If this is Dave Connolly’s last season in NHRA’s Pro Stock class before moving up to Top Fuel, he’s definitely leaving his mark.

Connolly won his second-consecutive race, capturing the Midwest Nationals crown beating Jason Line Sunday in the finals at St. Louis.

If this is Dave Connolly’s last season in NHRA’s Pro Stock class before moving up to Top Fuel, he’s definitely leaving his mark.

Connolly won his second-consecutive race, capturing the Midwest Nationals crown beating Jason Line Sunday in the finals at St. Louis.

Connolly got past Line with a 6.562-second lap at 211.53 mph. Line came in at 6.565 seconds at 211.66 mph. Connolly also had a .017 reaction time and Line was at

“I’m trying harder than ever,” Connolly said about trying to win a Pro Stock championship. “The whole team is pulling in the same direction and we all want this bad. If it works out great, and if it doesn’t, then we all know we are giving it our all. That was huge (beating Line in the finals). That’s a 2-for-1. If Jason would have won that, he would have been up three rounds now, instead we cut it back to one (round) just like that. We have to stop him from going rounds and that’s the only way we’re going to do it is meeting him in the finals. It’s going to be tough on us to keep going to the finals, but you take advantage of any opportunity you get and that was one of them.”

Connolly is now second in the point standings, behind Line.

Connolly, who plans to drive a Top Fuel Dragster for Bob Vandergriff Jr. in 2015, continued the recent dominance by Gray Motorsports.

Shane Gray won the U.S. Nationals on Sept. 2, Jonathon Gray was victorious Sept. 20 at the rain-postponed Carolina Nationals at the Texas Motorplex.

Connolly, who lost to Shane in the finals at Indy, beat Shane Sept. 21 to win the FallNationals at the Texas Motorplex in Dallas.

“The four wins in a row is what is impressive to me,” Connolly said. “Four wins in a row with three different drivers is just tells you the depth of Gray Motorsports. It all starts from the top, Johnny, Terry, Shane, Amber, they are great folks and I’m just having a blast racing with them this year. Racing three cars out there has really taught us how to race on Sundays. That’s what has been the key to winning us these rounds lately.”

This was Connolly’s 26th NHRA career Pro Stock victory and third this season to go along with his wins at Epping, N.H. on June 22, and Dallas.

On Sunday, Connolly defeated Chris McGaha, V. Gaines, rival Erica Enders-Stevens, and Line.

“You could definitely say that,” Connolly said about Enders-Stevens being a legitimate rival for him. “I’m sure she’s not going to be pleased that I say this, but I consider this three in a row. We won with her driving in 2012 and 2013 (at St. Louis). Standing behind the car, I consider that a win as well. Everyone on the Gray Motorsports team should take credit for this win because it is tough out there. She’s not a big fan of mine right now, but we’re just doing what we have to do to get the job done on Sundays. We will just keep rolling.”

Connolly was Enders-Stevens’ crew chief the past two seasons.

There are only three races left in the Countdown to the Championship (Oct. 2-5), Las Vegas (Oct. 30-Nov. 2), Pomona, Calif., (Nov. 13-16).

“We wanted to go out there and try and win every weekend, but in the same sense we did sacrifice certain rounds to learn how to race,” Connolly said. “We wanted to try stuff. The track conditions change so much throughout a Sunday. First round, second round, semis, they are all different and they have different characteristics you have to learn. Again, us just going A to B and getting down the race track is what is winning us races right now.”

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