Kevin Skinner wins Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series at the U.S. Nationals
On the biggest stage Kevin Skinner and his Ford Mustang Cobra Jet made the most of his opportunity to win his first Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series win at the Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals. The No. 6 qualifier won five rounds of racing to secure the win in his sixth career final round appearance.
“It’s a lot for the U.S. Nationals to be the first win,” said Skinner. “It’s big deal because we’ve been doing this since 2014. To get the first win at the U.S. Nationals is big for us. It’s big to get a Mustang in the winner’s circle. We have the Fords headed in the right direction. I know Chris Holbrook from Holbrook Engines has really been working hard. To get Ford charging back towards the front is always good for us.”
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In the third round Skinner took out the No. 1 qualifier Jason Dietsch. Both Fords took off at the same time, but Dietsch’s Mustang made a move to the wall and Skinner was right down the middle of his lane. Skinner’s winning elapsed time of 7.851 seconds was enough to defeat Dietsch’s 8.947 second pass.
“The first round we ran pretty good and then we got a second round win,” said Skinner. “We were just pecking away at the car a little bit every run we could. The third round was the big one to get around No. 1 qualifier Dietsch. We were looking at how the ladder was playing out, I thought if we get past Dietsch, we have a pretty good chance of winning this deal.”
The semifinals started race day today and Skinner won the closest race of his event getting to the finish line first against Scott Libersher, the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals winner. Skinner left first .043 to .045 and held off Libersher winning 7.927 seconds to 7.977 seconds. The win handed Skinner the Flexjet $1,000 bounty as well as a trip to the final round.
“We had Libersher today and that was a tight race,” said Skinner. “We were looking at the weather, because the car slowed down a little bit. We found out it wasn’t the weather when we had the problem in the final. Winning is what is important. I want to thank Flexjet for sponsoring this series and the bounty. This day was even more special since it is my son Edison’s third birthday.”
In the final Skinner pulled up beside Raymond Nash. Both drivers were looking for their first U.S. Nationals victory. Nash’s Factory Stock race car broke before the burnout, handing Skinner a bye for the win. Skinner took the tree and made a full pass and as he closed in on the finish line his engine expired, but he secured the win with a winning time of 10.309 seconds.
Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series point leader Stephen Bell raced to the second round before losing a close race to Mark Pawuk. Bell was first off the line with a great .017 reaction time but Pawuk’s Dodge got to the finish line first with a winning elapsed time of 7.873 to 8.120 seconds. With two races remaining Bell is still in the driver’s seat for his first Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series world championship.
The Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series will be back in action at the 39th annual Pep Boys NHRA Nationals, Reading, Pa. September 13-15 at Maple Grove Raceway, in Reading, Pennsylvania.
This story was originally published on September 3, 2024.
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