NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

 Filling in for Khalid Al Balooshi, Travis Harvey made the most of his debut in the Congruity NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by LearnEV+, winning his first career start after defeating Dmitry Samorukov in the final round as part of this weekend’s NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway.

The event was the second in the category’s four-race “Road to the Championship” playoffs and was powered by Culp Lumber.

It was a matchup featuring two first-time finalists, but it was "The Carolina Kid" who prevailed in the Bahrain 1 Racing Camaro, going 5.786-seconds at 247.61 mph to get past Samorukov’s 5.949 at 245.18.

After qualifying in the No. 14 position, Harvey beat a trio of standouts, defeating world champions in Rickie Smith, Mike Janis and reigning world champ Mike Castellana. He was terrific on the starting line on raceday, going .029 in the final round and saving his best performance of the weekend for the finals.

With his performance, Harvey helped push Al Balooshi to second in points, as the former world champion now trails leader and Indy winner Ken Quartuccio by just 19 points with two races remaining in the “Road to the Championship.” Thorne is third in points, 38 out of first.

“It’s awesome. I can’t even believe it,” Harvey said. “I just want to thank Bahrain 1 Racing and Khalid Al Balooshi and all the guys on the team that helped me get here. I’m just thankful for all the support and this is just awesome.

“It’s crazy. I ran three world champs. I was growing up watching them and I was just glad to be able to race them. I’m glad I was able to get some points for (Al Balooshi).”

Samorukov reached the championship round for the first time in his 18th NHRA Pro Mod start, defeating Jason Scruggs, Jordan Lazic and Thorne.

The Congruity NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by LearnEV+ returns to action Sept. 27-29 as part of the 13th annual NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway in St. Louis.