Doug Kalitta, Mac Tools Top Fuel Dragster
Finals Broadcast Replay: 8-11 p.m. eastern time Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024 on FS2
Qualifying: Doug Kalitta was the No. 3 qualifier at the Ford Performance NHRA Nationals. During the final qualifying session Saturday evening, Kalitta made his best run of qualifying – a 3.674-second effort at 334.57 mph. It was his 12th top-four qualifying effort of the season.
Eliminations: Kalitta fell just short of a “season sweep” of the races on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kalitta defeated Ida Zetterstrom and Antron Brown to advance to the semifinals against his teammate, Shawn Langdon. In the semifinals, Kalitta had a rear-end malfunction, and Langdon was cruising to the round win when Langdon’s Kalitta Air Careers car veered left and crossed the center line. At that moment, Langdon was disqualified, and Kalitta was awarded the round win. Cleanup from the incident and quickly-dropping temperatures forced postponement of the remainder of the race to Monday afternoon when Kalitta faced Brittany Force in the final round. Kalitta’s Mac Tools dragster smoked the tires almost immediately, and Force cruised to the win. It was Kalitta’s seventh final round of the season.
Unofficial Point Standings: Kalitta jumped three spots in the standings and leaves Las Vegas tied with Steve Torrence for fourth place in the NHRA Mission Foods Top Fuel point standings. He and Torrence trail third-place Shawn Langdon by 40 points, trail points leader Justin Ashley by 85 and lead sixth-place Clay Millican by eight points with one race remaining in the season.
Kalitta on Las Vegas: “It would’ve definitely beennice to get those extra 20 points (by winning the final round). We were trying to throw down. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it (down the track), but we’re in a good spot going to Pomona. That place is usually really good to us. We’re all hungry here and obviously, it’d be nice to get this thing to the winner’s circle for sure (at Pomona).”
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