Bernstein, who like country crooner Mac Davis thought that happiness was Lubbock, Texas in his rear-view mirror, will remember this second victory as a substitute for Brandon, this 67th career victory and first in Top Fuel on his home-state dragstrip as dad

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Bert watched. Bernstein topped the 1,000 career elimination-round mark in winning at Ennis, Texas, for the first time since his 1986 Funny Car victory.

He also jumped from 10th place to seventh in the standings. "That's (crew chief) Tim (Richards), Kim (Richards) and the team. They have a beautiful combination and a good program. I can't say enough about that," Bernstein said. "Our goal when I took over for Brandon was just to get to the top 10, and I thought if we could do that, that would be pretty cool. We're pumped because we've won a couple [in the last] three events and would like to finish the season with a couple of wins, because this is probably going to be it for me. I'm just thankful that we got to win a couple in this substitute role that I'm in."

But again Bernstein was forced to acknowledge Dixon, who has two more attempts to break the record he shares with Gary Scelzi for most victories in a season with nine.

Championship No. 2 for Dixon came 11 days before his 37th birthday, but the Avon, Ind.-based driver called it "a tribute to everybody on the Miller Lite team. I'm just a part of it. I guess the second one just proves it wasn't a fluke."

Dick LaHaie earned his fourth title as a crew chief, including two he helped Scott Kalitta win in 1994 and '95. He wasn't talking fluke. He was talking stress. "It was a lot of pressure all year -- a lot of pressure for two years. For that matter," he said, referring to Dixon's 2001 battles with Bernstein, "it was a lot of pressure for three years."

Dixon proved consistency is the key to championships. He didn't have the quickest car -- Doug Kalitta set the track record elapsed time with a 4.483-second run in his dismissal of top qualifier Tony Schumacher in the first round. He didn't have the fastest car, either -- Scott Kalitta ripped off a 333.95-mile-an-hour pass, fastest in NHRA history, in eliminating cousin Doug in Round 2. "You just keep going from Point A to Point B," he said after watching the twin Mac Tools Dragsters stun the crowd.

"Everything I ever wanted to do in my life, for me, I've done it already," Dixon said before eliminations began. "Everything else is just gravy."

Anderson likened his first championship to "almost an out-of-body experience." Said the Charlotte, N.C. resident, after winning his 10th race of the season and 14th of his career, "I've seen so many people win the championship and then they lose the race. But to me, when you win the championship that means you are the best and you should win the race. If you win the championship you need to have a good resume full of wins.

"I don't want to finish this season so-so. I want to go out leaving everyone worried about us next year. You have to keep your competitors thinking."