Dave Connolly has opened the Countdown to Four with back-to-back victories over season-long dominator Greg Anderson and the young Pro Stock phenom is feeling as confident as ever as only two races remain until the Countdown to One fields are established.

Dave Connolly has opened the Countdown to Four with back-to-back victories over season-long dominator Greg Anderson and the young Pro Stock phenom is feeling as confident as ever as only two races remain until the Countdown to One fields are established.

"You couldn't ask for a better time to get hot," Connolly said. "It's just remarkable and I'm so thankful I get to do this with the team I have; these guys are like family to me. I'm just a small part of this whole process -- the lucky guy that gets to drive up and down the track. I start to look back three or four years when I was first getting started and every time I got to the final there was Greg and he was beating me. Here we are a few years later and I've beaten him in two finals in a row. Everything is just clicking right now and hopefully we don't use up all our luck before we're done."

Connolly continued his march toward the Countdown to Four with his third consecutive victory on Sunday.

A major moment during eliminations came when Connolly was the first driver with lane choice to swap lanes and take the right side in the second round.

"That's Tommy Utt for you," said Connolly, with his friendly southern drawl. "We've seen a lot of goofy things happen over there (in the left lane), some good cars that shut off. So at the last minute he made the call and I trust him completely. We picked up the win and this Torco Race Fuels Chevy Cobalt is going to the semis. Life's good right now, we'll see what happens next round.

Connolly earned lane choice in the semifinals, where he defeated Jim Yates to reach his third consecutive final round and a chance at a three- peat. He defeated his major rival, Greg Anderson, in the final round with a 6.648 at 207.59 to Anderson's 6.658 at 208.65 mph.

"You couldn't ask for a better time to get hot," said Connolly. "Right before the first cut we win Reading and then continue the roll at Indy. It's just remarkable and I'm thankful we get to do it with the people we have on our team. I've said it before, I'm just a small part of the team and this whole process. I'm just the guy that gets to ride up and down the track in the car. Especially in the final, it was pretty wild, it was a fun ride."