For seven consecutive events Andrew Hines has been to the final round, but after being humbled for three consecutive races by Rookie of the Year competitor LE Tonglet, the Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson rider finally got a little revenge and issued a reminder as to why he has held the Pro Stock Motorcycle points lead since the Brainerd event in mid-August. In a very close final at the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals, Hines beat his opponent off the starting line by .023-second and clocked a 6.916 to Tonglet's 6.913 to score the holeshot win.

"It was great, we put a lot of qualifying points on LE coming into Sunday," said Hines. "I'm trying to rely on some of the other competitors out there to take him out early, but we keep matching up in the final round and it's been tough with that little blue bike beating us the last few races. We were wondering what it was going to take to get it done. I knew I needed to be quick off the tree. I was aiming for a .020, and the bike left perfect, just like it needed to. That finish line couldn't get their quick enough. When I saw that win light, it was one of the prettiest win lights I've seen in a long time."

Attitude's CompetitionPlus.com provides quick hit coverage of the NHRA Toyo Tires Nationals hosted by Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa. Follow along for news and notes from the event.

Larry Dixon raced to his 12th Top Fuel victory of the season Sunday at the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway.

Cruz Pedregon, Dave Connolly and Andrew Hines also were winners at the fourth of six playoff races in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship.

Dixon was on and off the throttle on his Al-Anabi Racing dragster to beat top championship rival Cory McClenathan in a wild final round. As both dragsters lost traction at points down the track, Dixon managed to cross the finish line first with a 4.906 second run at 295.34 mph performance, to hold off McClenathan’s charging FRAM dragster, which finished in 5.103 at 199.70.

Dixon’s dragster lost traction first, then McClenathan pulled away, only to have the blower belt break on his machine just before the finish line. That’s when Dixon decided to get back on the gas and his determination ultimately paid off in the photo finish.

Final round-by-round results from the 26th annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, the 21st of 23 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series:

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following the 26th annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, the 21st of 23 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series -

Sunday's final results from the 26th annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway. The race is the 21st of 23 in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series:

In a scene reminiscent of the early Pro Modifieds, Luigi Novelli twisted the snout of his Top Fueler every which way during his final pass Saturday afternoon at the NHRA Toyo Tires Nationals in Reading, Pa. He was unable to find the speed he needed to claim one of the 16 berths in Sunday's final elimination rounds at Maple Grove Dragway.

No matter how you look at it, there is going to be a Kawasaki in the Pro Stock Motorcycle field on race day, and that is a fairly unusual sight amongst the more commonly seen V-Rods, Buells, and Suzukis. With just 16 bikes on the premises at Maple Grove Raceway, Utica, N.Y., resident Neil Jacobs is assured an invitation to the first round on Sunday.

Jacobs has drag raced in varying sanctioning bodies for three decades, but the last time he raced in NHRA competition was at this same event in 2009, where he qualified 15th and Tree'd Michael Phillips in the first round but didn't quite have enough power to follow through at the top end.

Pro Stock racer John Gaydosh and Maryland-based charitable foundation Hot Rods for Heroes formerd a partnership earlier this season that included displaying a special scheme on Gaydosh's Pontiac GTO in honor of the country's armed forces. The scheme, which came to include hundreds of signatures from the men and women serving our country, debuted at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis.

The Gaydosh Performance GTO has raced twice this season bearing the military-themed wrap of Hot Rods for Heroes honoring the past and present members of our country's five branches of the military, and the event at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading will be the last showing. Following the event, Hot Rods for Heroes and Gaydosh Performance have agreed to end their marketing partnership to allow each organization the opportunity to pursue other endeavors.

After qualifying a disappointing 11th in Dallas as the Countdown to the Championship really began to heat up, Rodger Brogdon was determined to improve, even if the championship was a longshot.

In the first qualifying session on Friday at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, he was already showing improvement, driving his AttitudeApparelOnline.com Pistonator Pontiac Pro Stocker to a 6.565 at 209.72 mph for the provisional No. 3 spot -- a position that was good for a valuable qualifying bonus point.

Ultimately, Brogdon earned a start in Reading from the No. 5 position.