GAINESVILLE, FL – The Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown will begin its season at historic Gainesville Raceway, March 7-10, for the 55th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals. The heated competition between Chevrolet COPO Camaros, Ford Mustang Cobra Jets and Dodge Mopar Challenger Drag Paks will be front and center at a total of 10 NHRA national events in 2024.

After an off-season of change, the look of the field will change dramatically as previous series champions have moved on to new challenges. Last season Aaron Stanfield took top honors, but the multi-time champion is stepping away from full-time competition in the class along with 2022 champion David Barton, who will focus on his engine development business. Both former champions will be around the class, but their full-time absence will open the door for other drivers.

Norwalk winner and championship runner-up Stephen Bell will have the Flexjet Bounty for Gatornationals, photo courtesy of Gary Nastase/Auto Imagery

“Aaron has been dominant in this class for a lot of years, and he is a great friend. We had a fun battle last year for the championship,” said Stephen Bell, the 2023 Flexjet championship runner-up. “I think this year we are going to see a lot of new faces in the winner’s circle and the championship will be up for grabs. I can’t wait to get to the Gatornationals and get the season started. We have done some testing but until you get into competition you don’t really know what you have.”

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LAS VEGAS – David Barton and his Retail Fixtures / Sawmill Auto Chevrolet COPO Camaro picked up their first victory of the season Monday at the NHRA Nevada Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

In the 12th final round of his career, first of the season, Barton would take on Kevin Skinner and the Columbus Joint & Clutch Ford Cobra Jet in the final round of eliminations. The pair would be nearly identical off the starting line, but Barton would pull away to go 7.729 seconds at 177.46 mph for the win while Skinner slowed to a 9.003 at 107.92.

“It was a long weekend but when you come out with a win, that makes it worth it. Really proud of this team, putting in the work to get the job done for the last race of the season,” Barton said. “It hasn’t been a perfect season but we’re ending it on the right note. Have to thank all our sponsors for their support, our families who support all these guys getting to come out to the track and the competitors, hard fought win today and one hell of a competitive season.”

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LAS VEGAS – Stephen Bell and his Stanfield Racing Engines Chevrolet COPO Camaro picked up their first Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown No. 1 qualifying position of the season Saturday at the NHRA Nevada Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

With his 7.786-second pass at 175.96 on Friday night, Bell held off the field of Chevrolet COPO Camaros, Ford Mustang Cobra Jets and Dodge Mopar Challenger Drag Paks to earn his second career No. 1 qualifying position. Bell opened qualifying with a 7.844 at 176.35 before improving to his 7.786. He closed out qualifying with a modest 8.113 at 143.58 after lifting early.

“Being No. 1 is really a compliment to the Stanfield team and Dean and Dylan. They just do a great job,” Bell said. “It’s the first time in four or five races that we didn’t have a big weather change between Friday and Saturday. We kind of had the same conditions both days so we made a great run last night and we were on the way to make a pretty good run in that last session. It just got up a little too high, so I lifted because it wasn’t race day. No reason to push it just in qualifying.

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LAS VEGAS – Following his first qualifying pass at the NHRA Nevada Nationals Aaron Stanfield and his Stanfield Racing Engines Chevrolet COPO Camaro, clinched his third Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown world championship today at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Two weeks ago, the 28-year-old from Bossier City, Louisiana, defeated his closest competitor Stephen Bell in the first round and then outran No. 1 qualifier Lenny Lottig in the second round to accumulate enough points to essentially eliminate his closest competitors. Stanfield simply needed to make one pass to clinch the championship.

“It’s pretty cool to be able to do it here in Las Vegas,” said Stanfield, an 11-time Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown national event winner. “I love this racetrack. It’s good to be able to do it, we’re happy to get it done quick this weekend. All the championships are special and they all have their own story. There’s no such thing as a bad championship so I’m very thankful, very blessed. Thank you to all the all the guys that work on my hot rod.”

In 2021 Stanfield won the Midwest Nationals in St. Louis and clinched the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown World Championship. That day he defeated Kim Shirley, David Janac, John Cerbone and Lenny Lottig for the win and championship. The drivers chasing Stanfield in 2021 David Barton and Jesse Alexandra each lost in the first round, opening the door for Stanfield to secure the championship.

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LAS VEGAS – This weekend at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series will wrap up another successful season of Chevrolet COPO Camaros, Dodge Drag Paks and Ford Cobra Jets battling it out across the country. The culmination of the 10-race season will celebrate the championship season of Aaron Stanfield, who will clinch his third Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series world championship with his first qualifying run Friday, as well as the success of most recent winner Lenny Lottig, who will be looking to close out 2023 with back-to-back wins.

Lenny Lottig, Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Texas Fall Nationals winner, photo by Gary Nastase/Auto Imagery
Lottig and the ITI Trailers & Truck Bodies COPO Camaro were the No. 1 qualifiers at the Texas Fall Nationals and then raced to his third victory of the season at Texas Motorplex. This weekend he will come into the NHRA Nevada Nationals with the $1,000 Flexjet Bounty up for grabs and the veteran driver will be racing to increase that prize with another win.

“I love the Flexjet bounty program. I would love to see it carry over into 2024 if we win this weekend,” said Lottig, who successfully held onto the bounty earlier this season. “We won two races in a row earlier this season with Charlotte and Chicago so Lee Hartman got a $2,000 payday in Bristol. I want that money to keep growing because that will mean I am still winning.”

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ENNIS, TX – For the third time in 2023 Lenny Lottig took the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown title, today winning the 38th annual NHRA Texas Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex. Lottig and the ITI Trailers & Truck Bodies COPO Camaro grabbed the No. 1 qualifier and defeated David Barton, point leader Aaron Stanfield, Ricky Hord before taking out Doug Hamp to move to No. 3 in the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown point standings.

“It’s great to be here you know and this is a great, great place to win,” said Lottig moments after the win. “The fans are awesome. This has been the tightest field we’ve ever raced at and so everybody had to be at their best. We have a good team and you know we have an awesome Barton engine. Life is pretty good right now. It’s been a blessing to be able to go and compete at this level.”

In the semifinals it was Lottig taking the win with a .007 reaction time after Richard Hord redlit. Lottig continued to post great elapsed times running 7.650 seconds at 179.70 mph. His final round opponent Doug Hamp dispatched Scott Libersher after Libersher was distracted on the starting line and succumbed in the semifinals with a .398 second reaction time.

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ENNIS, TX – Veteran driver Lenny Lottig earned his second career Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown No. 1 qualifier today at the NHRA Texas Fall Nationals. Earlier this season Lottig drove his ITI Trailers and Truck Bodies Chevrolet COPO Camaro to the top spot at the Charlotte Four-Wide Nationals. This weekend at the Texas Motorplex Lottig came off the trailer ready to race grabbing the provisional No. 1 qualifier on Friday night and holding onto the No. 1 spot through the third round of qualifying.

“The conditions today were awesome with exceptionally good weather and the track was good enough to hold it coming off the starting line. It’s been a good fast day,” said Lottig. “Being the No. 1 qualifier is always a good position to be in. It’s an honor to get the yellow hat on Saturday, but we really like it in the black hat on Sunday. There’s great competition here and the field is the tightest I’ve ever seen. It’s gonna take everybody being on their A Game to get through this. We’re hoping we can bring everything we have to the table when the race starts.”

Lottig will face stiff competition from the rest of the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown class with point leader Aaron Stanfield, looking to wrap up his third Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown world championship. In an epic first round tilt Stanfield, the No. 9 qualifier will face No. 8 qualifier Stephen Bell, his closest opponent in a battle of COPO Camaros. If Stanfield prevails, he will need to gain a 139-point advantage to lock up the championship. He currently has a 112-point lead.

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ENNIS, TX – The 2023 Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown season begins to wind down with the Texas NHRA Fall Nationals at Texas Motorplex, the second to last event on the schedule. The penultimate race of the season will be one of the highlight classes during the Stampede of Speed with the championship on the line.

Points leader Aaron Stanfield and his Stanfield Racing Engines Chevrolet COPO Camaro enter the weekend as the defending event champions, and it was their only event victory of the 2022 season where they finished third in the points.

“Last year getting the win at the Texas Fall Nationals was big for us to head into the offseason,” said Stanfield. “We didn’t have the season we were hoping for but when you win the last race of the year you have a good feeling going into the winter.”

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MADISON, IL – For the first time this season, Mark Pawuk and his Empaco Equipment Dodge Drag Pak raced to the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown No. 1 qualifying position Saturday at the NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway.

Pawuk picked up his fourth career No. 1 qualifying spot off the efforts of his Friday qualifying pass of 7.712 seconds at 179.40 mph. On Saturday, Pawuk and his Drag Pak struggled to get down the race track for passes at 14.862 and 14.708 seconds as they looked for consistency heading into eliminations.

“We have a really fast hot rod. We just have to make consistent runs and unfortunately, we haven’t this weekend. We have been moving forward as the weekend has gone on. I think I would have had a good run in that last qualifying session if we wouldn’t have done that big wheel stand and I had to shut it off,” Pawuk said. “We are making good progress, and I am very happy with the performance of the car. Anything can happen on race day. I have to thank my sponsors Ohio CAT, Summit Racing, Red Line Oil, E3 and the whole group of them. They are with us at every race and of course, I want to thank Flexjet for being the series sponsor.”

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