L.E. Tonglet, the runaway NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle leader throughout the summer, took a back seat to Eddie Krawiec once the Countdown began and lost to the Vance & Hines team last weekend at Reading, Pa.

But he returned the favor Sunday at Gateway Motorsports Park, at Madison, Ill., beating Krawiec’s teammate, Andrew Hines, in the final round of the AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals. In earning his sixth victory of the season, he cooled down the hot Harley-Davidson duo and reasserted himself into the championship scramble.

Tonlget’s margin of victory was only about 23 inches (0.0065 of a second), but the significance was huge. Krawiec – his quarterfinal victim – retained his lead, but Tonglet sliced it from 71 points to 16 at the halfway point of the six-race playoffs.

That definitely puts more pressure on Krawiec as the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series action shifts to the Texas Motorplex after an idle weekend. Countdown Race No. 4 is the Oct. 12-15 AAA Texas FallNationals, at Ennis, Texas, just south of Dallas.

But Sunday [the trip to the St. Louis area] was a day of revival for the Metairie, La., racer.

He used a .029-second reaction time on the Nitro Fish Suzuki to win with his 6.792-second quarter-mile elapsed time at 197.91 mph against Hines’ quicker and faster 6.790, 197.94. Hines cut a .037-second light.

That left Hines winless in three trips to the final round, as Tonglet denied him his first victory since the 2016 U.S. Nationals. Hines beat Andie Rawlings, Karen Stoffer, and Scotty Pollacheck in earlier rounds, and that helped boost him from fifth place to third. Hines entered the race 120 points out of first place, and he leaves St. Louis with only a 72-point deficit.

Tonglet reached his eighth final round this season by eliminating Joey Gladstone, Krawiec, and Matt Smith. But it was that Round 2 triumph that meant as much as winning his 16th Wally.

“Facing off against Eddie in Round 2 was a huge match-up. We felt like that was the make-or-break of the Countdown,” Tonglet said. “We came out on top, and we’re back in it. I was fired up against Eddie. This was make-or-break for us. We felt if we lost this race then out championship hunt was over.” Tonglet responded by recording a nearly perfect .001-second reaction time.

After Tonglet stood on the podium with Steve Torrence (Top Fuel), Ron Capps (Funny Car), and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock), he gave credit to White Alligator Racing crew chief Tim Kulungian.

“I’m just a monkey pushing a button. I’m just sitting on a very fast motorcycle,” Tonglet said. “I make mistakes, and I made two of them today. Tim’s been tuning the bike, and it’s flyin’. I was able to make a couple of mistakes and still get the wins. I didn’t make any in the final, though, I don’t think.”

He was just 20 years old when he won the 2010 championship, and he said seven years has made a difference in his judgment.

“That was a way different kid,” he said of his younger self. “I didn’t know what the pressure was. Now, seven years later, I know what Andrew [Hines] was feeling and what Eddie and all of them are feeling with the pressure.”

As the final-round win light came on for Tonlget, one of his crew members shouted, “Get you some of that!”

The Harley-Davidson riders did, and what they do with it starting at Dallas is making the Pro Stock Motorcycle race even juicier.