shane Gray in the earlier rounds.

“We have struggled so badly with this race car,” said Skillman. “We were lost, and going into the Countdown that’s the worst time of the year to be lost. We had some luck on our side this weekend. I drove decent, and the car at least went. We’re going the right direction, I think. We need to test again. We’re going to get back out there. We’re going to hit these last two races hard, so that’s where we’re going to go.”

Laughlin, who claimed his first career victory recently in St. Louis, raced past five-time world champion Jeg Coughlin Jr., Shane Tucker and second-place Greg Anderson.

Skillman eliminated Line in the second round with a 6.647/208.91 to 6.632/208.84 after Line eliminated Alan Prusiensky (far lane) in the first round.

Laughlin ran 6.637/208.59 in the semifinal to defeat Greg Anderson’s 6.659/209.14.

Ironically, Allen Johnson, who lost the Mopar corporate backing this year, has been performing better in his Dodge Dart than Erica Enders-Steven or Jeg Coughlin Jr., whose teams have had problems working out the new EFI combination in their Darts.