The off-season was about planning, preparing, tinkering, and testing, and now, it’s time for competitors in the NHRA Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown to bring what they’ve been working on to the table. The new season of drag racing started this weekend with the 56th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, and David Janac immediately took the lead in Factory Stock. Driving the Janac Brothers Racing Cobra Jet Mustang powered by Stanfield Racing Engines, Janac made the quickest run of qualifying to lock down the top spot.
It was a particularly impressive and fortunate feat as qualifying was greatly abbreviated after on-track delays pushed Friday’s second session clean off the board. When rain moved into the Gainesville Raceway area on Saturday, it lingered long enough to eliminate the possibility of further attempts at the field. The ladder was set for Sunday with Janac in the No. 1 spot based on his performance right out of the gate.
“When I left the starting line, I knew it was going to be a good run. I just didn’t know how good it was going to be,” said a smiling Janac, who powered his way to a 7.702-second pass at 180.60 mph with brother Joe Janac standing on the starting line watching. “It was a good, clean run and got us to where we needed to be. Unfortunately, there were some people that didn’t get in. If we had more than one run, that might not have held up. But it did.”
Janac, who was the No. 1 qualifier at the 2023 U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis and in 2022 at Richmond, was in a battle for the championship right to the end last season. After reaching the final in Las Vegas and then claiming his first win in Bristol, Janac powered through the year with fierce determination, reaching the final round again in Brainerd and ultimately finishing in the No. 2 spot in the Factory Stock Showdown championship standings.
“I feel good; I had a good year last year, and I drove good,” said Janac, who swiftly recovered from a crash at the Gatornationals last year to have a career-best year. “These are the first passes that I’ve made since the last race [of 2024], and I was a little apprehensive to make sure I still remembered what to do and how to do it, but it all worked, and I feel confident in it.
“Hopefully, I can repeat what we did last year, turn on plenty of win lights, maybe win a race or two, and finish up in the top of the field. I’d like to try to get that championship. I came so close last year, but Mark Pawuk came around and he got it. He earned it, but I’m going to go back and load it this year, see if we can get back up there to fight for it again.”
Janac is scheduled for a first-round meeting with Kim Shirley on Sunday at the 56th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals. Other first-round pairings include Doug Hamp vs. Tony Scott; Conner Statler vs. Jason Dietsch; Mark Pawuk vs. David Davies; Lee Hartman vs. Scott Libersher; Ricky Hord vs. Raymond Nash; Lenny Lottig vs. Rouven Dawson; and Taylor Dietsch vs. Jonathan Allegrucci.
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