NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Top Fuel driver Josh Hart and the R+L Carriers Top Fuel team will enter the Countdown to the Championship in eighth place in the points standings and hopes that the work he has done in honing his quick starting-line reflexes will pay off in the playoffs.

Reaction times are becoming more of a deciding factor for win lights, and Hart is in the mix with fellow Countdown contenders Shawn Langdon and Antron Brown as the only three drivers averaging reaction times in the .060 range throughout the regular season behind the class leader. Langdon enters the Countdown in second place, and Brown is in sixth place.

“Top Fuel and Funny Car racing have become very much like Pro Stock with races won by a few-thousandths of a second, and that is where the driver can really make his or her mark,” said Hart, a multitime national event winner. “We have shown to have a race car that can run low elapsed times, and we just need to get a hold of some consistency. I feel like I can leave with anyone in the class, and that gives me a lot of confidence.”

The Countdown re-seeding erased a 513-point deficit, putting Hart, a consistent Top 10 finisher, once again within striking distance of the championship, trailing points leader and regular-season champion Tony Stewart by only 93 points.

Hart and the R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster have shown flashes of success this season and in previous Countdowns. He has won Countdown national events and played a significant role in the outcome of previous Countdown races, with holeshot wins. In 2021, he won the Charlotte NHRA Nationals event as a part-time rookie driver and the next season raced to a seventh-place finish with a runner-up in St. Louis and a semifinal finish at the final race of the season. In 2023, Hart made the championship battle interesting for eventual world champion Doug Kalitta, defeating Leah Pruett and Kalitta on holeshots at the NHRA Nevada Nationals. He also ended Mike Salinas' championship bid with a first-round victory at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals in Pomona.

“The Countdown is designed to give the Top 10 regular-season finishers a shot at the championship, and I am not going to take that for granted,” said Hart. “This season has been frustrating, but if we can get on a roll starting with these first three Countdown races, anything is possible. The weather will be ideal in Reading. I have had success in Charlotte and St. Louis. If we get off to a hot start at those three races, who knows what can happen.”