TOPEKA, Kan. – For the second time in his three final rounds this year, Greg Stanfield finished second Sunday by a matter of inches in the Summer Nationals at Heartland Park.
In the run for the money, Stanfield sent the Nitro Fish/Coffman Tank Trucks GXP off the line with a .047 to rival Shane Gray’s .040. At the finish line, Gray stopped the timer in 6.679 seconds at 206.95 mph to Stanfield’s 6.693 at 206.29. The winning margin was seven-thousandths of a second.
While there was some disappointment, Stanfield’s driving performance did leave lift him into third place in Full Throttle Drag Racing Series action.
“Greg was a little down on himself (for not getting a better reaction time),” said crew chief Eddie Guarnaccia, “but said to him, ‘look, if you don’t go triple-zero on him in the first round, we aren’t even around for round two.’ We put two rounds under our belt. We had an opportunity to win the final but we got three rounds in.”
Stanfield’s perfect starting line reaction time against Vince Nobile got the day started on a positive note. It was decided 1,320 feet later by mere .008 seconds – 6.725 at 205.91 to 6.718 at 206.23.
He wasn’t challenged in the second round because Richard Freeman’s car made a move toward the centerline and he shut it off. Stanfield was timed in 6.693 at 206.32. And Rodger Brogdon fouled out in the semifinals while he registered a 6.705 at 206.32.
“The car didn’t run very well in the first round,” added Guarnaccia, “but fortunately we had Greg to pull us out there. I thought we made two nice runs in the second and third rounds and, honestly, in the final we didn’t make a bad run.
“Everybody on the team worked real hard together as a unit. We made good runs and I felt good about the stuff we did.
In the run for the money, Stanfield sent the Nitro Fish/Coffman Tank Trucks GXP off the line with a .047 to rival Shane Gray’s .040. At the finish line, Gray stopped the timer in 6.679 seconds at 206.95 mph to Stanfield’s 6.693 at 206.29. The winning margin was seven-thousandths of a second.
While there was some disappointment, Stanfield’s driving performance did leave lift him into third place in Full Throttle Drag Racing Series action.
“Greg was a little down on himself (for not getting a better reaction time),” said crew chief Eddie Guarnaccia, “but said to him, ‘look, if you don’t go triple-zero on him in the first round, we aren’t even around for round two.’ We put two rounds under our belt. We had an opportunity to win the final but we got three rounds in.”
Stanfield’s perfect starting line reaction time against Vince Nobile got the day started on a positive note. It was decided 1,320 feet later by mere .008 seconds – 6.725 at 205.91 to 6.718 at 206.23.
He wasn’t challenged in the second round because Richard Freeman’s car made a move toward the centerline and he shut it off. Stanfield was timed in 6.693 at 206.32. And Rodger Brogdon fouled out in the semifinals while he registered a 6.705 at 206.32.
“The car didn’t run very well in the first round,” added Guarnaccia, “but fortunately we had Greg to pull us out there. I thought we made two nice runs in the second and third rounds and, honestly, in the final we didn’t make a bad run.
“Everybody on the team worked real hard together as a unit. We made good runs and I felt good about the stuff we did.
