Any notions that Ryan Martin hadn’t emerged from his early season slump was put to rest once and for all this weekend in Alabama, as he went undefeated on the weekend, winning both Friday’s Great 8 and Saturday’s Street Outlaws No Prep Kings invitational main event at the Alabama International Dragway.

Martin defeated rookie sensation and follow Oklahoma City runner Damon Merchant in the final round Saturday evening. The win was Martin’s second in three final round appearances this season’s, tying the win total of Merchant, who has outscored every other driver during the main events with 34 round wins.

This was Martin’s fifth double-up since the Friday program instituted during season four, and he is one of only two drivers (he and Kelley) to turn the trick.

Martin defeated Greg Chandler in the opening round, and frontrunner Lizzy Musi in round two. In the quarterfinals, Martin drove away from a slowing Disco Dean Karns in the quarterfinals, then edged out Clay Cole by less than a car length in a great drag race, to advance to the final round.

Merchant opened his day by winning a titanic battle with fellow rookie Nate Sayler. He then ousted Paige Coughlin in round two, Giuseppe Gentile in the quarterfinals, and Larry Larson in the semifinals, punching his ticket into his fifth final around appearance of the season.

The final was everything one would expect from a matchup of two of the series’ top running race cars, as Martin and Merchant got away evenly and were locked together all the way to the stripe.

On Friday, Ryan Martin defeated Kayla Morton, Musi, and Kelley to win the Great 8 for the second time this season.

Despite going uncharacteristically winless through the first nine races of the season, Martin has strung together enough round wins in the latter half of the schedule to move himself into third in total invitational points scored, and seventh in the Great 8 standings.

With the final round win over Merchant, who is a member of Kelley’s team, Martin’s squad moved to within 20 points of the once-runaway points-leading team in the main event standings. With double points on the line at the season finale in Ennis, Texas, the team championship is set to be a dogfight between the leading pair and Dave Comstock’s group.