There is nothing more dangerous than a driver with nothing to lose.

And that is exactly the man Greg Anderson has become during this year’s Countdown to the Championship.

Despite all the stress, all the pressure associated with a championship run, Anderson admits that he is as calm as ever, even having a little bit of fun in the midst of all the chaos. And that new, relaxed attitude paid off in a big way on Sunday.

Anderson bested teammate Jason Line to earn his third victory of the year and snap a streak of three-straight runner-up finishes all while taking over the Pro Stock points lead at the sixth annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park.

Anderson drove the Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro to a 6.571-second elapsed time at 210.73 mph to earn the win, his 20th in 36 career meetings with Line. Line, meanwhile, had a 6.545 at 211.26 mph in the runner-up effort.

“I needed a breakthrough bad. It’s been three final rounds in a row and it is as hard as ever to win out here,” said Anderson, who earned his 89th career victory on Sunday. “My racecar worked great all weekend, but I had a little bit of an issue with my engine. It was a little bit off speed-wise, so even though the car was working great, I was getting passed by as we went down the track by my two teammates. I knew it was going to take a stroke of luck to win it even though I had a great car because I didn’t have the total package. And, thankfully, everything just fell into place.

“I left the starting line and I didn’t think I got the light that I needed to win and I was scared so I refused to look over all the way down the track. When I got to the finish line and that light came on I was almost shocked. I really didn’t expect to get around Jason. He had a great car all weekend and he had a .005 light in the semifinal so I knew it was going to take somebody looking over me to get the win and it happened.

“When I stage this racecar you have to act like you are having fun. Act like you are making a qualifying run. I was very calm today. I didn’t have any killer lights, but my car was good enough and I had good enough lights when I had to. We ran the right guys at the right time and I was fortunate today.”

It was a wild day throughout the Pro Stock category in St. Louis as two of the top five cars in points lost in round one while all three KB Racing cars made it through to the semifinals. Anderson survived the chaos against Brian Self, Larry Morgan and Dave River, while Line had wins over Bo Butner, Deric Kramer and Alan Prusiensky.

Tanner Gray, who was third in the championship entering the weekend, fell in round one to Kramer, while Drew Skillman - fifth in the Countdown - lost to Self.

“My two teammates are tough guys to get around because they are every bit as fast as me. But those two Gray cars, they’ve got fast racecars and they cut killer lights as well. It just so happens today that Tanner was too good as he was two-thousandths red,” Anderson said. “It’s a tough game. And for us it was a break that we didn’t expect to get. Now I’ve got to come up behind him and not screw up. We ended up capitalizing as much as you can capitalize on his misfortune, but that exact same thing could reverse and happen to us at the next race.

“You can’t go up there and be safe. If you do, you are done. You might as well go load your car in the trailer. You have to go up there for blood every time and hopefully you don’t go over the line.”

With the win and subsequent struggles of those around him, Anderson has taken over the points lead by three points over Butner. Line has jumped up to third, while Gray and Skillman round out the top five.

“Three runner-ups and a win, that’s not bad. I’ve been telling everybody that you need to peak at the right time, you need to peak going into the playoffs and obviously I have,” Anderson said. “I guess that is all you can ask. It’s been great for me and it’s going to take finishes like that the rest of the way out to have a chance to win this thing. There are so many cars that can win it with all these races decided by thousandths of a second. It is crazy, but that is what I love. That is what is great about NHRA Pro Stock racing. We haven’t had a bad day and that is what it is going to take the rest of the way. I’m in it and that is all you can ask for.

“We are all deadlocked right now. Now we wipe the slate clean and start over for these next three races.”