JOSH HART READY FOR PHOENIX SUCCESS THIS WEEKEND
PHOENIX, AZ – Heading into the NHRA Arizona Nationals second-year racer Josh Hart will be making his first professional start at the 
multi-use facility located 15 minutes from downtown Phoenix. The newness of the facility will not bother Hart and his R+L Carriers Top Fuel team considering they won their professional debut event, the 2021 NHRA Gatornationals, less than a year ago, to establish their team as one of the toughest Top Fuel dragsters on the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series. Throughout his rookie season which only consisted of 13 races, Hart raced to six semifinals and picked up two wins. His rookie season was one of the best debut seasons in almost 15 years of Top Fuel and now the driver from Ocala, Florida, is taking on the entire 22-race tour for the first time.
“Last year we knew we were only going to run a partial schedule,” said Hart, who started his drag racing career in a Ford Lightning pick-up. “We had some great sponsors like R+L Carriers and TechNet get involved and we finished the season with a lot of success. This year we are going to go after the championship and work to help R+L Carriers with their recruiting efforts across the country. They are an amazing company that I am proud to represent.”
During his rookie season Hart picked up the win at the Gatornationals and powered to victory during the Carolina Nationals, one of the seven NHRA Countdown playoff races. He collected two additional semifinal finishes in the high-pressure playoff atmosphere.
“I just go up to the starting line and run my race. I have a great crew chief Ron Douglas, who is now my business partner, so I have a lot of confidence,” said Hart, who also competed successfully in the Top Alcohol Dragster category. “I try to keep my emotions from getting too high or too low. This class is so competitive you have to keep your focus and block out as many distractions as possible.”
During the season opening NHRA Winternationals Hart and his R+L Carriers team steadily improved through three rounds of qualifying. They entered the race as the No. 9 qualifier and got the first round win with their best run of the weekend, 3.740 seconds. In the second round Hart’s race car improved even more with a 3.728 second pass but in a very close side-by-side battle, decided by about ten feet at the finish line, Hart dropped his quarterfinal race.
The continued on-track improvement was the biggest positive Hart and his team will bring from California to Arizona this weekend. The team was at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park for the PRO Nitro Spring Training event two weeks ago and made a handful of solid runs. They will take that data along with their improving effort at the Winternationals and look to move up in the point standings.
“This is a long season and I know we have a very strong team,” said Hart. “I am glad we are getting back on the track this weekend. This will be my third weekend in a row driving the R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster. I don’t think that the track in Phoenix provides any extra comfort but the repetitions from Phoenix to California then back to Phoenix has me excited. Then in a week and a half we are back to Gainesville. I don’t think I have ever had so much seat time. The more laps you get the better you can become. It is always monumental to get back in the car, in competition to start the season and to see all the fans. We got the first race of the season butterflies out of the way. We are comfortable and looking forward to Phoenix.”
Hart sits No. 7 in the Top Fuel points tied with eight-time champion Tony Schumacher. With twenty points per round up for grabs the opportunity to jump up the standing early in the season is a very real possibility.
The NHRA Arizona Nationals start Friday, February 25, with the first Nitro qualifying session set for 5 p.m. On Saturday Hart will have two more qualifying runs at 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. before Sunday final eliminations get underway at 11 a.m. local time. The race will be televised nationally on FS1.
