Nitro Funny Car driver Tommy Johnson Jr. seems to always being flying under the radar in his Don Schumacher Racing Dodge.

That wasn’t the case Sunday at the Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn., - Johnson Jr. was starring in the spotlight.

Johnson Jr., on a holeshot, beat his DSR teammate Matt Hagan in the finals when he clocked a 4.038-second elapsed time at 313.22 mph to beat Hagan’s quicker 4.030-second lap at 317.57 mph.

The difference was at the starting line as Johnson Jr. had an .035 reaction time compared to Hagan’s .057 reaction time.

“You have to dig deep, man,” Johnson Jr. said. “Hagan is one of the best leavers out there and this team has been fighting all year, and I’ve been coming to the tree every time for them and trying to do my best. I knew we would get it lined out.”

This was Johnson Jr.’s 13th career national event win and his first of the season in his Make-A-Wish Dodge. This was Johnson Jr.’s second appearance in a 2016 final round as he lost in Epping, N.H., to his DSR teammate Ron Capps earlier this month.

The win also was beneficial for Johnson Jr. as it allowed him to secure the final spot in the NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootout.

“To lock yourself into that, it’s in the back of your mind,” said Johnson Jr., who also won at Bristol in 2014. “We had a shot at it in Epping and we just lost to Ron Capps, who is already in, and I thought man, he didn’t cut me any slack, I need to get in there as well. I came in here against my teammate Hagan, who is already in, I thought we had to go get it and we did. The guys just stepped up to the plate and made great calls all day. It takes a lot of pressure off. I kept telling myself, don’t worry if we don’t get in the Traxxas Shootout because that’s not the big picture. The big picture is the championship, but at the same time you really want to get in that. That’s a big race at Indy that has a lot of money on the table.”

Johnson Jr. qualified No. 6, and proceeded to beat Cruz Pedregon, Robert Hight, and Alexis DeJoria before ousting Hagan.

“We had a great season last year and finished third and made a really good charge late,” Johnson Jr. said. “The guys just did a great job. We’re not an aggressive team. We race the race track and John (Collins, Johnson Jr.’s crew chief) makes some really great calls on what to do and he’s kind of feeling it out as the season begins and as the season gets going we get all that data and he starts to make some really great calls, and the team really starts to make a charge. (Sunday) the car drove flawless and it was a great way to celebrate Father’s Day.”

During NHRA Nitro Spring Training at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park near Phoenix, in early February, Johnson powered his Dodge Charger to the unofficial quickest run ever in Funny Car, a jaw-dropping 3.874 second run at 318.47 mph.

Now, Johnson Jr. is hoping he can capitalize on his Bristol momentum.

“I’m not going to lie, a little bit,” Johnson Jr. said about being disappointed that it took his team until the 11th race of the season to win. “It could’ve been better at the beginning. We has some issues and we had a problem with the car that we fortunately found. Unfortunately it took us three or four races to find it, but we found and things have been turning up since then. I’m really happy with the guys, they kept their chins up and kept working hard and these are the results you get from that. It was a great team effort all around.”

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