The drama to see who will win the 2017 NHRA nitro Funny Car championship intensified Sunday in Dallas.

Robert Hight beat Ron Capps in the finals at the FallNationals at the Texas Motorplex.

The victory left Hight 24 points behind Capps, the reigning world champion, with two races to go in Las Vegas (Oct. 26-29) and Pomona, Calif. (Nov. 9-12).

Hight clocked a 3.877-second run at 332.34 mph to edge Capps’ 3.927-second at 329.18 mph lap.

“This was huge,” Hight said. “Getting that No. 1 (qualifying) spot (Saturday night) was big so that we had lane choice (Sunday) even though I think you could have won from either lane just about every round. It was a lot cooler (Sunday) than what we faced in qualifying, but as a driver you have to be ready for everything. I had a lot of confidence with Jimmy Prock and Chris Cunningham tuning this thing because it doesn’t smoke the tires a lot. We had a monster run in the first round, 3.82 (seconds), 338.60 (mph). We had a pretty good head wind. They were saying it was like 20 mph. If we wouldn’t have had that, that had the possibility of being the first 340 mph run.”

Hight, who drives a Chevy for John Force Racing, captured his fourth win of the season and 41st of his career.

Hight’s victory parade was comprised of wins over Jim Campbell, Alexis DeJoria, Tim Wilkerson and Capps.

“A round win is worth 20 points, but truthfully that round win (over Capps) for us was worth 40 points because we were 44 back going into the final round had we lost that’s 64 and win and it brought back to 24 with two races left,” Hight said. “That was big. We needed that one. We would’ve been pretty bummed leaving here over three rounds back.”

Hight is chasing his second world championship, his first came in 2009.

“I’ve never seen a more focused individual than Jimmy Prock,” Hight said. “You could set our trailer on fire and he’s still going to be staring at that computer trying to figure out what he wants to do the next round. Nothing rattles him. It doesn’t matter that (Rahn) Tobler (Capps’ crew chief) and he are friends, none of that matters. That’s how you have to be as a driver. They have the points lead and he has the No. 1 on the side of his car and they have a great team and we have to go do our job to get it back. There have been four Countdown races and each of us have won two. The game is on.”

Hight is thrilled he and Capps are locked in this battle with just two races remaining.

“Anything can happen,” Hight said. “There’s still a lot of racing left. We are going to Vegas next with its high altitude and we make a lot of horsepower and I like our chances there, but it’s not going to get any easier. We have to focus and work hard and we can do this. I know we can.”