Throughout the Countdown playoffs Shawn Langdon and the DHL Kalitta Air Top Fuel team have been battling to find consistency. The team was looking for their third win from Bristol Dragway and a strong finish over the final three Countdown playoff races. On Friday and Saturday during qualifying the team worked to build a tune-up that would set them up for victory on race day. Their best effort sent them into Sunday eliminations as the No. 10 qualifier and a first round race with Justin Ashley.
Both drivers are battling in the Countdown to the championship and have been tough competitors with Langdon holding a 5-2 record over the second-year driver. Today the 2013 Top Fuel world champion made his best run of the weekend in a losing effort.
Langdon took a starting line advantage and held a lead as both dragsters accelerated down the track. Neither race car was giving up an inch as they closed in on the finish line. In one of the closest races of the first round it was Ashley getting the win by four thousandths of a second at over 330 mph. Langdon’s losing time of 3.739 seconds was the fourth quickest elapsed time of the round and would have advance him to the quarterfinals had he secured a different first round match-up.
“We made our best run of the weekend on race day and we just came up a little short,” said Langdon. “This DHL Kalitta Air team will keep working and fighting. We will be ready for Vegas in two weeks. The fans this weekend have been great.”
Statistics:
Qualified: No. 10 (3.763 sec, 329.91 mph)
Bonus points: 0
Race Details:
First Round
Driver Qual R/T ET MPH
Shawn Langdon 10 .056 3.739 327.43
Justin Ashley 5 .064 3.690 334.48 (W)
Kalitta Motorsports PR
