Erica Enders-Stevens must feel like she’s been seeing about 50 shades of Gray.

She is surrounded in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship Pro Stock standings by Gray Motorsports cars, with Dave Connolly (second) and Shane Gray (third) directly in front of her while Jonathan Gray sits fifth, right behind her.

Erica Enders-Stevens must feel like she’s been seeing about 50 shades of Gray.

She is surrounded in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship Pro Stock standings by Gray Motorsports cars, with Dave Connolly (second) and Shane Gray (third) directly in front of her while Jonathan Gray sits fifth, right behind her.

After final Pro Stock qualifying at the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, Ender-Stevens sat at the top of the qualifying sheet as a result of her 6.511 at 213.03 miles per hour. All three Gray Motorsports entries are on the same side of the ladder as Enders-Stevens.

How rough is the road to the Midwest Nationals Wally? The top eight qualified cars are all cars in the 2014 Countdown.

“We have a stout group of players out there and we’ve certainly got our work cut out for us,” Enders-Stevens said. “No race is ever easy but our side of the ladder is packed with all three of the Gray cars, two of which are actually in front of me in the points standings. We get a shot to control our own destiny tomorrow.

“We’re just going to focus on one round at a time. We can’t get ahead of ourselves, we just have to focus on our car and do our job in our lane…me and the tree and hitting my shift points.”

Enders-Stevens earned the top qualifying position for the fourth time this season and for the 10th time in her career.

Enders-Stevens’ 2014 Camaro has been the quickest, most consistent Pro Stocker of the weekend. She has run the quickest ET of all four sessions, with her quickest being the 6.511 she ran in the fourth session and the slowest a 6.524/211.93 pass she ran in the first qualifying session Saturday.

“We’ve had four really nice runs that we’re proud of,” she said. “There are definitely ways to nitpick it and improve but it was a good run. When I let the clutch pedal out on that last run, and it kind of shook at the top of low gear, I knew we were on a pretty good one.

“If it gets through low gear that’s usually a good indication that it’s on a fast pass. I’m just really excited and humble.”

Heading into the final qualifying session, Enders-Stevens and her team were confident and looked to build for Sunday.

“We were trying to be consistent and have a nice race day setup,” she said. “The air was very similar to qualifying pass number three and pretty similar to yesterday’s as well, so it was definitely conducive for us to go.

“We talked about it before that run, for us to be able to go a high .50 or a low .51 and we were able to accomplish just that. I’m really proud of my team. They’ve given me a consistent race car, and a fast one at that.”

Enders-Stevens will face No. 16 qualifier Larry Morgan in the first round. Jeg Coughlin finished second on the qualifying sheet with a 6.522/212.53 while the Countdown leader, Jason Line, ended up third with a 6.522/212.29 pass.

Ender-Stevens is looking to make a move up in the standings before pulling out of Gateway Motorsports Park. At the same time, however, she said she has no pressure.

“My team owner has been really cool about that,” Enders-Stevens said. “There’s been no pressure, no drama…we’re just out here having a really good time. We’re blessed to have the opportunity to do this in the first place. The fact that I get to get up every day and drive a race car, and my guys, their dream is to work on them.

“It’s really cool that we get to work towards a common goal and it’s such a positive environment. That’s very unique out here. I’ve not had that in my past with other teams that I’ve worked for. It’s an awesome season and we’re going to try to finish strong.”

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