Drew Skillman can now make a huge check off his bucket list.

The driver of the Ray Skillman Chevy Camaro won the prestigious U.S. Nationals Monday.

Thanks to a holeshot, Skillman beat Greg Anderson in the finals at Lucas Oil Raceway.

“There’s a very small list of things I really want to do in life and this (winning Indy) was one of them,” said Skillman, who lives in Greenwood, Ind. “That’s huge, huge, huge. This is something I really wanted to do.”

Skillman clocked a 6.676-second elapsed time at 206.61 mph to defeat Anderson’s quicker 6.660-second lap at 208.01 mph.

The difference was at the starting line. Skillman had a .022 reaction time compared to Anderson’s .050 reaction time.

“I had nothing to lose,” said Skillman about facing Anderson. “I had the slower car, I had the worst reaction times and I had everything against me and my plan was to let him go in first and I was going to dive in there and let the clutch go and see what happens and that’s what I did and it worked out this time.”

Skillman’s journey to the winner’s circle consisted of wins over Jeg Coughlin, Chris McGaha, Tanner Gray and Anderson. Prior to this weekend, Skillman’s best finish at Indy was a runner-up finish to Erica Enders in 2015.

“We had a great car in qualifying and the last round of qualifying the motor started fading,” Skillman said. “We thought we just kind of missed it. The first round we knew we were in trouble. Due to all the people who were racing under Gray power this weekend, we were limited to a motor that never had been run. So, we stuck in the car and threw in ‘this should work tune-up,’ in it and we barely had time to start it. We went down the track and I had no Racepak data and that’s where we get all our information from. It corrupted the file. The next round we went up and luck is huge in this sport and Tanner does not make mistakes like he did there. I don’t think he has ever been .060 (reaction time) like he did there, and that was our lucky round and we marched forward. I had never beat Greg before and I finally got that off my back.”

This was Skillman’s fourth win of the season as he also has victories at Chicago, Denver and Seattle. Skillman runs Gray Motorsports engines and this was the eighth win for a Gray Motorsports-powered car as Tanner Gray also has four wins at Las Vegas, Topeka, Kan., Sonoma, Calif., and Brainerd. Skillman and Gray have combined to win four of the last five national events.

“I can’t speak highly enough of everyone at Gray Motorsports, my team has been killing it,” Skillman said. “Consistency is super hard in this sport and we have a car that for some reason keeps repeating.”

With his win, Skillman is fourth in the points standings as he heads into the six race Countdown to the Championship, which begins Sept. 15-17 in Charlotte, N.C.

“Championship, that’s it,” Skillman said about his mindset for the Countdown. “We’re going to just keep moving forward in the same direction we have been going. We are not always the fastest car, but it’s very, very consistent. We’re going to run a test before Charlotte starts and we’re going to come out swinging.”