The 2008 NHRA POWERade season came to a close on November 16, 2008 at the 44th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals, and it ended for Pontiac's Greg Anderson the way it began; a bookend national-event victory from the No. 1 starting position. The 47-year-old Mooresville, N.C. resident defeated Kurt Johnson in an all GM-final round that locked up second place in the Pro Stock standings for Anderson, and his sixth consecutive top-two finish.
"I am so proud of this team," Anderson said. "We obviously didn't get the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but we got the next best thing, and that's the NHRA Finals win at Pomona. That final round was for second place. Kurt's (Johnson) a great competitor, I love racing him, he's had a great year, I've had a great year, we've just had some lapses during these last few races. I forgot how to have fun at the racetrack, and it's so easy to get out of your groove, but we love what we do, we love these great fans, and you just have to come and have fun, and everything goes smooth."
Anderson came into today's eliminator with the Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac qualified in the No. 1 position. Anderson defeated Richie Stevens in round one with a 6.644 e.t. at 208.23 mph, Greg Stanfield in round two with a 6.625 second run at 208.14 mph and Mike Edwards in round three with a 6.629 e.t. at 208.46 mph. In the final round against the ACDelco Chevrolet of Kurt Johnson, Anderson's Pontiac took the win light and set both ends of the track record with a 6.615 second run at 209.20 mph. Johnson fouled with a -.004 red light. It was Anderson's sixth victory of the year and the third time he's won both season contests at Pomona.
"Racing Kurt in the finals it felt like we were racing for the championship," Anderson said. "We always have great battles and it was a neat deal. Today the pressure was off, the Summit Racing Pontiac performed great, the driver performed fine and it was just like old times."
This was Anderson's 57th career victory, his 55th in a Pontiac, and his eighth career win at Auto Club Raceway. It was also his seventh career top-three finish and his eighth career top-10.
"The thing we can hang our hats on is that we won six races this year, but we won them at the wrong time," Anderson said.. "Jeggie (Coughlin) is the world champion. He did a better job and he deserves to be champion. He got the job done when the pressure was on, but I couldn't be happier for my Summit Racing guys. We proved today that we're still a championship caliber team. Second place is great today, but next year I want that No. 1 back and we're not going to rest until we get it."