Every year, the winners of NHRA’s annual stop in northern California celebrate with a goblet of wine from Sonoma’s world-renowned wine country.

Unless, that is, you are not old enough to drink.

And, unfortunately, that was the case for NHRA rookie sensation Tanner Gray, who continued his dream season in the Pro Stock category with a victory at the 30th annual Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals Sunday at Sonoma Raceway as the 19-year-old had to sit out on a few of the post-race festivities.

“It was just Mello Yello for me,” said Gray, who was on the receiving end of a champagne shower - even if he couldn’t have a sip. “Everyone ganged up on me after the race. I think I was the only one who was sober.”

Gray bested points leader Bo Butner in recording his third career NHRA Pro Stock victory, winning by one of the closest margins of the season. Butner had a tick advantage on the startling line, but the pair were dead-even by the 60-foot mark. From there Gray pulled away ever-so-slightly, crossing the stripe with a 6.572-second pass at 210.05 mph with a margin of victory of only .004 at the finish line. Butner, in his seventh final of the year, had a 6.577 at 210.93 mph.

“To be honest, I was more nervous going up against Drew (Skillman) in the semis for whatever reason. I felt really calm in the final. It seems like the car spun pretty hard in low and I think I held it out in low long enough and, when I put it up in high gear, I saw Bo right there with us and thought, ‘this doesn’t look good,’” Gray said. “I look back over and I thought he had won going across the finish line. I pushed the clutch in and saw our win light was on. I really thought he had us on that one.”

Gray was relatively consistent throughout the afternoon in the Gray Motorsports Valvoline Chevrolet, getting past Alan Prusiensky and Jason Line in the first two rounds with big starting line advantages, but a .036 light in the semifinals against Skillman almost cost the rookie a chance at the win.

“I am not real happy that I was 30-something in the semis,” Gray said. “It would have been better if I could have taken that 30 out and replaced it with something better. But all that matters at the end of the day is we are holding the trophy.

“I am really proud of my guys, it was probably the best I have seen them run the car. The car was throwing some curveballs, but we put a Band-Aid on it to fix it. We haven’t necessarily got it completely fixed, but we made it work for the track conditions today.”

Butner had wins over Erica Enders, Chris McGaha and Greg Anderson.

With a third win and fourth final in his pocket, the young driver who entered the year just hoping to contend for a win, is now thinking championship as the NHRA Mello Yello series enters the final two races before the Countdown to the Championship.

“It’s definitely crazy. I am very competitive, so I don’t expect anything less from myself, but it definitely feels really good,” said Gray, who is third in the championship standings. “At the same time, we have to go back and keep working. I can’t let the highs get too high or the lows get too low, as Jason Line would say. Just because we won today doesn’t mean we were outstanding.

“It is just as important that we go back and keep working. It was nice to gain on Bo, and if I can go into the Countdown in the top three, we will have a legitimate chance. We won at Vegas, got that first win out of the way, and after that I said, ‘let’s go get the championship now.’ We will keep striving for that and see where we end up.”