As in the case in the later parts of the regular season in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Aaron Stanfield and his Elite Motorsports Performance team sought to keep the win streak going at the first of six playoff races in the Countdown to the Championship. 

Stanfield closed the regular season with four victories including his most recent coming two weeks ago at the famous U.S. Nationals. The Elite Motorsports driver eliminated the six-time Pro Stock champion and teammate, Erica Enders in the final round of competition Sunday afternoon by using a holeshot to secure his fifth win of 2024. 

However, in getting to the final round, both drivers eliminated the KB Titan drivers. Stanfield eliminated the No. 1 qualifier, Dallas Glenn, while Enders won the round over Greg Anderson. 

"It feels great," Stanfield said about the victory. "Momentum is real. Things have been rolling our way, and we've been getting those round wins when we need them to go our way. And we did our job today, Eric and I and all our guys. We put both of our JHG cars, Melling cars, in the final round there, and that was the goal."

In the past couple of years in the Countdown to the Championship, Stanfield has had a good shot of claiming his first Pro Stock Car title, only to come up a bit short. Entering the playoffs as the No. 2 seed and winning right off the bat, he knows he has the equipment to accomplish the goal of a championship. 

"Definitely," he added. "And I think when you start out number two, you know you've got a good shot. And I know the equipment I'm in and how hungry my guys are to win. So yes, we definitely got a shot here and we just need to keep this momentum we got rolling." 

During the initial round, Stanfield was a part of the FOX Sports marquee matchup in the Pro Stock class with Troy Coughlin Jr. He got the round victory but says the victory wasn't easy because his opponent is just as capable as any other driver and it isn't the first time this season he had to use a holeshot to win. 

"That's two races in a row," Stanfield said about the class. "I'm pretty sure I qualified number four in Indy and had to win on a hole shot. So I've said it. You can win from any qualifying position. It's all about how you race. And yeah, obviously, I know what TJ's capable of as a driver. He's a great driver, and I know what his car's capable of. So I knew I better be on my A game or he's fixing to take it from me. So it was a really good race. It was 0.005 at the stripe. There's a lot of things that can be the difference of 0.005."

However, one of the bigger victories of the day was eliminating the No. 1 qualifier, Glenn, in the semifinals. 

"Obviously, it's huge, and I'll second that with, it's far from over," he said. "But yeah, he's a great competitor. It's the same as Eric. I know exactly what to expect. He's going to be extremely hard to beat. So yeah, I'm looking forward to it, and it's going to be challenging. It's going to be a dogfight."

Now that the first race in the playoffs is over, Stanfield takes over the top spot in the standings and is the driver everyone else is chasing. While there is some pressure from the other competitors, he knows the only thing to keep doing is winning and continuing to stretch his points lead in the remaining five races. 

"Put the throttle down," Stanfield said. "No. I think I've just got to keep going out there and doing the same thing. I think we're really close to being, as far as me, as having what it takes. And I think I just need to keep doing the same thing. It's going to be a dogfight to the end. Dallas is a great driver. He's got a great car. Obviously, we've got Erica and Greg, and we can't count out Jeg. And there's a bunch of us that are capable of doing it." ​