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Matt Hartford discusses offseason refresh, 2026 season goals, and Pro Stock pressures

Matt Hartford finished third in last season's NHRA Pro Stock standings but that isn't quite good enough. He's expecting bigger and better things during NHRA's 75th anniversary celebration.
06 Mar 2026
Kayla Zadel
News
Hartford

The Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway have a way of setting the tone for the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. It’s where fresh storylines take shape, where offseason work finally meets the starting line, and where drivers like Pro Stock standout Matt Hartford arrive ready to see if the momentum built over the winter can carry into the sport’s historic season opener.

After freshening up a few things with his race program, including purchasing a new truck and trailer, which made its debut in a comical social media video, Hartford is more than ready to test not only the machine’s components but his mental preparation.

“I think the biggest thing is it's a mental game. You come into a new season, and everybody's tied for first,” Hartford said. “The way that you can end up at the end of the season with a number one on your car is simply make less mistakes than the people in the other lane.”

Hartford finished in third place when the 2025 season concluded, and now it’s about making fewer mistakes for the Arizona-native.

“We had a very successful year last year. We did make some mistakes. However, I think we were just outperformed by the two cars ahead of us,” he stated. “So this year, if we can just pick up our performance a little bit, make a couple less mistakes, there's a good chance that we can put a number one on our car.”

Keeping his focus is one of the things Hartford believes gives him a competitive advantage in a cut-throat class.

“There's nothing else that's more important on the starting line than just not losing your focus, and it's very easy to do,” he said. “A Pro Stock car has so many variables happening at the same time on the starting line that any one little thing that you do is going to have an effect on something else on the run. So you just have to go up there, clear your mind, control what you can control, and do your best every run.”

One thing that Hartford would like fans to know about the class is that, in his opinion, it’s the hardest car to drive in NHRA competition.

“The technicality of everything you do in the car matters, and the fields are separated by one thou,” Hartford shared. “I'm not saying that the other classes aren't very difficult; they are. But all the technical aspects of driving a Pro stock car well, to me, it’s something that if fans only knew, and the TV doesn't show them that.”

The GETTRX/Total Seal Pro Stock driver would love to start the season with an Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals win this weekend, but he’s also in it for the long haul.

“I've won three world championships in three different classes, including Mountain Motor Pro Stock, but I've never won a championship in NHRA Pro Stock, and that is my ultimate goal,” Hartford confessed. “We’ve got a great team, great sponsors, and we're looking forward to lighting up the scoreboard today.”