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Mopar NHRA Las Vegas Nationals Powered by Dodge NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Race 19 of 20 Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs Race Five of Six The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
2025 Texas NHRA FallNationals Recap: Qualified No. 3; defeated Kelly Harper, Justin Ashley and Doug Kalitta, lost to Brittany Force. Shawn Langdon Career Stats: 387 events, 30 wins, 32 runners-up, 462 round wins, 30 No. 1 qualifiers. Current Points Position: 1
Pre-Race Notes: - Should Langdon leave Las Vegas with a points lead of 191 points or more, he would win the 2026 NHRA Top Fuel championship. - Langdon won the first three Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs races and enters Las Vegas with a commanding points lead. When he lost in the Texas NHRA FallNationals semifinals, his four-race win streak and his 18-straight elimination round win streak both ended. It was his first round loss since Aug. 23. - Langdon has eight wins, three runners-up, three semifinal appearances and eight No. 1 qualifiers this season. Langdon recorded his career-best elapsed time two weeks ago in Dallas. His 3.648-second pass at 340.39 mph earned his eighth No. 1 qualifier of the season. - With Langdon's eight wins and Kalitta's four wins, the Team Kalitta dragsters won 12 of the season's 18 races and competed in 68 of the 71 rounds of racing. Neither driver reached the final round at Pomona, Calif., Norwalk, Ohio or Ennis, Texas. - The 2026 season has been one for the Kalitta Motorsports record book. The team has 14 race wins this year (Langdon 8, Kalitta 4 and Todd 2), more than any other season in team history. - Langdon's 28-career Top Fuel wins place him 10th all-time in Top Fuel victories. His 30 wins overall (including two Funny Car wins) place him tied for 35th in overall Mission Foods Drag Racing wins. - Langdon owns the four fastest runs in NHRA history. At the Great Lakes Nationals in Michigan, he recorded speeds of 346.95 and 346.15. At the Southern Nationals in Georgia in May, he recorded speeds of 345.00 mph and 344.91 mph. - Langdon was the runner-up at this event one year ago; it was his only final-round appearance on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. - Continuing his practice of often racing on off weekends, Langdon won the Oakley Motorsports Super Quick Series event at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park last weekend. In addition, he scored a runner-up finish in Super Comp. - Langdon is the 2013 NHRA Top Fuel Champion and has 30 wins in his career.
Pre-Race Quotes: "It's one run at a time; it has to be that way. We know the goals and what we like to do, but we just have to keep working. We've seen what can happen. In the middle of the year, we had a big lead, and that went away quickly. It has to be one run at a time, and we have to keep getting those little points. The results are going to be what they're going to be, but we keep trying to do the best we can. We're just trying to keep it as simple as possible. It's just keep doing what we're doing. Our goal is always to win the race and if that's the case, some good results will follow, but we're not trying to look too far ahead. "It's pretty cool; you look at it (challenging for a second championship) and you read some articles where they put your name up against some other people; it's pretty humbling, but you know, at the end of the day, I try not to read too much into it because as nice as it is, if we can't finish the deal, then it doesn't really mean a whole lot. Our goal is to win the championship. A lot of things happened with our team in the last couple of years, so we have a lot of motivating factors. The guys are putting in the extra time, they're putting in the extra effort, and I think we're all pretty much on the same page. We really want to get this done." For Shawn Langdon's 2026 race-by-race results, please click here.
2025 Texas NHRA FallNationals Recap: Qualified No. 2; defeated Rob Passey and Bye, lost to Shawn Langdon. Doug Kalitta Career Stats: 644 events, 63 wins, 71 runners-up, 881 round wins, 72 No. 1 qualifiers. Current Points Position: 2
Pre-Race Notes: - Kalitta and his Mac Tools team have experience in erasing points deficits. Entering the race in Sonoma in July, Langdon led Kalitta by 150 points with three races remaining in the regular season. Kalitta won the next three races and entered the final race of the regular season, the U.S. Nationals, leading Langdon by 67 points. The reigning and two-time Top Fuel champion will need a similar effort in the season's last two races to catch his teammate. - Kalitta has four wins, four runners-up, six semifinals and six No. 1 qualifiers this season. With Kalitta's wins and Langdon's eight wins, the Team Kalitta dragsters won 12 of the season's first 18 races and competed in 68 of the 71 rounds of racing. Neither driver reached the final round at Pomona, Calif., Norwalk, Ohio or Ennis, Texas. - The 2026 season has been one for the Kalitta Motorsports record book. The team has 14 race wins this year (Langdon 8, Kalitta 4 and Todd 2), more than any other season in team history. - The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been good to Doug Kalitta. He has three wins in nine final rounds in Las Vegas along with four No. 1 qualifiers. - With 63 race wins, Kalitta is third on NHRA's all-time Top Fuel wins list and trails second-place Antron Brown by two wins. He is 11th in overall Mission Foods Drag Racing Series wins and trails 10th-place Robert Hight by two wins. - Kalitta is a two-time NHRA Top Fuel Champion (2023, '25) and a member of the Michigan Motorsports Hall of Fame.
Pre-Race Quotes: "The good news for this Mac Tools team is that the last two tracks have been really good to us over the years so it should be interesting. My guys are hungry and looking forward to it. The guys are making sure everything is ready to go for Vegas. "This weekend is a hell of an opportunity for my team - it's been a good place for us over the years. The fans there are awesome really; it's kinda cool that they run early enough that people can still do what they do on the strip. It's a beautiful facility, and we're super excited to get there. I definitely like going to Vegas - it's always exciting to hit the last two races at the end of the year, be in contention to win those and see where you shake out. It's definitely a crap shoot when it comes to these last two races with points and a half at the last one. You never count yourself out, but we definitely have to collect as many points as we can to make it happen." For Doug Kalitta's 2026 race-by-race results, please click here.
2025 Texas NHRA FallNationals Recap: Qualified No. 10; lost to Cruz Pedregon. J.R. Todd Career Stats: 355 events, 24 wins, 28 runners-up, 394 round wins, 17 No. 1 qualifiers. Current Points Position: 3
Pre-Race Notes: - Todd captured his second win of the season two weeks ago at the Texas NHRA FallNationals in Ennis, Texas. It was his second win at Texas Motorplex, and it moved him from fifth to third in points, but more importantly, within reach of the points lead. - The 2026 season has been one for the Kalitta Motorsports record book. The team has 14 race wins this year (Langdon 8, Kalitta 4 and Todd 2), more than any other season in team history. - Todd has two wins, one runner-up finish and eight semifinal showings in addition to three No. 1 qualifiers in 2026. He advanced to at least the semifinals 11 times this season. - At each of the first four Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs races, Todd qualified fifth. He was the No. 5 qualifier at five of the last six races. - Todd has three wins in six final round appearances on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He also has two No. 1 qualifiers. - Todd is the 2018 NHRA Funny Car Champion and has 24 race wins in his career.
Pre-Race Quotes: "I think, ideally, if we can get it (the points lead) to around 60, that's a good number going into Pomona, but man, I want all of it. I'd like to go to Pomona with it being around 30 something so we can rack up some qualifying points and get it within a round, but I think if you can go into Pomona and you're within two rounds, that's doable for sure. "We can only control what we can control. We just got to do our part and qualify the best we can. We need to start racking up those qualifying points where we can. We've been getting them here and there all season long, just not consistently during qualifying. It'd be nice to focus in on getting those; you can't count on those guys going out early, and we're not going to line ourselves up in qualifying or anything like that. We just gotta qualify at the top, race hard, try and win the race and let the points shake out where they may. "I've been in this position before. We'll keep battling until it's over, and it's definitely a team effort; there's no 'I' in team so it's a group effort. I couldn't do it without the DHL guys behind me. We have our work cut out for us, but like I said, we're still in the conversation." For J.R. Todd's 2026 race-by-race results, please click here.
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