Pro Stock icon Warren Johnson said there was no such thing as an ugly win, just a win. With all due respect to the professor of Pro Stock, he likely never saw what happened Sunday during the Thunder Valley Nationals final round. 

It's not often race fans are treated to a pedalfest and a blow-up in a Pro Stock race, but that's precisely what happened when Elite Motorsports teammates Aaron Stanfield and Erica Enders met in the money round at Bristol Dragway. 

Earlier in the day, when Troy Coughlin Jr.'s Jegs-sponsored Pro Stock Camaro showered the top end of the track with titanium sparks, team owner Richard Freeman remarked, "Aint ever seen that before."

Ditto. 

"That for sure did not go according to plan," Stanfield admitted. "We wanted to obviously make two nice clean runs and show obviously what we can do, but sometimes it goes like that. So I've been running fast all weekend long, and it's been really tricky. I dropped the clutch and it started shaking a little bit in the top of the gear and I got off the gas and saw a bunch of tire smoke, and [crew chief] Big Allen [Lindsay] was on the radio yelling at me, telling me to 'go, go, go!"

"So I stuck it back in gear and was able to get around." 

The victory marked the first time Stanfield had won from the No. 1 qualifying position and the first time he'd beaten Enders in a final round. It also stopped Ender's consecutive win streak at three in a row. 

After the winner's circle celebration, Stanfield was still uncertain what had happened to Enders' Camaro. 

"I would imagine engine failure with a lot of oil," Stanfield said. "The video I saw, it looked like the whole entire car was filled up with smoke. But I'm unsure. Just like any racing engine, they're ticking time bombs, so they're running them extremely hard so we can compete at the highest level."

Regardless of what transpired in the final round, Stanfield's familiarity with Bristol Dragway came into play, as did Lindsay's past success when he was crew chief with Mike Edwards. 

"Definitely feel comfortable here," Stanfield said. "I was lucky enough to win Top Dragster here, and we won Father's Day twice. Father's Day, for sure, kind of gives you a little added extra factor there because that's the best Father's Day gift I could give my dad. But this place is just beautiful and the fans are great. There's always a good crowd here and I think it's just one of the best tracks on the circuit, but it just definitely feels comfortable here.

Stanfield now has six career Pro Stock wins in ten finals, but never one like the one he experienced Sunday. 

"That's definitely a pretty wild one there," Stanfield said. "For sure, at least for me, in my perspective, yes. That was definitely the oddest final round."