Team Kalitta Lacks Luck in Las Vegas; Kalitta Remains in Thick of Championship Hunt

HighRev Photography Doug Kalitta, Mac Tools, Top Fuel Dragster, Toyota

Doug Kalitta, Mac Tools Top Fuel Dragster

Finals Broadcast Replay: 8-11 p.m. eastern Tuesday, Oct. 31 on FS1

Qualifying: Doug Kalitta was the No. 4 qualifier at the NHRA Nevada Nationals. It was his 14th top-four qualifying effort of the season including each of the last eight races. His best qualifying attempt came in the final qualifying session Saturday afternoon when he posted a 3.696-second effort at 334.90 mph. 

Eliminations: Kalitta defeated T.J. Zizzo before losing to Josh Hart in the second round when the DHL dragster’s engine malfunctioned at the finish line. Hart left the starting line before Kalitta and won the round by one thousandth of a second.  

Unofficial Point Standings: Kalitta leaves Las Vegas in second place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails first-place Steve Torrence by 15 points and leads third-place Leah Pruett by 19 points.

Kalitta on Las Vegas: “Josh had a better light (reaction time) than I had; it’s unfortunate and obviously bad timing. We’ll lick our wounds for a couple of weeks and get back at it. That’s all we can do. We knew it was going down to Pomona – that’s for sure.”

J.R. Todd, DHL Funny Car

Finals Broadcast Replay: 8-11 p.m. eastern Tuesday, Oct. 31 on FS1

Qualifying: J.R. Todd was the No. 10 qualifier at the NHRA Nevada Nationals. Todd made a 3.909-second pass at 329.58 mph for his quickest qualifying run of the weekend.

Eliminations: Todd raced Cruz Pedregon in the first round. Todd left the starting line first, but both cars smoked the tires turning the round into battle to determine which driver could pedal his car best. Unfortunately, Pedregon reached the finish line first ending the day for the DHL Toyota team. 

Unofficial Point Standings: Todd leaves Las Vegas in sixth place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails fifth-place John Force by 14 points and leads seventh-place Chad Green by eight points with one race remaining in the season. 

Todd on Las Vegas: “This weekend definitely didn’t work out like we hoped. The first-round with Cruz (Pedregon) was exciting, but it obviously would have been a lot better for DHL, Toyota, Revchem and SealMaster if we’d gotten that win light. We can still get to up to fifth in points, but we need a good race in Pomona. We’ll give it another shot when we get there.”

Shawn Langdon, Future Energy Solutions Top Fuel Dragster

Finals Broadcast Replay: 8-11 p.m. eastern Tuesday, Oct. 31 on FS1

Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 8 qualifier at the NHRA Nevada Nationals; Langdon’s best qualifying attempt came in the final qualifying session Saturday afternoon when he made a 3.711-second run at 327.51 mph.

Eliminations: Langdon and Tony Schumacher were the first pair of the first round. Langdon was on a solid run when the Future Energy Solutions dragster encountered an engine malfunction allowing Schumacher to take the win light 3.697 seconds to 3.744 seconds. 

Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon leaves Las Vegas in 12th place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails 11th-place Josh Hart by two points and 10th place Clay Millican by 28 points with one race remaining in the season. 

Langdon on Las Vegas: “The guys on our Future Energy Solutions Toyota team are working as hard as they can – they have a great work ethic. We just can’t seem to find the right combination. We all want to do well for everyone who supports us like Kalitta Air and Revchem, but we want to do well for ourselves, too. We have one more chance – we’ll do all we can to finish the season with a good race in Pomona.”

Next Race: Team Kalitta will finish the season Nov. 10-12, 2023 at the In ‘N Out Burger NHRA Finals on the In ‘N Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona, Calif. For additional information, please visitwww.nhra.com. For additional information on Kalitta Motorsports, please visit www.teamkalitta.com

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