From 2018 through 2021, there was no one better in NHRA’s Top Fuel ranks than Steve Torrence.

The Texas native piled up wins and four world championships. The streak came to an end for the Capco team in 2022 as Torrence finished sixth in the points standings.

The 2023 season has been solid as he hovered near the top of the points standings, but one thing was missing: A victory.

That changed Sunday when Torrence captured Top Fuel at the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceway in Seattle.

Torrence clocked a 3.940-second lap at 289.26 mph to defeat Doug Kalitta, who slowed to 4.861 seconds.

“It's a great feeling. I mean, just kind of a monkey off your back, (a) sense of accomplishment,” Torrence said. “I mean, in the years past we've had such a dominant race car, and I think you can kind of get a little complacent, get a little 'winning is a norm,' and it's really not and it never should be. But the performance today, I'll tell you two rounds was stellar and two rounds weren't that stellar. And so, you got to be confident. ...

"I've said it over and over, it's difficult when things are not going absolutely great to be as confident as you need to be to drive these things successfully. You just need to take a step back, re-evaluate the situation and just see how thankful and grateful and fortunate and blessed we are to be able to do what we do with such great partners like what we have.

“This is a great place to win and at the right time to feel like we're getting some momentum going. We're getting that race car that we had in years past back where you go out there and kind of call your shots. I knew that as the day got hotter and the track was a little more susceptible to spinning the tires out there, we struggled but we did better than the guy beside us or the girl beside us.”

Torrence’s 54th career national event win was his first since St. Louis in the fall of 2022.

“Man, it seems like a decade ago that I won a race,” Torrence said.

Torrence’s victory parade consisted of wins over Josh Hart, Brittany Force, Shawn Langdon and Kalitta.

“Right now, my confidence is back. I don't think that it's as good as it can be, but it's definitely moving in the right direction, and you're only as good as your last shot,” Torrence said. “So, you need to continue moving forward. I think that we have a really good race car going into Sonoma (Calif., this coming weekend). Two conditions will be probably a much different situation there where you have to run a lot faster and it just won't be as warm maybe, but we'll see how that goes. Hats off to the Capco Contractor boys at home that are taking care of us and keeping us out here, Toyota that just makes sure that we have all the right information for the track, and then Red Line and Mac Tools that have supported us because we're a family-owned, family-run team, really close to the vest and very selective about who we partner with. And so, we're proud of the people that support us.”

The win was Torrence’s second in Seattle; the first in 2012.

“I was pretty calm going into the final,” said Torrence, who was appearing in his 84th career Top Fuel final round. “What I did there in the final round I did earlier in the day against Brittany (Force), where I typically roll really far in on pre-stage. I did it against Brittany, and I did it against Doug (Kalitta) where I rolled in and actually flickered the bottom bulb. I was really deep, and I didn't want to be on pre-stage, so needed to calm down. Maybe that's just being a little too calm and relaxed and kind of being sloppy with my stage. And so took a breath, sat there for a second, pulled the high side and bumped in. I think the tree was a little quick. Neither one of us were really ready to go when the light came on. I had to be a hundred and I don't know what it was, but I think he was right there somewhere around us.

“But you go down through there, you don't hear them, you don't know what's going on. So, when it spins the tire, you just are on a wing and a prayer hoping that you can get it caught up and go across. And I did go through, I looked over, saw the light come on.”

Torrence acknowledged the victory was emotional for him.

“My grandmother (Mama Kay’s mom) passed away in March. She was my biggest fan,” Torrence said. “(She) never missed a race, never missed watching it on TV or on the iPad or wearing the people out at the Verizon store because she couldn't work her iPad. But this is the first race win without her being with us and definitely something that I wanted to get through and done a lot quicker than now, but very gratifying to be able to do it. I give her every one of my winner's hats and so this one will go to my little girl.”

Torrence's long-awaited win – at least by his standards – was very significant for Toyota as it was the company’s 200th career victory.

“I think J.R. (Todd) had a chance and then Doug and I had a chance,” Torrence said. “No, we didn't talk about it. I mean they wanted to win it, I wanted to win it. So, there's no, ‘Hey man, I hope you win,’ because they don't hope I win. H*ll, I hope I win, and they hope they win.”

Torrence knows a win at this point in the season is a huge boost. It also moved him into the points lead by four markers over Justin Ashley.

“I mean, I've been in these situations on both sides of the spectrum where you dominate the entire first half of the season or first two thirds of the season and you go in into the last six and falter, and you go into the last six and win the championship and win them all or just win by a couple of points or whatever,” Torrence said. “It's a good time to peak. It's a good time to start getting ready for the Countdown and consistency is always going to win just the way that the points are structured and the way that it goes.

“But for the most part we have not felt like we've been very good. If you would've asked anybody on the team why we're second [before Seattle] in the points, we wouldn't know because I mean we really haven't done worth of crap all year. But neither has anyone else except for Justin. And so, to say that we've won one race this season and he's won four and we took over the points lead, it validates that we have been pretty consistent, just not our normal selves.”

On Saturday, Torrence also was celebrating a victory as he won the Mission 2Fast2Tasty Challenge.

“That's huge. As far as the 2Fast2Tasty challenge, it's awesome to win that and then carry that momentum into winning the race,” he said. “I mean we did it at Indy with the shootout and then winning Indy. And so anytime, it really boasts that confidence going into race day because you already think, ‘Okay, well I've got my head in the game, the car's where it needs to be,’ and we have that confidence. I mean it's like going fishing and you catch something every time you throw that lure out there. You're like, ‘That lure's going to catch a fish every time I go.’ That's how you feel when you go into race day with that confidence.

“There was never a moment that I wasn't trusting my guys. But you know they're doing everything they can and doing the best they can, but you go up there and you drive the car like, okay, I haven't been leaving like Justin Ashley or Austin Prock, so pushing the envelope and trying harder to do this or not do that, I won a lot of races, and I didn't take off first. I took quite a few championships and didn't take off first. I just did what I could do and drove the car and that's really what I had to do.”