Richard Freeman didn’t mince words when assessing Elite Performance’s 2025 season. After a year that yielded just two victories from a collective 12 team cars — both scored by Greg Stanfield and Erica Enders — the team owner says it’s time for a hard reset.
Speaking on the Competition Plus Power Hour, Freeman admitted the season hasn’t gone as planned. “We have not a chance in hell of winning a championship,” he said. “So we’re going to use these last two races to do a little testing.”
With the championship out of reach, the team’s attention has turned toward development. Freeman revealed that new engine combinations will debut in Aaron Stanfield’s and Jeg Coughlin Jr.’s cars during qualifying in Las Vegas. “We’re going to use this to give us some direction over the winter,” he said. “I can’t go through another year of an ass whooping like I took this year.”
The 2025 campaign marked one of Elite’s toughest stretches since rising to prominence a decade ago. Known for its precision and power, the team has struggled to maintain consistency against rival KB Titan Racing, which has set the pace through much of the season.
A recent test session in Tulsa provided a hint of optimism for Freeman. “My guys went up there and made some runs, and actually I told them, I said, ‘It’s about time. We got two races left and we come up with something. That’s great,’” he said. The results, he added, offered a foundation for what could be a strong off-season of development.
Freeman said his crew’s commitment has never been in question. “Woody always said, ‘What we do for a living is competitive problem solving,’ and that’s what we do,” he said. “We got our work cut out for us over the winter and my guys, I don’t have to worry about them. They’re hard on it and that’s in good hands.”
Elite’s in-house engine program will be the focal point of that effort. Freeman said his staff will use the final eight rounds of qualifying this season to test a variety of setups in preparation for 2026. “We’re going to use these next two races as a rolling lab,” he said. “That’s the only way to make real progress.”
Freeman, who founded Elite Performance in 2014, has built one of the most successful Pro Stock organizations in NHRA history. The team has captured six world championships and more than 70 national event wins. This season’s downturn, he said, only fuels their determination to return to form.
“You learn more when you’re down than when you’re winning,” Freeman said. “This winter, we’re going to find out who we are.”
