All but written off for dead less than a year ago, the NHRA’s Pro Stock eliminator has proven itself as the most competitive in the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series in 2018, and perhaps anywhere in the sport.

Through the season’s first 11 races, eight different drivers have visited first victory lane, and arguably its two perennial favorites — Greg Anderson and Jason Line — haven’t accounted for any of them. Thus far, Bo Butner, Chris McGaha, Tanner Gray, Vincent Nobile, Matt Hartford, Erica Enders, Deric Kramer, and Jeg Coughlin have all notched at least one victory, with Gray, Nobile, and Coughlin the only three to repeat.

Owing to the competitiveness on display, Anderson, a 90-time winner in the class as a driver, has qualified number one seven times this season and leads the points standings, all without parlaying his class-leading performance into a win. In fact, Anderson has only appeared in two final rounds, proving that come Sunday, anybody has a chance to win regardless of the power under the hood. 

“I felt like we’ve underachieved. There’s a lot of great cars and there may be 12-13 different winners this season, but we want to make sure we win one,” Anderson said following last weekend’s Bristol event, at which he fell in the final round to Coughlin for the second time in three races.

In October, citing a 22-percent decrease in participation since 2010, the NHRA made the unprecedented decision to scale Pro Stock, once one of auto racing’s most competitive arenas, to eight-car fields at nine of the 24 national events. In the days that followed, the Pro Stock fraternity collectively negotiated a counterproposal for 2018 that would allow it to continue as a 16-car eliminator. 

Last season there were nine different winners in all, and five of those racers have yet to record a win this season, meaning the class is poised to well exceed it’s level of parity from a year ago should some of the highly-competitive racers that haven’t yet won — Anderson, Line, and other strong runners like Drew Skillman and Alex Laughlin — notch a victory.

The other good news? Pro Stock has had full fields at every race thus far, with 16 cars at nine events and 17 at Phoenix and 18 at Charlotte. The bad news? Twenty-eight drivers in all have teched-in at least once this season, fewer than both Top Fuel and Funny Car and just three ahead of Pro Stock Motorcycle.