Stanfield has doubleheader

Gainesville, pre-race: The duties between races didn’t change for Greg Stanfield. He spent most of the time since Feb. 21 in the engine room of his Bossier City, La., shop attempting to coax more horsepower from his motors.

“We have to get ready for two races in a row,” said Stanfield, the driver of Kenny Koretsky’s Nitro Fish/Indicom Electric Pro Stock Pontiac GXP.

Two races, that is, in three days. Stanfield was one of eight drivers to advance to the quarterfinals before inclement conditions caused NHRA officials to move completion of Arizona Nationals Pro Stock eliminations to Gainesville, Fla. So, the first of his two in a row comes Friday during the opening day of qualifying for Sunday’s Tire Kingdom Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway.

“We have one run Friday to get dialed in before our second-session race,” said Stanfield, “and the winners advance to the semifinals and then to the finals on Saturday. We’d definitely like to be competing for an Arizona Nationals race win.”

The quarterfinals and semifinals will be contested during qualifying and the 16-car line-up established before the Arizona Nationals title round takes place.

Stanfield began the race in Chandler, Ariz., near Phoenix, with a holeshot victory over Jeg Coughlin Jr. and meets Ron Krisher in Saturday’s opening round. He is sixth in the early points standings and wants to sit higher Sunday evening.

Meanwhile, crew chief Eddie Guarnaccia will be tuning a Pontiac that has undergone new downforce rules changes since its last outing. “They could affect the performance a little bit,” he commented. “We’ll soon find out. We’ll have time to get good information during qualifying and make whatever improvements are necessary.”

“We like racing in Gainesville,” noted Koretsky. “We plan to go to there and qualify and run well during eliminations. We’ll see how that works out.”