In the baseball-themed movie "For the Love of the Game," Kevin Costner -- playing the role of fictional major league baseball pitcher, Billy Chapel -- told his catcher Gus Sinski, "I'm gonna throw a little harder than usual today. There's your warning."

Sinski responded, "Chap, don't throw it away too early."

Robert Hight, a three-time world champion who was a catcher in high school, could be playing the dual role of Chapel and Sinski when the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series kicks off.

"I think I'm more hungry than ever," Hight said on the CompetitionPlus Power Hour. "After a year like last year and how it ended, we definitely have something to prove, and can't wait to get back in there. I've been thinking about it a lot."

Who could blame Hight? After losing a championship following his self-proclaimed greatest season, Hight could be justified in feeling salty.

The stats don't lie, as Hight won six of nine final rounds in the regular season and added two more wins in three races during the Countdown to the Championship. He also had six No. 1 qualifiers, and he went the whole season, regular and playoff, without a first-round loss. Despite those stellar accomplishments, Hight lost the championship to Ron Capps by three points.

"It was a tough one to get over, but you've got to move on," Hight admitted. "Every year in the offseason, you look around, and you say, 'Okay, what do we need to do to be better? How do we get better? We need to win more races, do a better job next year.'

"But when I really look at last year, it's pretty tough to top that. I don't know if it's possible, to be honest with you. Since 1996 when, John Force won 13 of 18 races, I think this is the best Funny Car season anybody's ever had. And no first-round losses, that's one of the things that I'm really proud of. That shows that we have a great team. They're not making mistakes. We're all pulling in the same direction, and that's a tough deal to follow up.

"I guess the way the point system works, you've got to be good at the end, and sometimes you got to say, 'Well, I got to just be good the last day of the season. That's how you win the championship."

But then again, Hight has to wonder if winning in qualifying is just as advantageous, if not more, than sealing the deal on Sundays.

The NHRA announced the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge on January 19, 2023. That's intended to bring competitive racing to the Saturday schedule at regular-season events during the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series campaign, pitting semifinalists from the previous race against each other in a rematch for all professional categories.

They will face off during the first qualifying session on Saturday, with the two winners then matching up in the final qualifying session with an additional purse and bonus points for the Countdown to the Championship. Along with the additional purse and the chance to celebrate a victory on Saturday during a race weekend, competitors in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge also means racing for bonus points that will be awarded at the start of the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

"I got a lot of opinions about the points system, as you can, I'm sure, figure out," Hight said. "You take 300 points away, and then you lose by three -- that's a tough pill to swallow. And I know I've been on the other side of it, I get that, but I still think when you're chasing guys like Kenny Bernstein and Don Prudhomme for championships, and when you hang your helmet up and you want to be number two all-time in championships, those guys didn't have a playoff.

"Drag racing's a little different than other sports. Even NASCAR -- you can see guys in NASCAR go have a bad pit stop, and they can recover and win a race. They can even have a penalty, go to the back, come back, and win the race. I've seen Tony Stewart do that.

"Drag racing, there are no second chances. So everything you earn, it's tough to see it go out the window. I guess it could create some excitement on Saturdays. I think that's what they're trying to do, some racing, but I don't know. It can work a lot of ways. You could be really good on Saturdays and suck on Sundays, and it'd help you out in the points and the championships. So I'm not sure about all this."