A fun day at Maple Grove ended in celebration for veteran Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson.

Anderson powered his Camaro to the win at the Mopar Express Lane NHRA Nationals presented by Pennzoil Sunday in Reading, Pa., to tie the NHRA all-time Pro Stock victory mark at 97 with his mentor Warren Johnson.

Anderson clocked a 6.578-second elapsed time at 208.30 mph to beat Erica Enders’ 6.604-second lap at 206.73 mph in the finals.

“I was shocked,” Anderson said. “I was absolutely shocked that the win light came on. I have so many races in a row that it would not come on. You think you got everything going for you and everything is going great and the light just comes on in the final round. It is a great, great feeling. There’s nothing better than when the light comes on in the final round at an NHRA national event. That’s why we do it. It is everything for us.

“To finally tie Warren Johnson for the wins record, that’s saying a lot. Obviously, I have a lot of history with him. I kind of have two lives going here. That was my first life, and it was a pretty darn full life and I won a lot of races with him and learned a ton. I moved on and started all over from scratch on my second life and here we are deadlock tied. I guess it is only fitting and a cool story.”

Anderson made his Pro Stock debut in 1999 and earned his first national event win in Bristol, Tenn., beating Jim Yates in the finals in 2001.

This was Anderson's was third win of the season in his sixth final round appearance. He won in Gainesville, Fla., and Atlanta and then lost in the finals in Epping, N.H., Norwalk, Ohio, and Pomona. Calif.

“Now I have a chance to break (the all-time record),” Anderson said. “I’m going to have a chance to break it at my home track in Charlotte (N.C., Sept. 17-19) where I live and I’m going to have a ton of fans out there to support us and obviously the Hendrick Automotive Group will be there, and I can’t think a better place to break the record. I’m looking forward to that. You can’t break the record until you tie it, and I finally got it done today. It was a huge day and fantastic the way everything worked out.”

Anderson, who won world championships in 2003-2005 and 2010, knows nothing will come easy the remainder of the season.

“I started the playoffs on a high note and there are a lot of great cars in the class and any of them can win and I think deep down we know Erica is going to be the one to beat and get around if you want to win a championship,” Anderson said. “We all know every final round she is in; she doesn’t make mistakes and she didn’t again. I just finally did a little bit better job with the race car and apparently, I left the starting line before she did, and I will take it and I will take the victory. I’m so proud of this team I race for. I’m having a ball. I’m 60 years old and I’m having more fun than I ever had. It is a pretty cool deal.”

Anderson will remain No. 1 in the points standings and improved his elimination-round record this season to 29-9.

“I have had confidence in the car all year,” Anderson said. “The car is just bad to the bone. It is a pleasure to drive and that makes your job a lot easier. If you can just go up and think about cutting a light it just works out that much better. It takes a team effort to win in this class and we had it today and we are the champions today and we have five more tries to do this deal and see if we can find a way to win a championship. I like our chances. I have a chance and I’m going to see if I can get it done.”