As the regular season begins to wind down towards the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs, Shawn Langdon and his Kalitta Air Careers team need to get moving in hopes of finishing the regular season on a high note – and earning his first-career race win at Brainerd International Raceway would be a great way to get that done. The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing season continues this weekend with the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals Aug. 18-20 in Brainerd, Minn.
Despite flashes of brilliance, the 2023 NHRA season is not playing out as planned for Langdon and his Kalitta Air Careers Toyota team, but anyone who’s spent significant time in Motorsports fully understand that things can change rapidly. With just this week’s race in Minnesota and the U.S. Nationals on Labor Day weekend remaining before the Countdown begins, the Kalitta Air Careers team simply needs to win rounds.
“We’re still in the batter’s box, and we’ll keep swinging until as long as the pitches keep coming,” the 2013 Top Fuel champion said. “We’re excited to get to Brainerd because it’s our next opportunity to go some rounds and get our season headed back in the right direction. We made some progress on the Western swing, but we have to keep working to get better. We’d love to have a couple of good races here at the end of the regular season to make our jobs a little easier in the Countdown. I know our guys are working as hard as they can to get us where we need to be.
“We’re also looking forward to going to Brainerd because it’s Brainerd – everyone loves racing there. They have some of the best fans in the world, and let’s just say they make the most of their time at the race track – they’re some of the rowdiest fans on the tour, and we love ‘em!”
