Thirty nine points.

That was the margin Erica Enders clung to in becoming the first female to win an NHRA Pro Stock World Championship last year.

She needed a final round victory against Jason Line, who was the driver that finished 39 points behind her, to claim her first season title.

Pro Stock's most accomplished female driver has not let titles get in the way of her continued search for more success, however. Enders and her Elite Motorsports Chevy Camaro team enter Brainerd International Raceway Aug. 21-23 for the Lucas Oil Nationals 51 points out of first place. It's 51 points that can be made up in the next two races heading into the six-race countdown.

"We've had a pretty good season up to this point, but being the perfectionist that we are we always strive to do better," Enders said. "I just got off a conference call with my entire team so we are definitely planning and scheming and preparing to do the best we can."

Enders has flirted with the top spot all season, but for the last five events she's been stuck in second behind Greg Anderson. This despite both Anderson and Enders struggling on the three-event Western Swing.

"Denver, for instance, we got our act together by the end of qualifying and Sunday was going awesome. We were 17 on the tree and made a pretty decent run and just got beat by 0.006. I wouldn't say anything went wrong there, it just wasn't our day. As far as Sonoma and Seattle are concerned we really struggled with our set up and that's something we talked about as a team and we're going to get better.

"You know the competition is really stiff out there. I don't think it was detrimental, but we certainly didn't capitalize when we needed because Greg (Anderson), who is leading the points right now, he went out second round at both Sonoma and Seattle and we could have easily gone around him, but we also went out second round."

Enders is a proven winner. Last year, she won six races and claimed six No. 1 qualifiers. She won the K&N Horsepower Challenge and reset the national record in both time and speed en route to becoming just the third female to win a professional title in the Mello Yello Series.

Before combining forces with Elite Motorsports, Enders was still winning races. She won twice in 2013. In 2012, she made NHRA history at the O'Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 Nationals by becoming the first female to win an Pro Stock race. She went on to win three more races including BIR that year.

"Brainerd has been good to me in the past and I'm hopeful we can have a successful weekend," Enders said. "Lady Luck hasn't been on our side the last month and I kind of need the tables to turn. I'm excited to head back there, but the two races left before the countdown starts, we're just going to use these two races to get our ducks in a row and everything in order before we head to Charlotte."

Enders' confidence comes from her team. It's all she wants to talk about. And for someone who started racing at 8, this is the happiest and most confident she's been.

"I think where our team differs from every other team is the camaraderie, natural team chemistry and the positive attitudes," Ender said. "We have a blast. That's our goal."

And with last year's win, that camaraderie only got stronger.

"I learned that we have more heart than anybody I've ever been around," said Enders. "When the going gets tough, we nail it. That's something we had to learn. I had past champions tell me that - from Bob Glidden to even Greg Anderson and Jason Line - you have to learn to win in those situations and that's something we as a team have done and me as a driver. A lot of it is mental. My dad has really helped me with a lot of that stuff. But I learned that we are tough cookies. We can do anything we set our minds to. We dig deep and we play with every ounce of heart that we've got."

With Enders in a comfortable spot and Minnesota's grizzly veterans Anderson and Line along with the hard charging newcomer in Chris McGaha, the Pro Stock class has never been tighter than this season.

"It's pretty incredible. I qualified seventh at Seattle and I was .008 off the pole," said Enders. "It's such a tight, tight class right now. We've got some huge changes on the horizon, but before we think about those, the changes that happened this year, I feel, leveled the playing field with the new tire and new fuel. We've all struggled and we've all had to deal with the changes. I think those two changes are a big reason why the field has leveled this year. It's just crazy."

Chances are that's what fans hope to expect next weekend from the Pro Stock class - crazy.

Erica Enders

Hometown: Houston

Division: Pro Stock

Car: Elite Motorsports Chevy Camaro

Crew Chief: Rick Jones, Rickie Jones

Erica Enders on becoming the first female to ever win an NHRA Pro Stock world championship last year

"It was a dream come true and a huge accomplishment off of my bucket list for sure," said Enders. "I've been racing my entire life and prior to that I grew up at the race track so it's always been what I do. As a kid I was a normal kid with big dreams and over the years I've been able to accomplish a lot of cool stuff because I've been surrounded by the right people. That's exactly what happened to me in 2014 at Elite Motorsports. It was my first year as a professional that I had a team that stood by me, taught me and had my back. Together we were able to accomplish the biggest feat in professional drag racing."

JEREMY MILLSOP may be reached at 218-855-5856 or jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jeremymillsop .