CONCORD, N.C. – Greg Stanfield spent long hours in his Bossier City, La. engine-building shop the past week preparing motors for NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship six-race series that begins Friday with the O’Reilly Auto Parts Nationals at zMAX Dragway.
Stanfield, who finished eighth in regular-season Full Throttle Series Pro Stock points for the second consecutive year, hopes to recreate – or improve – his outstanding 2010 performance that hoisted him into second place, his career-best Pro Stock finish.
He also wants to put the Nitro Fish/Coffman Tank Trucks GXP into the zMAX winner’s circle for a change. He has back-to-back runner-up finishes here in 2009-10 and he was runner-up at the Four-Wide race earlier this season.
“We have had some success at that race track,” said Stanfield. “We have been working very hard at the shop and now we’ll be able to see what we can do. We’ll be ready. It’s show time.”
Crew chief Eddie Guarnaccia has some concerns about the three successive races that open the Countdown. “It’s something that may not be very good, but, if you run well, you want to get to the next race,” he said.
“We typically run well at Charlotte and we are looking forward to the race. We need to start strong like we did last year (by winning the playoff opener at Indianapolis) and just pick up and go from there. We are going into Charlotte as prepared as best we can. Greg and his guys have done a lot of work on the motors and we have a good car and engine combination
“We want to move forward.”
The second of the three straight playoff events is in Dallas (Sept. 23-25) and is followed by a stop at Reading, Pa. (Sept 30-Oct. 2).
Stanfield, who finished eighth in regular-season Full Throttle Series Pro Stock points for the second consecutive year, hopes to recreate – or improve – his outstanding 2010 performance that hoisted him into second place, his career-best Pro Stock finish.
He also wants to put the Nitro Fish/Coffman Tank Trucks GXP into the zMAX winner’s circle for a change. He has back-to-back runner-up finishes here in 2009-10 and he was runner-up at the Four-Wide race earlier this season.
“We have had some success at that race track,” said Stanfield. “We have been working very hard at the shop and now we’ll be able to see what we can do. We’ll be ready. It’s show time.”
Crew chief Eddie Guarnaccia has some concerns about the three successive races that open the Countdown. “It’s something that may not be very good, but, if you run well, you want to get to the next race,” he said.
“We typically run well at Charlotte and we are looking forward to the race. We need to start strong like we did last year (by winning the playoff opener at Indianapolis) and just pick up and go from there. We are going into Charlotte as prepared as best we can. Greg and his guys have done a lot of work on the motors and we have a good car and engine combination
“We want to move forward.”
The second of the three straight playoff events is in Dallas (Sept. 23-25) and is followed by a stop at Reading, Pa. (Sept 30-Oct. 2).
