Aaron Stanfield and his Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage / Melling Performance / Janac Brothers Racing team landed a runner-up finish Sunday at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway.
Stanfield would get off the starting line in .011 seconds to run a 6.551-second pass at 209.75 mph and defeat Dallas Glenn (6.561 at 208.68) and teammate Cristian Cuadra (6.549 at 210.54) but he came up short to rival Greg Anderson’s 6.502 second pass at 210.77 mph.
The final round appearance was the second of the weekend for Stanfield, just moments before running his JHG / Melling Pro Stock entry, he won in the Factory X class. Stanfield would go 7.086 seconds at 193.85 mph to defeat Jesse Alexandra’s 7.450 at 186.07, his first victory in the class in just his second race of the season.
“It was a big weekend for me driving. We had a lot of success,” Stanfield said. “We got the job done in Factory X and got as close as we could in Pro Stock, making it to the finals and finishing second.”
Stanfield made his way to the final quad by winning on a double holeshot in his first quad. Stanfield’s 6.552-second pass at 210.05 with a .034 second reaction time held off teammate Jerry Tucker (6.548 at 210.14), Erica Latino (6.534 at 210.01) and Brandon Foster. Tucker would also advance over Latino with his better reaction time of .040 to Latino’s .076.
In the second round, Stanfield’s quad was filled with teammates: Erica Enders, Cristian Cuadra, and Tucker. Stanfield (6.554 at 209.33) and C. Cuadra (6.557 at 209.85) would advance to the finals, each on holeshots over Enders’ 6.540 at 211.03.
The weekend marked “The Last Dance” for Stanfield’s teammate Fernando Cuadra Sr. A last dance that most were hoping would end with a victory from one of The Cuadra Boys’ entries.
“Really a big weekend for the Elite team with the Cuadra family. I’m glad Cristian was in that final quad with me. I think we can all agree it would have been pretty storybook if he had gotten that win,” Stanfield said. “Guess it wasn’t meant to be for either one of us. Going to enjoy a bit of time off and get ready for Chicago.”
The Elite Motorsports team will have two weekends off before heading to the Gerber Collision & Glass NHRA Route 66 Nationals at Route 66 Raceway just outside of Chicago May 17-19.
This story was originally published on April 29, 2024. 
