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Associated Press 16y

Stanfield, Stoffer fighting for playoff spots

CLERMONT, Ind. -- Greg Stanfield and Karen Stoffer were in danger of falling out of the NHRA final playoff spots Saturday in the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park.

Larry Dixon (Top Fuel), Tony Pedregon (Funny Car), Allen Johnson (Pro Stock) and Hector Arana (Pro Stock Motorcycle) claimed the provisional No. 1 qualifying positions at the 18th and final regular-season race of the NHRA POWERade Series season, but the focus on Sunday's final two rounds of qualifying will be on drivers hanging on to the final playoff berths in Pro Stock (Stanfield) and Pro Stock Motorcycle (Stoffer).

Neither of those drivers has successfully qualified for Monday's race and if they don't get in during one of the final two qualifying rounds Sunday, they may be bumped from the six-race Countdown to 1 NHRA Playoff, which begins Sept. 12-14 at the Carolinas Nationals.

Stanfield still has room for error; if he DNQs, 11th place and six-time world champion Warren Johnson (qualified fifth with a 6.668) would still need to reach the final round to bump him. Stoffer, on the other hand, has no room for error as she would be bumped from the Countdown to 1 NHRA Playoffs by Arana if she DNQs.

Also, not yet qualified for Monday's race is Tony Schumacher, who can set NHRA Top Fuel records this weekend for consecutive wins (6) and wins in a season (11). He can also tie Joe Amato for most career wins in Top Fuel (52).

Pedregon's 4.073-second pass at 301.94 mph and Dixon's 3.841 at 307.23 gave the two former POWERade Series champions the provisional pole-positions in the Nitro classes.

Johnson's 6.657 at 206.76 and Arana's 6.954 at 189.79 were the pole-sitting passes on the second of three days of qualifying in the Stock classes.

Also, Eddie Krawiec defeated Harley-Davidson teammate Andrew Hines to win the the Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle bonus race and the $25,000 first-place purse. It was his first event title of any kind in the NHRA POWERade Series.

Qualifying continues with two more rounds on Sunday before the 16-car fields are set for Monday's final eliminations.

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