{"id":102897,"date":"2026-01-21T20:44:04","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T20:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/eric-gustafson-feeling-confident-back-in-drivers-seat-going-into-u-s-street-nationals\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T20:44:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T20:44:04","slug":"eric-gustafson-feeling-confident-back-in-drivers-seat-going-into-u-s-street-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/eric-gustafson-feeling-confident-back-in-drivers-seat-going-into-u-s-street-nationals\/","title":{"rendered":"Eric Gustafson Feeling Confident Back in Driver\u2019s Seat Going Into U.S. Street Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"

After two years away from the driver\u2019s seat, Eric Gustafson made a powerful return to Pro Modified competition at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals presented by Motion Raceworks, quickly proving that the time away has done nothing to hinder his performance.<\/p>\n

The 2020 NMCA Xtreme Pro Mod champion qualified No. 5 in a loaded Pro Mod field of 80 cars, posting a 3.576-second pass at 210.01 mph in his ProCharger-equipped, Coast Packing Co. \u201cLard Machine\u201d \u201869 Camaro. Gustafson also captured the $5,000 ProLine Racing \u201cOff the Trailer\u201d bonus in the opening qualifying session, immediately establishing himself as a front-runner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was pleasantly surprised,\u201d Gustafson said of his return to driving duties. \u201cIt was better than I thought, maybe because I had no expectations \u2013\u00a0which is not easy for me. As a very competitive person, it\u2019s hard to temper your expectations; but given the time away, it\u2019s an opportunity to reflect and just be grateful for the opportunity to get back behind the wheel. We\u2019re having a good time and letting the chips fall where they may.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gustafson\u2019s confidence only grew as the weekend progressed. After making a 3.59-second pass during testing \u2014 the quickest run of his career at the time \u2014 he followed with four consecutive career-best runs, living solidly in the 3.50s throughout qualifying and eliminations.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo jump back in after two years and make my four quickest passes in a row felt pretty damn good,\u201d said Gustafson. \u201cAny time you have a car that is performing well, it allows you as a driver to stay focused and slow down in terms of what\u2019s coming naturally to you. You don\u2019t have to worry about if the car is going to go down (the track). All you have to worry about is driving. That helps tremendously with your psyche and approach.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That momentum carried into eliminations, where Gustafson defeated reigning PDRA Pro Boost champion Ty Tutterow in the opening round with another 3.57-second run, then followed up with a second-round victory over Brandon Snider with a 3.590. Gustafson\u2019s day came to an end in the quarterfinals on a narrow -.003 redlight against Kevin Rivenbark.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, we feel pretty good about what we have, but first round of eliminations, I honestly didn\u2019t know if it was gonna go down or not,\u201d Gustafson admitted. \u201cAgainst Snider, I felt more locked in. When I went up against Rivenbark, I honestly didn\u2019t feel like I pushed it as hard \u2013 it just picked up as the weather was getting better. It didn\u2019t look red to me, but it was red on the scoreboard, and that\u2019s all that matters. I feel like I let my guys down, knowing we had a car that could win the race. It\u2019s disappointing, but that\u2019s just part of racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In addition to his individual performance, Gustafson credited the strength of his team and the benefit of running alongside teammate Jason Lee, noting the value of gathering data from both ProCharger and screw-blown combinations throughout the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you can learn from different combinations \u2013 what\u2019s working, what\u2019s not working,\u201d said Gustafson. \u201cThe more data you have, where you can apply it, figure out how each one wants to go down. While the combinations are different on paper, the more opportunities you have to compare data on the track, the better off you are.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following the Snowbirds, Gustafson sits sixth in the Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service points standings, just one point behind Kye Kelley for the fifth spot. It\u2019s a familiar position for a driver who already has a Pro Mod championship on his r\u00e9sum\u00e9.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think in some aspects, people may have forgotten who I am, but I haven\u2019t,\u201d Gustafson said. \u201cI know what I\u2019m capable of, and I feel I belong just as much as anybody else out there.\u00a0I don\u2019t want to sound like I\u2019m coming off cocky, and it\u2019s not a slight to anybody. We\u2019re racing against the best drivers out there, and I have a high amount respect for everybody. But you give me more time and more opportunity to prepare, plan, and test, I\u2019ll just get that much better honing my skills.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the U.S. Street Nationals presented by M&M Transmission up next January 22-25, Gustafson and the Coast Packing Co. team head into the second race of the Winter Series with a ton of momentum, confidence, and maybe a few surprises in store. In pre-race testing, the team has already run an incredible 3.537-second elapsed time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re always trying to get better and certainly have some new things we\u2019ve done that we\u2019ll keep to ourselves for the time being,\u201d said Gustafson. \u201cNothing really changes to my approach mentally. I\u2019m gonna go out there and have fun and know that I\u2019m very fortunate and grateful to do this again. I\u2019m just going to go out there, kick some ass, and let it rip.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

This story was originally published on January 21, 2026. \"Drag<\/p>\n

The post Eric Gustafson Feeling Confident Back in Driver\u2019s Seat Going Into U.S. Street Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After two years away from the driver\u2019s seat, Eric Gustafson made a powerful return to Pro Modified competition at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals presented by Motion Raceworks, quickly proving that the time away has done nothing to hinder his performance. The 2020 NMCA Xtreme Pro Mod champion qualified No. 5 in a loaded Pro Mod […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102897\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}