A few weeks ago, at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, KB Titan Racing-powered Matt Hartford drove his Total Seal Piston Rings Chevrolet Camaro to the top spot for the first time this year. With a semifinals performance to close the regular season, the veteran Pro Stock competitor ensured he would start the 2026 Countdown to the Championship on solid footing. Indeed, Hartford and company came out strong in qualifying for this weekend’s Inaugural NHRA Great Lakes Nationals, hitting it out of the park in the first round of qualifying with a brilliant 6.516-second blast at 209.79 mph.
Rain threatened and shuffled the schedule, but after a full four rounds of qualifying, Hartford — No. 4 in the championship standings and a mere 49 points back from points leader Dallas Glenn — remained in the top spot to secure his second No. 1 of the season and seventh of his career.
“Our goal is simple: win the next six races,” said the 11-time Pro Stock winner who has claimed the last nine of his victories with a KB Titan bullet under the hood. “If you do that, the points will add up and there won’t be any issues. To win the championship, you’re going to have to come out here and not go out earlier than the semis, and you’re probably going to have to win two or three of the races. The caliber of cars out here in the top 10 — it’s as tight now as I can ever remember.”
Hartford has been warning that he plans to be a threat for the championship. After qualifying No. 2 at the Gainesville season-opener and winning the event, he was at the top of the championship standings. Since that time, he’s won three races in five final rounds to hover between third and fourth in the points. Regularly, Hartford has qualified strongly in the top half. In the last seven events, including the Great Lakes Nationals, he’s started fourth or better. The strength of his car and determination of his team have been noted by the competition — the battle on the starting line has ramped up significantly, and a grumble has certainly been heard through the pits as rivalries have been stoked, but that’s just fine with the driver who now resides in the chill vibe of Arizona but carries the tough skin of his early days in the Northeastern United States.
“They’re definitely taking shots at us,” said Hartford. “We know that when we go up to the line. I see a lot of gamesmanship now that we haven’t seen in the past, and I’m all for it. That’s their prerogative, and I can tell you, when we’ve not had the faster car, you have to take your shots where you can.”
What makes it work
Hartford has had a ton of experience behind the wheel that likely aids in being prepared for just such a situation. In the 1990s, he ran a dragster with a blown alcohol engine, similar to cars that can now run in Top Dragster. He went from Comp Eliminator to the NHRA Sport Compact series, where he initially ran a twin turbo V-6 with a G-Force transmission fitted to a Pro Stock chassis, and after a year, Hartford was invited by John Lingenfelter to drive for General Motors and Summit Racing Equipment. He won the Sport Compact series championship, and although Lingenfelter passed away soon after, it would be fair to say that what was learned during that time is part of Hartford’s abilities today.
He carries something else in his back pocket, and that’s his stable and fully engaged crew, from wife Amber to his brother Adam Bastion and on to crew chief Eddie Guarnaccia.
Guarnaccia has been by Hartford’s side since 2013, but his roots in Pro Stock are deep. He worked in driver-turned-crew chief Frank Iaconio’s shop early in his career, spent some time working with Jeg Coughlin Jr., and was most often associated with Captain Chaos himself, Kenny Korestky, for whom he was crew chief for many years. Guarnaccia was also a driver in the 90s, so what he brings to the table is a deep catalog of experience from every angle.
It’s a fantastic balance: Hartford, who joined the Navy at the age of 18 and became part of their nuclear engineering program, embraces and employs recent technology, while Guarnaccia brings proven, traditional knowledge to the think tank. The combo is particularly useful as the first race of the Countdown to the Championship is taking place at a track brand new to NHRA’s Mission Foods Drag Racing Series.
“I’ve raced at these new tracks before, but it’s totally different when you come here with a 500-inch NHRA Pro Stock car,” said Hartford, referring to the allowed cubic inches of the engines run in the naturally aspirated Pro Stockers. “We rolled up for Q1, and I wouldn’t say we were blind because we had all the track data we could get and the history of every run we’ve ever made – but you go up there, put your foot on the track, and you go old-school. Take all the data away from it and you say, if this was 20 years ago, what would we do?”
“Eddie is incredible. He’s been out here racing Pro Stock forever, and he’s seen it all, back before we had all the data acquisition that we have now. You could take the data recorders out of the car, and I think ours would be extremely competitive. That old-school knowledge, that tribal knowledge a lot of these crew chiefs have, it’s key. You can go out there with all the state-of-the-art data and be fast, but if you took all that way and relied on the guys who have been there, seen it, made the mistakes, it’s a huge advantage.”
Hartford is set to meet with Shane Tucker in the first round of eliminations. KB Titan teammate Greg Anderson, the most winning driver in the history of Pro Stock and a six-time world champion, qualified in the No. 2 position on a 6.521. Anderson entered the Countdown No. 2 in the championship standings and will race Elite Motorsports-powered Aaron Stanfield in round one, while reigning world champ and points leader Dallas Glenn, the No. 3 qualifier, is set to meet with Deric Kramer. Elite’s Greg Stanfield started the playoffs as the No. 3 man, and he’s qualified fifth at US 131 Motorsports Park. He’ll square off with KBT’s Eric Latino.
Other pairings include No. 4 qualifier Cody Anderson vs. No. 11 Kenny Delco; No. 6 Jeg Coughlin Jr. vs. No. 9 Erica Enders; and No. 7 Matt Latino vs. No. 8 Troy Coughlin Jr.
Racing is currently on hold for wet weather. Watch the alert banner at the top of the NHRA.com homepage for updates.
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