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Last year, Hartford arrived at the Toyota ²ÞËùÇ¿¼é U.S. Nationals and took the competition by storm in his GETTRX/Rottler/Total Seal Chevrolet Camaro, sweeping the event with a Pro Stocker that clocked low e.t. every qualifying session and elimination round until he had the coveted Indy trophy in hand.

But it's been a different tale in this new season; the driver who posted a career-best season and finished No. 3 in the world last year faced challenge after challenge in the form of a string of misfortune throughout the first part of this year. What the casual observer doesn't see, though, is what Hartford is banking on.

"I feel that we have as good a chance to dominate this race as we did last year," said Hartford before the first round of Indy qualifying. "The box score from the beginning of the year doesn't look that way, but we also know, internally, some of the struggles that we've overcome. We know how our car is starting to run."

With a ton of concentrated, steadfast effort that produced the desired results, Hartford and company raced to the provisional No. 1 on Friday in Sonoma this summer, coming out of the gate with the second quickest pass of the opening session and then improving to move ahead of the field by just enough. On Sunday, though, more misfortune struck and he could not make a full pull in the opening round. Hartford didn't qualify well in Brainerd – he was No. 12 there – but on Sunday he had a quick car that wanted to eat. He made his best run of the weekend, but he was a bit behind on the starting line and lost the round by just .003-second.

"We've struggled this year. On top of that, we've had absolutely no luck go our way," said Hartford, who enters the event No. 12 in the Pro Stock standings. "When something could fall our way, it falls against us this year. We've had so many losses by such little margins this season, whereas in the past, those have gone our way. But we're looking to turn it around this weekend. I don't see any reason we can't repeat and win this race."

Hartford's team – with power from KB Titan Racing – is led by crew chief Eddie Guarnaccia and complemented by a small but able crew, including wife Amber and Adam Bastion. Legendary car builder Jerry Haas is also part of the team and has long driven Hartford's race rig to and fro' events. The well-bonded group has worked relentlessly and kept the faith, even though at times the blows have been tough to bear. Partially in jest yet willing to do whatever it takes to change their luck, Amber went so far as to sage the trailer at one point. The racing gods aren't commonly known to respond to such tactics, but the team knows they simply have to keep moving toward more fortunate days and playing their best hand. Though reasonable, Hartford expects to see results this weekend on drag racing's biggest stage as he works to defend the title he fought for so hard last season.

"I believe the field is tighter this year than it was last year, so it would be hard to go low for the round nine runs [again], but I do think we have a car that can go to the top and win this race," said Hartford.