BARTON SET TO DEFEND FLEXJET TITLE FROM FIERCE COMPETITION

“It’s been a productive off-season for our team. We took some time to celebrate the championship, but we also made some improvements heading into 2023. We want to start this season at the same high-performance level we left with at the end of last year,” said Barton, who collected three wins in five final round appearances in 2022. “There’s heated competition in this category, we may not get enough credit for that, but there are guys out here going after it every weekend, not just one or two either but everybody. Now, this year, with 10 races to prove who deserves the title, it’s going to be even more exciting. I know I’m looking forward to it and where better to kick things off than a historic track like Gainesville.”

In his 2022 championship campaign, Barton snagged a runner-up finish at the second event, but it wasn’t until mid-summer in Bristol, Tennessee that he would pick up his first victory and go on a run of four consecutive final round appearances. He would pick up his final two victories of the season at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis and at his hometown race in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Barton earned the championship with a narrow point lead over veteran Bill Skillman who also had three victories in his Ray Skillman Auto Ford Cobra Jet.

Besides chasing down and hoping to take the series crown from Barton, drivers will also be gunning for the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Bounty Program $1,000 from 2021 champion and winner of the season ending Texas NHRA FallNationals, Aaron Stanfield. The program will see a “bounty” placed on the head of the previous event winner. As the most recent winner Stanfield is now being hunted by the rest of the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown field. If a competitor can beat Stanfield at this weekend’s Gatornationals, that driver will receive the $1,000 prize. If Stanfield takes home the win in Gainesville, his bounty is upped to $2,000.

“The 2022 season was a bit shaky for us. We had success towards the end with a pair of runner-up finishes and then the win to close it all out, but the first half was a bit rocky,” said Stanfield who is a two-time class champion. “We’ve been working hard in the shop to carryover our end of season success and hopefully get things started on the right foot in 2023. It might play into our favor that we have a pair of extra races but that might be true for everyone. It’s definitely going to be another good year with high-level competition, you can be sure of that.”

 

Qualifying for the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown season opening Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals begins Friday with sessions at 12:45 and 3:30 p.m. and continues Saturday with a third and final session at 11:15 a.m. before eliminations kick-off at 2:55 p.m. Eliminations are set to conclude Sunday with second round at 11:50 a.m. and the finals slated for 2:20 p.m.

About Flexjet

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Flexjet, Inc., a global leader in subscription-based private aviation, first entered the fractional jet ownership market in 1995. Flexjet offers fractional jet ownership and leasing and is the first in the world to be recognized as achieving the Air Charter Safety Foundation’s Industry Audit Standard, is the first and only company to be honored with 24 FAA Diamond Awards for Excellence, upholds an ARG/US Platinum Safety Rating, a 4AIR Bronze Sustainable Rating and is IS-BAO compliant at Level 2. Red Label by Flexjet, a market differentiator, which features the most modern fleet in the industry, flight crews dedicated to a single aircraft and the LXi Cabin Collection of interiors. To date there are more than 40 different interior designs across its fleet, which includes the Embraer Phenom 300 and Praetor 500, Bombardier Challenger 350, the Gulfstream G450 and G650. Flexjet’s European fleet includes the Embraer Praetor 600 and the Gulfstream G650. Flexjet’s helicopter division sells fractional, lease, and on-demand charter access to its fleet of owned, operated and maintained Sikorsky S-76 helicopters which boast 55,000 hours of safe flying certified by Wyvern and ARG/US and serving locations throughout the northeastern United States, United Kingdom, and southern Florida. Flexjet is a member of the Directional Aviation family of companies. For more details on innovative programs and flexible offerings, visit www.flexjet.com or follow us on Instagram @FlexjetInc.

Media Contact:

Elon Werner
(214) 244-1184
elon@elonwerner.com