NHRA and ProTorque Racing Torque Converters 5 out of 10 top qualifiers using ProTorque Including Number 1 qualifier Donnie Walsh with the bonus of Leah Pruett taking the win.

After a week chock full of headlines regarding her future racing plans, NHRA Pro Modified racer Leah Pruett decided to take the stories in a different direction.

Pruett raced to her first victory of the season Sunday in the NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by ProCare Rx portion of the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals presented by Super Start Batteries. The victory marked her second victory in three final round appearances at zMAX Dragway, as well as her third career victory by outrunning Mike Knowles in the final round. With the victory she moves to fourth in the points standings.

“It feels phenomenal,” Pruett said. “To think that the three times I’ve been here in this car, I’ve reached the finals all three times and won twice. At the beginning of this race, I had a good feeling about getting to the final round and back in the winner’s circle.”

Pruett, who qualified ninth in her ProCare Rx Ford Mustang, raced to early round wins over team owner Roger Burgess, top qualifier Don Walsh and Kevin McCurdy. In the final she powered her Mustang to a winning performance of 5.936 seconds at 246.44, while Knowles shut off his ’68 Camaro near mid-track.

“That final round was one of the edgiest passes I’ve had in this car in a long time,” Pruett said. “If it would have been anything but a final round, there would have been a little bit of lifting going on. It was pretty gnarly. All I knew was that I didn’t see him, which means I was in front of him. All that meant I had to keep going. That would have been the worst feeling in the world to see someone go flying by you.”

Mike Castellana advanced to the semifinals and maintained his series points lead over second place Rickie Smith, who lost in the first round.

The penultimate race in the 10-event NHRA Pro Mod Series presented by ProCare Rx will be held Sept. 28-30 with the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at the Gateway Motorsports Park near St. Louis.