Chris Powers had a simple plan headed into the PDRA East Coast Nationals at Galot Motorsports Park, outside of Durham, NC.

The mountain motor Pro Stock driver simply wanted to gain experience and the more laps down the eighth-mile track was better for him. What transpired in his first outing came as a surprise to not only those watching and competing, but the biggest came to Powers himself. 

Powers simply wanting to get the experience, and at best qualify his new Sonny Leonard-powered,  ATI Performance-sponsored ’14 Camaro. After claiming the final spot in the field with a 4.108, he charged through Mountain Motor Pro Stock veterans John DeFlorian, Dwayne Rice, and newcomer Matt Giangrande to reach the final round.
 
“This is a new deal we put together,” Powers said. "We just came out to test this weekend and get some seat time since this is my first time in the car. I have a great crew behind me. This weekend definitely worked out way beyond expectations.”
 
With Extreme Pro Stock standout Cary Goforth waiting for Powers in the final round, crew chief Rob Bealko applied a more aggressive tuneup to the Sonny’s Racing Engines 830-cubic-inch bullet. The tune worked, allowing Powers to match his 4.097 elapsed time from the second round at 176.90 to defeat Goforth’s 4.100 at 176.53.
 
“When you’re racing against the best, you find anything you can to get ahead. Our expectation was to just go A-to-B, so we just kept doing the A-to-B thing. The final round was definitely the hardest one to get by. [Cary Goforth]’s the best in the business, so I knew we had our work cut out.”