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Doug Kalitta Poised for Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals

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27
Aug

YPSILANTI, Mich. (Aug. 27, 2024) – It’s been a great season for Doug Kalitta and the Mac Tools team – ending the regular season with a second U.S. Nationals win would be the perfect way to cap off a strong performance. The 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Season resumes Aug. 30-Sept. 2, 2024 at the Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.

Kalitta won the U.S. Nationals in 2019 and has three runner-up finishes in the event known as the largest and most prestigious in the sport. He enters the final regular- season race as the points leader on the strength of three wins in six final-round appearances. The reigning Top Fuel champ feels good about the race and a certain crew chief who’s had a touch of U.S. Nationals success over the years.

“It’s always a cool race; obviously, it’s our biggest race of the year and one we’re all shooting to win,” Kalitta said. “We’ve been fortunate to win it, and we should be in a really good position to try to win it this year with Alan (Crew Chief Alan Johnson) tuning my car with his success at Indy. It’s pretty exciting for me so we’ll definitely hit the ground running. It’s probably one of my better opportunities to win this race so we’ll definitely do everything we can to take advantage of it. Really, it should be a good opportunity for all three of our cars. I think we’re in a great position to hopefully come out of there with the win.”

Johnson led the Mac Tools team’s return to form over the last three seasons, and his Top Fuel success is no secret – especially at the U.S. Nationals. Johnson has eight U.S. Nationals wins with four different drivers. His most-recent triumph came in 2013 with none other than Kalitta Air Careers driver Shawn Langdon in the car. The team is fresh off a Brainerd, Minn., test session and appears poised for great things this weekend.

“We did well testing, and we should be good,” Kalitta said. “We’ll see, but we’re all super excited with what we have going on with our Mac Tools car and everybody doing what they do on the car. I think our team is ready for sure to have a good run at Indy and then be ready for the Countdown. If we could be first in points after the regular season, it would definitely look good on the resume, that’s for sure. But as the year goes on, it comes down to a point here or a point there. If we can hold onto the No. 1 spot, that would be very cool in my book, and then obviously any additional points we get as a result of that will be positive. We’re gonna be counting points for the rest of the year for sure.”

Race Information:

Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals Indianapolis Raceway Park; Indianapolis

TV Schedule (All times eastern):    

  • Qualifying Show 1: 1-3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 1 on FS1
  • Funny Car All-Star Callout: 5-6:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 1 on FOX
  • Qualifying Show 2: 6:30-8:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 1 on FS1
  • Finals: Noon-2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 2 on FS1
  • Finals: 2-5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 2 on FOX

2023 Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals Recap: Qualified No. 4; defeated Spencer Masey and Mike Salinas; lost to Steve Torrence.

Doug Kalitta Career Stats: 600 events, 55 wins, 62 runner-up, 792 round wins, 58 No. 1 qualifiers.

2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Results To Date (wins in italics):

  • Gatornationals: Qualified No. 7; defeated Clay Millican; lost to Steve Torrence.
  • Pomona: Qualified No. 6; defeated Jasmine Salinas; lost to Billy Torrence.
  • Phoenix: Qualified No. 3; defeated Terry Totten; lost to Justin Ashley.
  • Las Vegas 4W: Qualified No. 1; defeated Shawn Langdon in the first round, Brittany Force and Josh Hart in the semifinals followed by Justin Ashley, Steve Torrence and Tony Stewart in the final round.
  • Charlotte 4W: Qualified No. 1; defeated Shawn Reed and Cody Krohn in the first round, Billy Torrence and Jasmine Salinas in the semifinals before beating Antron Brown but losing to Justin Ashley and Clay Millican in the final round.
  • Chicago: Qualified No. 3; lost to Justin Ashley.
  • Epping: Qualified No. 1; defeated Scott Farley, Tony Stewart, Shawn Langdon and Tony Schumacher.
  • Bristol: Qualified No. 14; defeated Antron Brown, Steve Torrence, Brittany Force; lost to Tony Schumacher.
  • Richmond: Qualified No. 2: after first-round bye, defeated Josh Hart, Tony Stewart and Shawn Langdon.
  • Norwalk: Qualified No. 1; defeated Kyle Wurtzel, Billy Torrence and Steve Torrence; lost to Antron Brown.
  • Seattle: Qualified No. 4; defeated Billy Torrence and Jasmine Salinas; lost to Steve Torrence.
  • Sonoma: Qualified No. 1; lost to Ron August, Jr.
  • Brainerd: Qualified No. 4; defeated Antron Brown; lost to Shawn Langdon.

Doug Kalitta Image Courtesy: NHRA