Prior to Sunday’s final eliminations, Dave Connolly admitted that crew chiefs Justin Elkes and Tommy Utt made wholesale changes to his Gray Motorsports Camaro, and in the end they worked.

Connolly, winless since the 2012 NHRA Nationals, scored the victory in his first appearance at the Auto Plus NHRA New England Nationals outside of Manchester, New Hampshire. His final round appearance was his first of the season, after having reached the semifinals three times this season.

Connolly was quicker off the starting line by .027 of a second and the head start, along with a 6.536 second pass, was more than enough to hand teammate and rookie Jonathan Gray his second consecutive runner-up finish in as many weekends.

The victory was a long time coming, and one he expected to achieve earlier in the season.

“I would be lying if I said I didn’t expect it sooner,” admitted Connolly. “We have high expectations for this team with the caliber of people we have working on it. The talent pool is deep.”

Connolly believes the team’s first win, at this point in the season, is just a testament to the competitive nature of the Pro Stock class.

“This class is brutal and just tough,” Connolly said. “It’s every weekend we have thousandths separating us. Today was no different. When you go up there and look at the qualifying sheets and there were six to eight cars separated by a .01 each time – we knew it was going to be a weekend where you needed your left foot to win.”

Working for Connolly was a Gray Motorsports car which had low elapsed time for every elimination round.

Connolly ran a 6.513 on a bye run when Kenny Delco broke, and a 6.526 to beat Vincent Nobile. In the semis, he used a 6.517 to outrun Greg Anderson.

Connolly entered the event as the No. 3 qualifier.

“That just goes to show you how crazy this class has been,” Connolly said. “It’s a case of whoever makes the right decisions at the right time. You need a little bit of Lady Luck on your side too.”

Connolly couldn’t help but sing the praises of his team.

“Talk about a dream weekend, Shane qualifies No. 1 and we put two cars in the final,” said Connolly. “That’s a perfect weekend for Gray Motorsports.”

The victory marks the first for Connolly since the 2012 NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway outside of Reading, Pa.

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