Erica Enders-Stevens took a lot of criticism for a decision that was out of her hands.

The Pro Stock driver, who had a large points lead at the time, did not compete at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals July 25-27 and the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle Aug. 1-3 as her team owner decided to focus on the season-ending Countdown to the Championship.

Erica Enders-Stevens took a lot of criticism for a decision that was out of her hands.

The Pro Stock driver, who had a large points lead at the time, did not compete at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals July 25-27 and the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle Aug. 1-3 as her team owner decided to focus on the season-ending Countdown to the Championship.

Enders-Stevens ended up losing the points lead, but was able to wrestle it back when she defeated Jeg Coughlin in the final round of the Toyota NHRA Nationals in Vegas.

“There was a lot of negativity around our decision, but it was the decision we had to make that suited our team the best,” Enders-Stevens said. “We wanted to come into the Countdown as prepared as possible and do the best that we could. That meant sitting out those two races.

“I had hundreds of hate emails and just a lot of Internet negativity. I think this just goes to show what we’re capable of. We had a 240-some point lead at the most this season and we didn’t want to take those races off. But we had to. Business-wise we had to, just to be able to be in the position we’re in now.”

If every race was at The Strip in Las Vegas, Enders-Stevens wouldn’t ever have to worry about taking races off. This season she dominated the competition in Vegas, winning the Spring race and the K&N Filter Shootout before qualifying No. 1 and posting the best ET of all four rounds of eliminations this weekend.

It was quite different from a few weeks ago in Reading, when she lost to Allen Johnson in the semifinals despite qualifying No. 1.

“I wanted to come in with a positive attitude,” she said. “When I walked in the gate Thursday afternoon I had a good feeling. I was a nervous wreck in Reading, to be quite honest, and I’d never felt that way in my entire racing career.

“I decided I was going to give it to God and keep the faith…to just do my best and let Him do the rest. That quick mental chance made everything run so much smoother today.”

Enders-Stevens’ crew gave her the best car, and Enders-Stevens was on point in the seat when it counted most. She cut a .009 light against a red-lighting Line in the semifinals before an .007 light against Coughlin in the final gave her the advantage on the line.

She reached the finish line first in 6.587 at 209.36 miles per hour to Coughlins’ 6.596/209.14.

“Hats off to my guys,” Enders-Stevens said. “They gave me a consistent race car. The ESPN guys were kind of bashing them the last couple of interviews, saying we just couldn’t get it done on race day. Well, we can get it done on race day and today was perfect proof of that.

“You can’t knock them. We’re low every round of qualifying in the last few races and then every round of eliminations until we lost. Then, today, to be low on qualifying and then all four today just says a lot about them.”

Enders-Stevens was happy with how things unfolded. She will head to the season finale in Pomona with 2,513 points while Line, in second, will have 2,496.

“Jeg is probably the best driver this sport has ever seen,” Enders-Stevens said. “He’s awesome in every race car he gets in. I knew I had to be up on the wheel because he’s as hungry as I am. I was .009 in the semis and when I came up here the Christmas Tree was in the shade because the sun had gone down.

“I was a little bit nervous about going red and wanted to make a change in my clutch pedal. My crew chief wouldn’t, said we were going after it…that if it was meant to be it would happen.

“I, by no means, let up for the finals. The Jason Line round was probably the biggest of my career at this point, then going to the final against Jeg, and being able to get it done in the fashion we did, I’m really proud of my team.”

Enders-Stevens is not worried about the pressure of racing for a championship.

“I feel blessed to be in this position, to get the points lead back heading into the last race of the year,” she said. “I guess you don’t get more pressure than that, but the mental side of it…I’m just going to take it one round at a time and appreciate being in the position we’re in.”

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