Aaron Stanfield and the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage / Melling Performance / Janac Brothers’ Racing team won their first Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge of the season during Saturday qualifying at the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.
In the final round, Stanfield handled the JHG / Melling machine to a 6.688-second pass at 204.85 mph and with a .10-second reaction time was able to take down Matt Hartford on a holeshot by just four ten-thousandths (0.0004) of a second. Stanfield needed every bit of his starting line advantage with Hartford running a 6.685 pass at 203.55 with a .013 reaction time.
“It feels good. This is the first thing I’ve won all year, but that was a really good race against Matt there. I could see him coming out the side of my door and it definitely looked close enough, where I had no idea who won. Probably the tightest race I’ve had in Pro Stock,” Stanfield said. “When the guys got down there to pick me up, it looked like we won the whole race, you see the excitement and, of course, it makes me excited too. We’re close enough to do some damage here. We’ve had really good runs and a great race car this weekend. I’m very excited and very blessed.”
En route to the final round of the specialty race, Stanfield had a rematch against his New England Nationals semifinal opponent, Elite Motorsports and JHG teammate Erica Enders. While it was Enders in New England that got the better of Stanfield, it was Stanfield and his 6.676-second pass at 204.29 mph that would prevail over Enders’ 6.880 at 204.91 after she drove through some tire smoke.
This is Elite Motorsports’ second win of the season in the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, Jeg Coughlin Jr. and the SCAG machine won at the Arizona Nationals. The eight-car team is looking for its fourth consecutive Thunder Valley Nationals victory and its first 2025 win in the Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series.
“There’s definitely highs and lows in drag racing. We’ve been going through a little bit of slump, so it definitely feels good getting a little momentum rolling,” Stanfield said. “These Elite guys have done a great job of getting our drivers within fighting distance. So, I’m looking forward to seeing if we can carry that momentum into tomorrow.”
Stanfield qualified No. 4 for race day off a 6.666-second pass at 204.32 mph and will face off against Mason McGaha in the first round of eliminations on Sunday.
Racing at the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway continues Sunday with eliminations starting at noon and first round of Pro Stock at noon. Television coverage continues on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) with a second qualifying show Saturday at 8 p.m. ET and eliminations coverage Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.
This story was originally published on June 8, 2025. 
