CHARLOTTE (Sept. 9) - GEICO/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster driver Richie Crampton, still on a high from winning the U.S. Nationals, heads to Charlotte for the Pep Boys NHRA Carolina Nationals with another goal in mind.

The Countdown to the Championship begins in Charlotte, and while the rookie is focused on this race, he's clearly a contender for the 2014 Top Fuel season title.

"It seems weird for me to talk about a championship as a rookie driver," Crampton said. "We want to finish out the year strongly for everyone involved, and I've got my eyes set on the rookie of the year award. That's priority, but if we can keep this race car running like Aaron has it running right now, we should be able to continue to go rounds in the Countdown and put a real dent on the top 10. We'll see where we end up."

Crampton will start the six-race Countdown in eighth place, 90 points out of the lead, but with a new car that is undefeated in its one-race existence and a Morgan Lucas Racing team that has won the last two races, Crampton's confidence is high.

He knows, too, that getting off to a good start in Charlotte is crucial to his title chances. Last year, his MLR team won the Charlotte event with Morgan Lucas driving and Crampton serving as clutch specialist.

"It's huge, especially with as well as we've been running lately," Crampton said. "It's renewed everyone's faith and confidence with the fact that this is a championship-caliber team, and everyone on the team is doing a great job. That momentum we have now, we want to keep it going."

But Crampton is the center of attention now, having won two races this season, including the Big Go. Having his name on the list of U.S. Nationals winners is "still kind of strange," he said.

"We've gone back to work, and we've tried to focus on keeping the ball rolling," Crampton said. "We're trying to go to Charlotte strong, and we ran really good last year and won the race, so that gives us extra confidence. MLR has won the last two races we've been to, so we're pretty confident rolling into Charlotte."

Top Fuel qualifying sessions are scheduled for 1:30 and 3:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday. Eliminations begin at noon, Sunday. ESPN2 will carry all qualifying and elimination action.