NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Greg Anderson got the moment he wanted to have to close out Atlanta Dragway.

The longtime standout finished off a dominating performance at this weekend’s Lucas Oil NHRA Southern Nationals, rolling past Vincent Nobile with a 6.568 at 209.04 in the final round in his Denso Chevrolet Camaro. Nobile ran 6.598 at 208.78 in the losing effort.

It was a monumental win on a number of fronts, starting with the fact Anderson will go down as the final Pro Stock winner at Atlanta. It also gave Anderson his fifth victory at Georgia’s House of Speed, tying him with Warren Johnson, who was honored during pre-race activities on Sunday, for the most wins in Pro Stock history at the track.

The wire-to-wire triumph also handed Anderson his 96th career victory - and second in 2021 - putting him one away from Johnson for the most in Pro Stock history. Anderson will focus on that aspect soon enough, but his main priority on Sunday was capping off his incredible run at Atlanta Dragway with a victory.

“It was an absolute dream weekend. My Denso Chevy, it was absolutely flawless all weekend long,” Anderson said. “I’ve never made four smoother, nice runs on raceday than this. It’s just been an awesome day and a storybook deal. There’s a lot of history here and I love racing here. To tie Warren and to go out with five each, it’s great. It’s been a dream, it’s been wonderful and I want to thank everyone who has helped us.”

Anderson won in Gainesville to open the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season, and he may have topped himself with this weekend’s performance. After qualifying No. 1, he kept a pace nobody could match, going 6.560 at 209.82, 6.571 at 209.46, and 6.575 at 208.59 to reach the final round. Only Erica Enders made it interesting, posting a .009 reaction time in the semifinals. But Anderson drove past her before half-track and cruised to the final-round win.

In his first race since the 2018 season, Nobile enjoyed a welcome return, advancing to his 26th final round with a series of upsets. He knocked off Troy Coughlin Jr., Aaron Stanfield and Deric Kramer to meet up with Anderson, but the veteran was simply too much in the championship round.