Story By: ELON WERNER / JOSH HART RACING – OCALA, FL – Josh Hart has had a magical drag racing career. He has recorded three Top Alcohol Dragster national event wins and two Top Fuel national event wins each with unique backstories.
His first and second Top Alcohol Dragster victories came at the most prestigious drag race in the world, the Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals and his first Top Fuel national event win was recorded in his first professional race at his home track, Gainesville Raceway, at the iconic Gatornationals. This weekend at the 70th running of the Toyota U.S. Nationals Hart and the R+L Carriers Top Fuel team will be looking to rekindle some of that magic and win for the first time in 2024.
“I have to remind myself sometimes that we have recorded some amazing wins,” said Hart, who most recently raced to the semifinals at the Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd. “Just getting to race at this level is a blessing. I have a great team and great sponsors with R+L Carriers and this sport is very humbling. This season hasn’t been perfect by any stretch of the imagination but there are seven important races left.”
This weekend’s U.S. Nationals will feature points and half for round wins as well as 20 possible bonus points over the five qualifying sessions. Hart will be looking to move up in the Top Ten standings with another strong performance. Following the U.S. Nationals the points will be reset for the six-race Countdown playoffs and Hart could head into the playoffs as high as sixth or seventh which would position him just 70 or 80 points out of first place. Hart would need a larger number of breaks, but the U.S. Nationals have been known to create magical moments.
“We are being realistic but our goal this weekend is to get as many points as possible and then go into the Countdown with some momentum,” said Hart. “Our first goal is to qualify really well and then give it our all on Monday during the race. We stayed after the race in Brainerd and tested. We made some of our best runs of the season, so I am excited to get to Indy.”
Hart has had some success in Top Fuel at the U.S. Nationals racing to the semifinals his rookie season. He started that day from the No. 4 position and defeated Buddy Hull and Leah Pruett before dropping the semifinal race to Brittany Force. He has never started from the bottom half of the field in three races at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
“This is the biggest race of the year and I think it will have a really cool feeling this year since this is the 70th one,” said Hart. “We have some things going on in my hometown before the race and then we are going to get locked in.”
Prior to the Toyota U.S. Nationals the entire Hart family will spend Thursday in Huntington, Indiana, the hometown of Josh and his wife Brittanie, visiting automotive tech students at the Huntington County Community Learning Center, part of Huntington North High School. The Harts made a significant contribution to the program earlier this year. They will also return to the United with Love food pantry to be recognized for their $10,000 donation in March. The donation was a matching donation that ultimately raised over $20,000 for the primary food pantry serving the greater Huntington community.
“Brittanie is the driving force behind our support of Huntington,” said Hart. “Last year before the U.S. Nationals we donated to the local parks and Police Athletic League for their football teams. This year we were fortunate to be able to help the local high school and the food pantry. Brittanie makes all that stuff happen and we’re just thankful we can show our kids, Londyn and Banks, as well as all of our supporters, how important it is to support projects you are passionate about.”
Thursday night Hart will join dozens of racers and local celebrities at the Cruz Pedregon Open House at the two-time Funny Car world champion’s shop in Brownsburg for a fanfest featuring autographs, a car show, live music and an auction to raise money for the Riley Children’s Hospital.
Qualifying for the Toyota U.S. Nationals will begin with one session on Friday night followed by two runs on Saturday and two runs on Sunday. Hart will race in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge during the Saturday qualifying sessions. He will have a semifinal rematch with Lucas Oil Nationals winner Justin Ashley with $10,000 and three championship bonus points on the line. Hart already has one championship bonus point in the bank from a previous Mission #2Fast2Tasty race this season. Monday will highlight the quickest 16 Top Fuel dragsters in the world racing for the iconic Wally trophy and racing immortality. The race will be broadcast on FS1 and FOX.