When Shane Gray made his NHRA Pro Stock debut this season, he brought with him realistic goals.

“When I started this deal, I hoped to qualify at half the races,” Gray said.

It’s safe to say he has accomplished that goal and much more.

Gray is presently eighth in the Pro Stock point chase and has already clinched a spot in the Countdown to 1 playoffs which begin at the U.S. Nationals Sept. 1-6 in Indianapolis. The Countdown to the Championship concludes at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals Aug. 12-15 at Brainerd, Minn.

When Shane Gray made his NHRA Pro Stock debut this season, he brought with him realistic goals.

“When I started this deal, I hoped to qualify at half the races,” Gray said.

It’s safe to say he has accomplished that goal and much more.

Gray is presently eighth in the Pro Stock point chase and has already clinched a spot in the Countdown to 1 playoffs which begin at the U.S. Nationals Sept. 1-6 in Indianapolis. The Countdown to the Championship concludes at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals Aug. 12-15 at Brainerd, Minn.

“This is real neat to already be in the Countdown to 1 playoffs,” the 37-year-old Gray said. “I didn’t have any pressure starting this deal because nobody expected anything out of me, and I didn’t really expect anything out of myself. Going into to Brainerd, I have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain.”

Johnny Gray, Shane’s father and his Pro Stock teammate , also has had a strong season, as he is sitting in ninth in the point standings. Both Shane and Johnny are campaigning GXP Pontiacs. Shane is sponsored by Tire Kingdom and Johnny is sponsored by NTB, National Tire & Battery.

“It has been great racing with my dad, and we’ve had a good time,” Shane said. “All the family is together at the races and we’re fortunate enough and blessed enough to have everybody at the track and be able to go race and have a good time.”

Shane’s whirlwind season has vaulted him into position as one of the NHRA’s top rookie of the year candidates.

“My expectations have exceeded themselves by many miles,” said Shane, who has made it to one final round at Englishtown (N.J.). “The whole season has turned into an unbelievable thing for me. I feel very fortunate I’m in the position I’m in. There are a lot of key people and special people who have put me in the position to do this. It would be probably one of the greatest awards (rookie of the year) that I would probably ever receive in my racing career. That would be wonderful if that happened. There would be so many key people to appreciate and recognize and thank if I accomplished that goal.”

A year ago at this time, Shane was driving a B/Altered comp car in Division 4 and was 15th in the national points, while running a limited schedule.

“The car came from V. Gaines and the motor came from Larry Morgan,” Shane said. “It was great to go run the B/Altered, and I still have a lot of friends who are over in the Comp end of the deal. I had a great time running that car. Driving that car taught me a lot of valuable lessons.”

Although Shane has turned plenty of heads in the Pro Stock class in 2010, he is keeping things in perspective.

“I’m still a person who likes to sit back and keep my mouth shut and not get in anybody’s way as far as the Pro Stock people go,” Shane said. “I’m just a beginner that is getting into the sport and I want to stay out of everybody’s way and make as few mistakes as I can. I want to go race, have a good time and do well for our sponsors, and make sure our engines run the car down the track.”

During the offseason, Johnny Gray made the decision to have he and Shane run their own engine program. Johnny bought an engine shop in Denver, N.C., and it now houses the horsepower for Gray Motorsports.

“The guys in our shop work hard to get us power and we continue to work on that,” Shane said. “I live in Denver, N.C., and I’m here at the shop every day from 7:30 am to quitting time, whenever quitting time is. The greatest thing is that I get to do what I love to do; that’s go race the cars and come back to the shop and work on the engines with guys here at the shop.”

Once Shane begins the Countdown to 1 playoffs at Indy, he has no goals in mind.

“I really do not have to do anything,” Shane said. “I’ve already exceeded my expectations and everybody else’s expectations. I’m on a Sunday afternoon drive and I have no pressure.”