Anderson Dons Yellow Hat, Ends Drought With Decisive Denver Crown

With eight number one qualifying awards to his credit and the Pro Stock points lead in-hand, it’s hard to fathom that four-time series champion Greg Anderson had yet to win a race in 2018 (another stat that’s easy to forget is that Anderson, despite his consistent domination through the years, hasn’t won a title since 2010). But Anderson and his KB Racing teammate, Jason Line, broke through with a convincing performance Sunday at the Dodge Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway in Colorado, finishing 1-2 as Anderson bested his stablemate on both ends of the racetrack to notch his 91st career victory and third at Bandimere.

Anderson’s and Line’s lengthy drought is all the more intriguing when you consider that just two seasons ago — the year the class converted to electronic fuel injection — the pair entered the Mile -High Nationals having not lost a single race to that point.

For Anderson, his victory Sunday brought an end end to six months of frustration in a season that’s been both successful and unsuccessful.

“I’d like to think that this is the start to a great rest of the season,” said Anderson. “We’ve had a heck of a battle this year, and our Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaros have been running great – we just haven’t been able to close the deal on Sunday. We’ve garnered a lot of green hats for being the No. 1 qualifier, but we haven’t been able to get hold of one of these yellow winner’s circle hats this year until now.”

Anderson’s Denver triumph adds him to an impressive list of eight different winners who have scored at least one victory in 2018 — one of the most competitive seasons in recent memory for Pro Stock eliminator.

“The class is so tough, and it’s so hard to win, but the bottom line is that we haven’t put forth our best effort on Sunday. Today, we did,” said points leader Anderson. “All weekend we did; the cars came off the trailer fast on Friday and that continued all through the weekend. Our crew chief, Rob Downing, just did a heck of a job with our racecars, and my hat is off to him. It’s a he-man job, and he’s taken a lot of beatings this year, but he hung in there. He was the man today, and I can’t thank him enough.

We’ve had a heck of a battle this year, and our Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaros have been running great – we just haven’t been able to close the deal on Sunday. – Greg Anderson

“I’m so proud of the guys on this team, so grateful to have my family here to share this with me, and so happy to get this win for our team owners Ken and Judy Black, for Chevrolet, and especially for our friends at Summit Racing in their 50th anniversary year. It means a lot for so many reasons. We’ve had a dry spell, but hopefully this was a breakthrough and we’ll go on to get more wins this year.”

Line, a 49-time winner, has had a rougher go of things to date — he hasn’t appeared in a final round since Phoenix and only has one semifinal showing since, and has fallen in the opening stanza seven times. Line is mired down in ninth in the standings, including the points accumulated at Bandimere.

“Today was a good day. I would have liked to have won, but it was a great day for our KB Racing team and the Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaros,” said Line, who is paused for now in the No. 9 spot in the Pro Stock standings but is within just four points of eighth. “It feels good to leave the track saying we finally did a good job, and I hope it’s a good indication for the rest of the year. Bandimere Speedway is very unique, so it will be different going back down to sea level. I was pretty happy here, and it felt good to win a few rounds today, for sure.”