The second four-wide national event of the 2024 NHRA Mission Food Drag Racing Series will take place this weekend at the Bellagio of Drag Strips, zMAX Dragway, when the Charlotte Four-Wide Nationals begins with two rounds of qualifying on Friday. Josh Hart and the TechNet/R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster team will be looking to keep their final quad streak alive and focus on grabbing one more win light. Since Hart began racing at the unique four-wide format in 2021 he had qualified in the top half of the field and raced to the final quad three years in a row.
“We have done well at the Charlotte Four-Wide Nationals and this year I feel good heading into the race,” said Hart, who will be flying the red, white and blue of TechNet this weekend. “We made some progress in Las Vegas and I think we can carry that over to zMAX Dragway. There are a ton of motorsports fans in the Charlotte area and I love it when new fans come to the ropes and get to see our TechNet/R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster up close.”
Hart is also looking to join a short list of Charlotte winners who have won in the fall at the Countdown national event and at the spring four-wide nationals. Only three Top Fuel drivers have accomplished this feat and Hart would like to join Antron Brown, Steve Torrence and Cory McClenathan. Hart won the Carolina Nationals fall race during his rookie season in 2021
“It would be cool to join that list of Top Fuel drivers to have won in both the spring and fall at zMAX Dragway, but really, I just want to get back into the winner’s circle,” said Hart. “This team is too good to not have more wins. It is tough out here for sure, but we are working to put ourselves in a position to hopefully go on a run starting in Charlotte. We have a tune up that can run with anyone and if I do my job on the starting line, we can win some races.
Hart’s skill on the starting line when it comes to reaction time has been making major positive strides in the past two seasons. The fourth-year pro is currently the second quickest “leaver” (quickest reaction time) behind Justin Ashley and just in front of Brown, Shawn Langdon and Top Fuel rookie Tony Stewart
“I have been working really hard on improving my reaction times the past two season,” said Hart, who regularly collects wins throughout the season on hole shots. “These race cars are so close on the performance side it comes down to the drivers in a lot of situations which I love. You have to really focus and block out all the distractions. Four-wide racing adds another element to the equation with the addition of more cars. It makes it challenging and fun.”
The past three years in Charlotte have seen Hart and the TechNet/R+L Carriers Top Fuel team qualify No. 4, No. 6, and No. 5 on the all-concrete track. Overall, in his six previous appearances, he has never qualified in the bottom half of the field. Successful starting positions have been a key to race day win lights in Hart’s opinion.
“When you can start in the top half of the field that is a good indication that your race weekend has been consistent every day for the most part,” said Hart. “We want to come off the trailer on Friday and make two good runs that get us in the top half of the field. That gives my crew chief Ron Douglas some freedom to get aggressive on Saturday and fine tune a set up for race day. We only have three rounds of racing at four-wide races and I think that adds to the excitement.
The R+L Carriers team raced into the second quad two weeks ago at the Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals and for their effort they will be racing the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Four-Wide specialty race during Saturday’s qualifying sessions. The race will be a repeat of the second quad race from Las Vegas with $10,000 and three championship bonus points on the line for Hart and the rest of the Top Fuel competitors.
“This Mission #2Fast2Tasty race is a great program for a couple reasons,” said Hart. “The money is great and hopefully those championship points come in handy, but it also gets you into race mode on Saturday which I really like. I’ll be ready for my rematch and we’ll see if we can’t start our new winning streak on Saturday with a Mission #2Fast2Tasty win.
Hart and the TechNet/R+L Carrier team will be on track on Friday at 5:15 p.m. and 7:45 p.m., and on Saturday, qualifying will get underway at 12:45 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. The quickest 16 Top Fuel dragsters will start eliminations on Sunday at noon ET. The race will be broadcast on FS1 and for more information visit www.nhra.com.
This story was originally published on April 23, 2024. 
