Pro Stock driver Matt Hartford arrived at the U.S. Nationals with some new equipment.

“They say the only thing constant in life is change, so we decided after the last few races where we certainly didn’t run as good as we thought and we weren’t really sure if we had a chassis problem or a set-up problem or an engine problem,” Hartford said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t have a second car to put our engines in that we were running, so we elected to put a different engine in our car.”

The engine Hartford is running at Lucas Oil Raceway is from Gray Motorsports. Prior to the weekend, Hartford was running engine powered supplied by Warren Johnson and Kurt Johnson.

“We’re leasing this engine from Gray (Motorsports),” Hartford said. “Warren and Kurt have been great to me for years and years and we have been friends for years and years. Over the last three years I think we really made a lot of strides not only with our program, but with our engine development program. However, sometimes in drag racing or all forms of racing, you just simply have to make a change to see where you stand and that’s what we did.”

Gray Motorsports with drivers Tanner Gray (four wins) and Drew Skillman (three wins) have combined for seven victories. Hartford arrived at Indy 13th in the points standings. I would like a little bit of their luck to roll over to me for sure and there’s no doubt that they make a lot of power, they have very consistent power and they have a lot of depth in their engine shop.”

Hartford qualified No. 8 with a 6.598, but fell in the first round opposite of Jason Line.