Post-Race Circle K NHRA Four-Wide Nationals

Shawn Langdon, CMR Construction & Roofing Top Fuel Dragster

Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 11 qualifier at the Circle K NHRA Four-Wide Nationals. His best qualifying attempt during the second round of qualifying was a 3.727-second pass at 332.18 mph

Eliminations: Langdon had the best reaction time of his first round “quad,” but the car smoked the tires, and Langdon was eliminated.

Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon leaves Charlotte in eighth place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails the drivers tied for sixth place, Antron Brown and Mike Salinas, by 45 points and leads ninth-place Josh Hart by 12 points.

Langdon on Charlotte: “Definitely not the weekend we hoped to have, but these things happen. I really appreciate all the hard work our guys do each week, and I’m really confident in our race team. We win as a team, and we lose as a team. We’ll learn from this period of the season and come back stronger in Chicago.”

Doug Kalitta, Mac Tools Top Fuel Dragster

Qualifying: Doug Kalitta was the No. 6 qualifier at the Circle K NHRA Four-Wide Nationals. Kalitta reached the finish line in 3.699 seconds at 328.30 mph.

Eliminations: Kalitta had an excellent reaction time, but the Mac Tools Toyota dragster smoked the tires, and he was eliminated.

Unofficial Point Standings: Kalitta leaves Charlotte in 10^th place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails ninth-place Josh Hart by 16 points and leads 11^th place Tony Schumacher by 52 points.

Kalitta On Charlotte: “I know I can speak for the entire Mac Tools Toyota team when I say this result wasn’t what we were looking for this weekend. We tried to step up our performance, but the track didn’t want anything to do with it. My guys work really hard all the time, and we’re going in the right direction. We’ll lick our wounds, get better, qualify better and get back to two-wide racing in Chicago. For everyone at Mac Tools, Revchem, Toyota and all our partners, we appreciate all your support.”

Photo Courtesy: Gary Nastase/Kalitta Motorsports

J.R. Todd, DHL Funny Car

Qualifying: J.R. Todd was the No. 6 qualifier at the Circle K NHRA Four-Wide Nationals. After the challenges of the last month, the team made a solid 3.971-second pass in the first round of qualifying and then made two strong passes on Saturday including Todd’s best effort, a 3.880-second effort at 334.40 mph.

Eliminations: Just when the first quad of Funny Cars was preparing to race its first round, rain arrived at zMAX Dragway, and the event was down for a nearly four-and-a-half-hour rain delay. When competition resumed, Todd’s DHL Funny Car launched well but then lost traction, and he did not advance to the second round.

Unofficial Point Standings: Todd leaves Charlotte in 11^th place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails 10^th place Blake Alexander by 11 points and leads 12^th place Alex Laughlin by 26 points.

Todd on Charlotte: “The positive we take of the weekend is that the car ran really well in qualifying, but we stumbled again on race day. It’s frustrating, but we all know it’s still early in the year. The guys on our DHL Toyota crew keep working hard like they always do, and I can’t thank them enough. We have two off weeks between now and Chicago so we’ll get back to the shop, regroup and be ready to go when we get there.”

Next Race: Team Kalitta will be back in action May 19-21, 2023 at the Route 66 NHRA Nationals in Joliet, Ill. For additional information, please visit www.nhra.com. For additional information on Kalitta Motorsports, please visit www.teamkalitta.com.