NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

There were six events this season in the SAMTech.edu Factory Stock Showdown and Aaron Stanfield won five of them. A week after wrapping up the championship and winning his first Pro Stock event in Houston, the third-generation racer remained red hot when he defeated David Barton to win the Dodge NHRA Finals presented by Pennzoil. In the all COPO Camaro final, Stanfield drove his Janac Bros. entry to a 7.99 to beat David Barton’s 8.013.

“This was the result of a lot of hard work and not just done by me,” said Stanfield, the son of four-time world champion and former Pro Stock racer Greg Stanfield. “We spend a lot of hours at the shop trying to make this program as good as it can be. I have to thank my mom and dad for al the support they give me and the Janac brothers for giving me such a wonderful opportunity. Five wins in a row; that’s something crazy. I can’t believe it.”

Stanfield opened the season for Factory Stock racers in mid-July at the Lucas Oil NHRA Summernationals in Indianapolis with a semifinal loss to Chris Holbrook’s Cobra Jet Mustnag. That was the last race he’d lose this season. Stanfield returned to Indy to win the Denso U.S. Nationals and also posted victories in Gainesville, Dallas, Houston, and now Las Vegas. His record for the season is 22-1.

In Las Vegas, Stanfield qualified No. 2 with a 7.964 behind Barton’s 7.937. On race day, Stanfield rolled to wins against Mark Pawuk, John Cerbone and his teammate, Arthur Kohn. Stanfield made the second quickest run of the race in Sunday’s opening round with a 7.927 in his win over Pawuk and then settled into a consistent 8.0-second pace for the next two rounds. After winning the final, Stanfield has now beat Barton all four times they’ve raced this season.

Barton, in search of his first Factory Stock Showdown title since the 2017 U.S. Nationals, got a free pass in round one when David Kramer broke and then stopped Stanfield’s team owner David Janac and Jesse Alexandria to reach the final.