Hot temperatures returned to the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series during this weekend’s American Rebel Light Virginia NHRA Nationals. For Josh Hart and the R+L Carriers Top Fuel team that also receives support from TechNet and David H. Davies Racing (DHDR) the weekend was two days of tricky track conditions and the pursuit of a hot weather tune-up. Saturday, the lone day of qualifying, featured three opportunities for Hart and his team to move as high as possible in the qualifying order.
In the opening qualifying session on a very green racetrack, Hart made his first pass in the right lane that gave every team fits throughout the session. For the rest of the afternoon, Hart’s team was working feverishly to map out a tune-up that would translate the 12,000-horsepower to a slippery, hot track. At the end of the day, Hart was sitting at No. 13 and facing a first-round race with four-time Top Fuel world champion and No. 3 qualifier Steve Torrence.
“We were behind the eight ball all day on Saturday like a lot of teams,” said Hart, a multi-time Top Fuel national event winner. “Every run after the first qualifying session we got quicker. I knew we could step it up in the first round. It was just a matter of how much quicker we could get and what Torrence rolled out against us.”
In the first round Hart and the R+L Carriers team were able to see a number of teams make runs and both lanes appeared to hold up under the intense power distributed by the Top Fuel dragsters. Hart and Torrence were the sixth pair in the opening round. When the tree fired, Hart was the first off the line, and by half-track, the R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster was making its quickest run of the weekend. At the finish line it was Torrence getting his fifth win light in a row for the Thunder Valley Nationals winner. His winning time of 3.920 seconds was enough to secure the win over Hart’s weekend best 4.041 second pass.
“We stepped up considerably, but it wasn’t enough for the win,” said Hart. “If we could have made that run yesterday our first round could have looked a lot different but there are a lot of other teams saying the same thing. Drag racing will humble you for sure. The good news is I can put this race behind me quickly and focus on a busy race in Norwalk in a couple days. We are doing a display with DHDR on Tuesday and then we will be right into race mode.”
At the end of the race, Hart was secure in the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series top ten in points. Through nine races of the regular season, Hart has maintained his hold in the top end, and with five races remaining, there is a solid opportunity to move up higher in the Top Ten heading into the six-race Countdown.
The R+L Carriers Top Fuel team and the Burnyzz Speed Shop Dodge Challenger will be back in action at the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals, June 27-29, at Summit Motorsports Park competing in the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series and Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series, respectively.
This story was originally published on June 23, 2025. 
