Dave Connolly will return to the driving ranks in NHRA’s Pro Stock ranks – at least for one race.

Connolly, who is the crew chief for the Camaro driven by Tanner Gray, will drive a second Gray Motorsports Camaro at the Virginia Nationals in North Dinwiddie, June 8-10.

“We’re going to give it a go,” Connolly said about him driving. “I think it will benefit us. It will be fun to let the clutch out again and let it fly and pull some gears on through there. It will be a blast.”

The last time Connolly competed in a NHRA national event in Pro Stock was in 2014. That season, he drove a Pro Stock car for Gray Motorsports finishing third in the points chase on the strength of three wins at Epping, N.H., Dallas, and St. Louis. He last drove a Pro Stock car in the spring of 2016 when he did some test laps in Drew Skillman’s Camaro shortly after Skillman joined Gray Motorsports.

Connolly has won 26 national events in NHRA’s Pro Stock class.

“It has been quite some time since I’ve driven a Pro Stock car, but I’m looking forward to doing it again,” Connolly said. “Really, it will give us the opportunity to break in some parts, and I really like the progression we have made with Tanner’s car over the last three or four races. There are few little things I do want to try, but with four races in a row, you kind of pick and choose your battles sometimes. So, this will give me the opportunity to try a few little things and we will see what happens.”

Tanner Gray is fifth in the Pro Stock points standings – 78 points back of leader Greg Anderson. Connolly will be driving the Camaro Shane Gray, Tanner’s father, campaigned at the Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals. He qualified No. 10 and failed to make it out of the first round.

“The car I will be driving has been run this year and it is sitting there ready to go,” Connolly said. “It should be a fairly easy transition to get it out on the race track. Those cars are very similar, so I think I should be able to put a similar setup in it and it should go right down the race track. We know we have the equipment to go run decent. We have no expectations one way or the other and we will see what happens.”

Connolly acknowledged driving and being a wrench boss this weekend will keep him busy.

“It’s definitely going to be a little more on the plate but going into this race first priority is Tanner’s car,” he said. “That’s why I’m probably not going to make both qualifying sessions (Friday and Saturday). We are running this car with the same crew we have on Tanner’s car, so it is going to be a little bit more difficult preparing it. It will be preparing it at night after the racing is done and get it ready for the next day. That’s why we are going to pick and chose the runs we make.”