NHRA Pro Stock standout Tanner Gray has found his groove at the right time.

Gray, who pilots his family-owned Gray Motorsports Valvoline Chevy Camaro, won his second of the last three races by capturing the title at the AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals Sunday near St. Louis.

Gray clocked a 6.567-second run at 211.06 mph to defeat Drew Skillman’s 11.409-second lap in the finals.

Gray also remains atop the season points standings as he has a 52-point lead over second-place Vincent Nobile with four races to go in the Countdown to the Championship.

“This is pretty cool,” said Gray, 19. “Throughout qualifying, we didn’t run as well as we should have. When we were making nice runs we just never really got aggressive enough. It was cool to see everybody keep their head on straight and come in today and know that the only day that matters is Sunday and fight back and get a win.”

This was Gray’s class-high sixth win this season and the 11th of his two-year career in only 44 races. Gray’s 11 career wins match the total of legendary of Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins.

Gray’s victories this season have come in Gainesville, Fla., Richmond, Va., Norwalk, Ohio, Seattle, Indianapolis and St. Louis.

During Gray’s victory march Sunday, he beat Chris McGaha, Erica Enders, Vincent Nobile and then Skillman.

“That round win against Vincent was huge,” Gray said. “I feel like all of us did a really good job of just taking it round-by-round and not really looking at the big picture and focusing on what we had to do. I’m just super proud of everybody over there for that because it is pretty tough to do. I figured that out last year. Even coming into the first race (of the Countdown at Reading, Pa.), I went back to the shop and I was sitting down with our manager Kevin, and I told him ‘I’m stressed out. I can’t sleep at night, but everything is coming together, and it is really neat to see. It’s cool to sit back from my point of view because the only thing I do is drive. It’s really gratifying for me to see these guys have the work they put in pay off.”

Gray had one win in the Countdown to the Championship a year ago at Charlotte, N.C., but couldn’t capitalize on that momentum as he finished fourth in the point standings. He lost in the first round in St. Louis in 2017, thanks to a red-light start against Deric Kramer.

“Coming into today, I really had the same mindset as I had last year,” Gray said. “Last year at Charlotte even though I won, I felt like I was racing scared. I felt like I was racing scared at Reading (Pa.) and I was like man, I just can’t do that. You have to lay it all on the line in the Countdown and if it works out in your favor then it works out and if not, you have to know you gave it your best and it just wasn’t meant to be. That’s how I came into this weekend. I felt like it showed as far as my reaction times. I wasn’t quite as quick as I thought I needed to be today, but I was consistent and I’m proud of that.”

There are four races left in the 2018 NHRA season at Dallas, Texas (Oct. 4-7), Carolina Nationals (Oct. 12-14) in Charlotte, Las Vegas (Oct. 25-28) and Pomona, Calif. (Nov. 8-11).

“I’m super happy to be here and really excited to see what the rest of the year holds,” Gray said. “Whether we win the championship or not, at the end of the day, I’m still going to go home and be really proud of everything we have accomplished. I really wouldn’t want to work with any other group of guys. I feel like I really don’t have any interest of driving for anybody else. Obviously, we want to win the championship out here and that’s the main goal, but at the end of the day, there’s more things to life than racing. That’s what our manager Kevin talked to me about and I really think it helped coming in here because I went from stressing and worrying about each round to thinking whatever happens, happens and God has a plan and whatever it is, it is. You might as well roll with it and see where it takes you.

It’s nice to have a week off and reflect on what we have done so far. Six wins in a year is big, especially in this class. I feel like maybe I have matured a little bit more and all in all, I still want to win more than I ever have. That’s the only thing I come here to do.”