Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 5 qualifier at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals. His quickest qualifying attempt was his first of the weekend when he made a 3.789-second pass at 324.59 mph in the Friday evening session.
Langdon defeated Doug Foley and Brittany Force before losing to Justin Ashley in the semifinals. The drivers left the starting line together and were in a dead heat when the Kalitta Air 25th Anniversary dragster dropped a cylinder, allowing Ashley to take the win light by .0737 seconds and advance to the final round.
When Langdon advanced to the semifinals, he earned a spot in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge next month in Seattle. During Saturday’s qualifying sessions, the drivers who reached the semifinals in Norwalk will re-run the semifinals and final, earning additional purse and championship bonus points.
Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon leaves Norwalk in second place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails points leader Tony Stewart by 52 points and leads third-place Justin Ashley by 25 points.
“It was a big race weekend with a lot of Kalitta Air employees here, which was cool to see, and a lot of our great partners were here, too. We just dropped a cylinder there in the semifinal, and it is what it is. Thanks to everyone from Kalitta Air, New Image Building Services, Dayco, SealMaster and Revchem. We’ll head to Seattle next month and try to get back in the number one spot.”
Doug Kalitta was the No. 15 qualifier at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals. Kalitta was not qualified entering the final qualifying session Saturday afternoon, which was also the final round of the Mission Foods Challenge in which Kalitta raced Tony Stewart. The 2023 NHRA Top Fuel champion made a 3.952-second run at 294.37 mph to defeat Stewart for his fourth Mission Foods Challenge of the season and sneak into the field at No. 15.
Kalitta defeated reigning Top Fuel champion Antron Brown for the second time in as many races in the first round. In the second round, Kalitta’s Applied Innovation dragster made a 3.900-second run at 324.36 mph, but Clay Millican left the starting line first and beat Kalitta by .0072 seconds despite recording a slightly slower elapsed time.
Kalitta leaves Norwalk in fourth place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails third-place Justin Ashley by 110 points and leads fifth-place Antron Brown by 31 points.
“That was kind of embarrassing right in front of my home crowd, but I guess I just screwed up and just have to own it. It’s pretty disappointing though. We had a lot of people here from Applied Innovation, Kalitta Air, Kalitta Motorsports, Mac Tools, SealMaster and Revchem. It’s a heartbreaker. It’s a knucklehead move – that’s all I can tell you.”
J.R. Todd was the No. 12 qualifier at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals. His best qualifying attempt was his first of the weekend when the DHL GR Supra reached the finish line in 4.061 seconds at 322.50 mph
Todd raced Matt Hagan in the first round, but the DHL GR Supra smoked the tires almost immediately, allowing Hagan to cruise to the win light.
Todd leaves Norwalk tied with Dan Wilkerson for sixth place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. They trail fifth-place Matt Hagan by 86 points and lead eighth-place Cruz Pedregon by 62 points.
“You hate to smoke the tires and go out in the first round, or any other round really, but the DHL GR Supra team just kinda struggled a little bit this weekend. We’re trending in the right direction overall, but like I’ve been saying, we’re still a work in progress and still learning. It was a big weekend with so many partners, friends and family with us – thanks to everyone from DHL, Dayco, SealMaster PJH and Revchem that came out this weekend. We’ll regroup and be ready for Seattle in a few weeks.”
Team Kalitta will be back in action July 18-20, 2025, at the Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals in Kent, Wash. For additional information, please visit www.nhra.com. For additional information on Kalitta Motorsports, please visit www.teamkalitta.com.
This story was originally published on June 30, 2025. 
