AARON STANFIELD TAKES PRO STOCK TITLE AT CAROLINA NATIONALS IN A RJ RACE CAR

Aaron Stanfield has had a career-best season in NHRA’s Pro Stock class, but it has not been easy.

Stanfield, however, was on top of his game Sunday as he captured the title at the Betway Carolina Nationals in Charlotte.

Stanfield clocked a 6.567-second lap at 210.21 mph to edge Matt Hartford’s 6.569-second pass at 209.82 mph in the final round at zMax Dragway.

This was Stanfield’s seventh career Pro Stock win and third this season. He also had victories in Phoenix and Bristol, Tenn.

“Leading up to this race (we had) a little bit of adversity on our team,” Stanfield said. “The past couple of races, I (have been) struggling as a driver. Really, I've struggled pretty much all year long. This is definitely the best I've driven. All through qualifying, our hot rod was nice and consistent. It probably was the most consistent driving I've done all year long, through qualifying and through eliminations, and it worked well.

“I did well this race, but I mean, it's hard. It's a hard game. It's all about perfection. It's constantly changing from when you go to somewhere here, where the weather's good, versus Denver. The clutch pedal feels totally different. So, it's a constant... You know, you try not to self-adjust, but it is somewhat of a self-adjustment a lot of places you go, to me anyways. This year I've struggled a little bit with it.”

Stanfield, who is a star Sportsman racer and Factory Stock Showdown driver, moved up from fifth to second in the points standings just 64 points behind his Elite Motorsports teammate Erica Enders.

“I think we're not going to give up,” Stanfield said. “I mean, we still have a shot, but like I said, there's no better feeling in the world than winning an NHRA race. So, I just want to keep trying to go to each race (with that same goal).”

On Sunday, Stanfield knocked off Deric Kramer, Greg Anderson, Troy Coughlin Jr., and then Hartford.

When Enders was upset in the semifinals by Hartford it opened the door for Stanfield to gain ground in the points standings but that wasn’t at the forefront of his mind.
“Either way I was going to have a really tough opponent, but to answer your question, I'm just more worried about winning races and going rounds and being consistent as a driver,” Stanfield said. “I've been in racing for a little bit and every time I seem to start focusing on the points, it starts... I start to think about it. So, I just want to continue to do good and produce consistent results and win races.”

As good as Enders has been this season – seven wins and four No. 1 qualifiers – Stanfield hasn’t let her resume intimidate him.

“Well, I guess in my DNA, I want to be the best,” Stanfield said. “So she is, in my opinion, the best right now. And she's proving it time and time again. So of course, if I pull up beside her, I want to beat her. But outside of that, I mean, we're a team at Elite Motorsports and I support her, and she supports me. It's good to have that competition when you put the helmet on. But we're both pushing each other, I would say.”

Stanfield and Hartford met in the finals for the second time in 2022 as Hartford got the best of him at the Mile-High Nationals in Denver in July but Stanfield wasn’t thinking about that result.

“I can't say that the past results would change how I would approach it, but definitely how you race certain people might change exactly what you're doing,” he said. “But I think we just kind of stayed in our own lane here and did our job.”

Hartford’s crew chief – Eddie Guarnaccia – has ties to Stanfield as he was Greg Stanfield, Aaron’s dad’s crew chief in Pro Stock.

“Matt Hartford, Eddie, we've all been friends for a long time,” Aaron said. “Obviously with my dad for a long, long time. Eddie and my dad have got a lot of history together and had a lot of success together. So, to get to race against him is really cool and hats off to them. They ran really well this weekend and they've had my number the past couple of times. So, it's good to get the win (Sunday).”