CONCORD, NC (May 1, 2022) --- Josh Hart came into zMax Dragway with a dominating 6-1 career record in his two previous appearances. The second-year driver of the TechNet Top Fuel dragster that also enjoys support from R+L Carriers throughout the season took full advantage of four rounds of qualifying at the Circle K Four-Wide Nationals. This season Hart and his crew chief Ron Douglas have been breaking in a brand new 11,000 horsepower Top Fuel dragster and they both feel in the past two weeks they have turned an important corner.

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Through two days of qualifying Hart drove the TechNet dragster to three runs within a tenth of a second, 3.780, 3.778 and 3.789 seconds respectively, with a stellar run of 3.715 seconds on Friday night under the lights. That kind of quickness and more importantly, that consistency had eluded Hart for the first five races of the season. He moved into race day as the No. 6 qualifier and was joined in his opening quad by world champions Shawn Langdon and Steve Torrence along with veteran Clay Millican.

 

Hart had a strong car that powered him to the finish line right behind veteran Clay Millican in front of Langdon and Torrence. Hart and Millican stopped a dominant four race win streak by Torrence which extended back to 2017. Hart’s round advancing time of 3.735 seconds was his second quickest run of the weekend and just a tick off the pace of his Friday night qualifying run.

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“This weekend was a testament to the magic of our TechNet and R+L Carriers team,” said Hart. “We tried to weather the storm and it got very frustrating at one point or another. You just have to bury your head down and keep charging forward. Every single teammate wanted the same thing and every single teammate muscled through it. I am very happy with this team. I am very happy with this new car. We are mile-an-houring better than we ever did with the old car. I am getting more and more comfortable. I think we found something.”

 

Hart advanced to his second consecutive final quad of four-wide racing at zMax Dragway with Spencer Massey after both drivers outran Brittany Force and Millican. Hart made the quickest run of the quad, a blistering 3.751 second pass under much warmer temperatures. Again, it was the kind of quick run that had the two-time Top Fuel winner confident he could win his second consecutive race at the track located 25 minutes north of downtown Charlotte.

 

“One thing the owner of R+L Carriers said to me was I needed to make sure I was still having fun. I would say this weekend was a whole lot of fun. There were a ton of great fans and four-wide is cool. There is nothing better than going rounds,” added Hart.

 

The last four Top Fuel dragster standing included a mix of independent team operators led by Hart, Mike Salinas, Massey and Cameron Ferre. All four race cars executed their burnouts but Ferre had issues and was eventually pushed back to the starting line. His dragster was able to stage and when the tree flashed Hart and Massey jumped off the line together with Massey going into immediate tire smoke in lane one. Hart was in lane two and made it further down track before having his own issues. Salinas made a smooth run for the win followed by Ferre.

 

It was another solid effort by Hart who heads to the Virginia Nationals sitting No. 6 in the Top Fuel point standings after six races.

 

Qualifying Results

Q1: 3.780 sec, 327.59 mph; Qual. 6

Q2: 3.715 sec, 323.89 mph; Qual 6

Q3: 3.778 sec, 329.50 mph; Qual. 6

Q4: 3.789 sec, 323.19 mph; Qual 6

Bonus Points: 0

 

Race Results

 

First Quad

Clay Millican, 3.748, 327.51 mph and Josh Hart, Ocala, FL, TechNet dragster, 3.735, 328.38 mph def. Shawn Langdon, 4.028, 225.00 mph and Steve Torrence, 3.967, 270.10 mph

 

Second Quad

Josh Hart, Ocala, FL, TechNet dragster, 3.751, 323.97 mph and Spencer Massey, 3.881 310.41 mph; def. Clay Millican, 5.381 130.18 mph; and Brittany Force, 5.613 147.05 mph

 

Final Quad

Mike Salinas, 3.708 330.47 mph (win); Cameron Ferre, 3.986, 272.56 mph (runner-up) and semifinalists Josh Hart, Ocala, FL, TechNet dragster, 9.949, 84.21 mph and Spencer Massey, 13.713, 74.83 mph

 

Camping World Drag Racing Series Top Ten - Top Fuel

1. Brittany Force                          478

2. Mike Salinas                            461

3. Justin Ashley                            432

4. Steve Torrence                        427

5. Clay Millican                            328

6. Josh Hart                                  294

7. Austin Prock                             288

8. Doug Kalitta                             263

9. Tony Schumacher                    243

10. Antron Brown                        230