Veteran driver Doug Kalitta and the Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel team were looking at the NHRA Nevada Nationals as the chance to close out their season with a win and secure a third career Countdown national event win at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Heading into race day as the No. 8 qualifier the 49-time Top Fuel national event winner, was facing Countdown competitor Antron Brown, the No. 9 qualifier. The two dragsters were only separated by .002 seconds in their best qualifying effort.
Kalitta was first off the line with a starting line reaction time advantage of .055 to .062 and as the Mac Tools dragster advanced off the starting line the perennial championship contender was on a smooth pass. Brown made his quickest pass of the weekend to get out in front of Kalitta to secure the win. Kalitta’s elapsed time of 3.751 seconds was slightly off his best qualifying run, but Brown’s 3.709 second pass held him off as he was charging to the finish line.
The final race of the season the Auto Club Finals will be held at a track Kalitta has won six times in previous seasons. The opportunity to finish the season with a 50th career win and momentum heading into the off-season is the goal for Kalitta and the Mac Tools team.
“We are going to put this race behind us and turn our attention to finishing the season on a high note,” said Kalitta. “I have a lot of confidence in this entire team from top to bottom. This weekend we didn’t have the success we wanted to, but we are going to take the positives and move on to Pomona.”
Statistics:
Qualified: No. 8 (3.708 sec, 324.51 mph)
Bonus points: 0
Race Details:
First Round
Qual Driver RT ET MPH
8 Doug Kalitta .055 3.751 328.38
9 Antron Brown .062 3.709 330.23 (W)
Kalitta Motorsports PR
