When KB Racing and Titan Racing Engines merged ahead of the 2023 season of NHRA’s Camping World Drag Racing Series, it brought two powerful engine houses together and a ton of history. Their capabilities as a collective team showed readily throughout the regular season, and with nine championships already in their possession, KB Titan Racing is eying a tenth for the historic team – and they’re armed to the teeth with six drivers capable of getting it done.
Dallas Glenn, NHRA’s 2021 Rookie of the Year, enters the 2023 NHRA Countdown to the Championship as the No. 1 seed. Glenn has led the Pro Stock points since the Winternationals in Pomona, the third race of the season. Over the course of the regular season (the first 12 events before the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoffs begin), Glenn won four races in seven final rounds, claimed two No. 1 qualifier awards, and claimed low elapsed time of the event in Chicago. Glenn finished No. 3 in the Pro Stock standings in 2021 and No. 7 in 2022.
Matt Hartford won the U.S. Nationals in impressive fashion, claiming his fourth No. 1 qualifier award of the season and winning the event with a car that stood out as the quickest and fastest overall. He was the only driver all year to run the table with a No. 1, win, and low e.t. and top speed honors. Hartford’s powerful racecar, along with the efforts of crew chief Eddie Guarnaccia, have held him towards the top in qualifying – he qualified third or better at all but four events – and had him going rounds consistently on raceday. There were just two events in which he did not advance from the first round, and he enters the Countdown on the basis of two wins in three final rounds. He starts the Countdown in the No. 2 spot for the first time in his career. His best finish was No. 5 in both 2019 and 2020.
Deric Kramer put forth a strong effort in the regular season with KB Titan power and crew chief Michael Hiner, and it paid off with three trips to the final round and victory claimed at the Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte. Kramer qualified in the top half of the field at six events and claimed round wins at all but four races. Kramer, known to strike unexpectedly and fly a bit under the radar, claimed low elapsed time in Brainerd and had top speed of the meet in Charlotte. He starts the Countdown in the No. 5 position. Kramer’s best finish in the points so far was No. 6 in 2019.
Five-time world champion Greg Anderson, who debuted a brand-new Jerry Haas-built HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro two weeks ago at the U.S. Nationals, is starting the Countdown to the Championship in the No. 7 spot. He’s back in the Jerry Haas Camaro that he won the championship with in 2021, and although the most winning driver in the history of Pro Stock has yet to turn the dial on a win in 2023, he looks to the six-race playoffs as the perfect time to do so. He was runner-up in Topeka, followed by a No. 1 qualifier award in Brainerd, and that let him know that he has the power to make it happen. The 101-time national event winner is eager to get to work.
The intensity has slowly been building this season for Kyle Koretsky, and there is no better time to shine than at the racetrack now owned by his family. Maple Grove Raceway is hosting the first race of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoffs, and Koretsky is debuting a new look on his Lucas Oil entry with the Michael Waltrip Brewing Company Talladega Light livery. Koretsky ended the regular season with momentum; in Brainerd he reached the final round, and he kept it going with a semifinals performance at the biggest race on the tour, the U.S. Nationals. Koretsky is the No. 8 man heading into the Countdown.
The reigning NHRA Rookie of the Year claimed her first win this season as she raced to victory at the Arizona Nationals in Phoenix, and Camrie Caruso has been a threat ever since with KB Titan Racing behind her. Caruso, who was also the No. 1 qualifier in Phoenix, managed a tremendous feat when she won the Pro Stock Allstar Callout in Chicago. She will be aiming to continue that theme with victory during the playoffs in just her second season of competition in the excruciatingly difficult Pro Stock category. Caruso begins her charge for the championship in the No. 9 position.
Competing in the third Pro Stock event of his career, veteran racer Eric Latino will bring KBT power to the starting line at Maple Grove Raceway alongside his teammates at the most crucial time of the year. Latino, an accomplished and diverse racer who has made waves in the challenging Pro Mod category, looks t to bolster the strategic capabilities of the team this weekend while strengthening his skill in the finicky naturally aspirated category.
The 38th annual Pep Boys NHRA Nationals will take place at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa., September 14-17.
This story was originally published on September 15, 2023. 
