Wed, 22 Jul 2026, 15:26 PM Kalitta Motorsports Wrap Up

Courtesy of Rob Goodman, Kalitta Motorsports Photo Courtesy: Kalitta Motorsports

Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals presented by PowerEdge
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series
Sonoma Raceway; Sonoma, Calif.
Post-Event Wrap-Up

TOP FUEL WINNER: Doug Kalitta, Aflac Top Fuel Dragster

Qualifying: Doug Kalitta was the No. 1 qualifier at the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals. During the opening qualifying session on Friday, Kalitta needed just 3.714 seconds to reach the finish line at 337.04 mph. His teammate, Shawn Langdon, posted an identical elapsed time, but Kalitta's faster speed gave him the No. 1 qualifier. It was Kalitta's third No. 1 qualifier of the season and the 69th of his career.

Eliminations: Kalitta defeated Clay Millican and had a second-round bye. In the semifinals against Antron Brown, the Aflac dragster smoked the tires during the run, but Brown did the same. Despite engine issues, Kalitta stayed in the throttle, won the round and advanced to the final round against Jasmine Salinas. Kalitta's Aflac dragster was strong from start to finish in the final; the reigning Top Fuel champion won the race with a 3.731-second pass at 339.96 mph. It was Kalitta's second win of the season, his second-straight at Sonoma Raceway, his seventh at Sonoma Raceway, more than any other Top Fuel driver, and the 61st of his career.

Thirty years ago, Blaine Johnson, Kalitta Crew Chief Alan Johnson's late brother, won the NHRA Sonoma Nationals; it would be his final win. He was killed in a 1996 racing accident in Indianapolis a short time after Sonoma. After today's winner's circle pictures and post-race media interviews, Kalitta presented the Sonoma Nationals trophy to Johnson, in Blaine's memory.

Unofficial Point Standings: Kalitta leaves Sonoma in second place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails the points leader, his teammate Shawn Langdon, by 85 points and leads third-place Leah Pruett by 181 points.

Kalitta on Sonoma: "Sonoma has been a special place for us; we had a little dry spell through the years, but I'm glad that we managed to get the last two wins here. Hats off to my team; the Aflac car was running strong all day, and we had all the Aflac guys on the starting line. We smoked 'em (the tires) in the semifinals against Antron, but hats off to Alan, Mac (Crew Chiefs Alan Johnson and Mac Savage), all my guys and everybody that supports us - Mac Tools, Gerber, SealMaster, Revchem and PJH. We'll take this (trophy) home to Connie (Team Owner Connie Kalitta) - I'm sure he'll be happy.

"What can I say about Alan Johnson? This is his hometown track; he was hungry for this win just like I was. Whatever it takes - Alan is the man when it comes to tuning this car. I'm just very fortunate to have this opportunity. It's been fun, and this win is a good way to finish the day.

"It's been 30 years since, unfortunately, we lost Blaine Johnson, and I'm going to have the honor of giving this trophy to Alan this evening. It's very deserving with everything he's put into this sport. Blaine was a hell of a driver, so this is going to be an honor."

Shawn Langdon, Kalitta Air Careers Dragster

Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 2 qualifier at the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals. During the opening qualifying session Friday afternoon, Langdon made a 3.714-second pass at 336.49 mph, but his teammate, Doug Kalitta qualified with an identical elapsed time. Because Kalitta's speed was a touch faster, the reigning Top Fuel champion earned the No. 1 qualifier, and Langdon qualified second.

Eliminations: Langdon defeated Will Smith before Jasmine Salinas upset him in the second round. Salinas was off the starting line first, and Langdon was unable to drive around her. She won with a 3.775-second run to Langdon's 3.776-second effort at 335.32 mph.

Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon leaves Sonoma in first place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He leads the second-place driver, his teammate Doug Kalitta, by 85 points.

Langdon on Sonoma: "The Kalitta Air Careers team made a strong run in the first round; we just didn't make a good enough run in the second round, and I was a little bit behind on the tree. We'll regroup and be ready to go for Kalitta Air, Gerber, Revchem and Fifth Third (bank) when we get to Seattle next weekend."

J.R. Todd, DHL Funny Car

Qualifying: J.R. Todd was the No. 9 qualifier at the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals. He made his best qualifying attempt during the Friday night session when the DHL GR Supra needed only 3.793 seconds to reach the finish line at 332.10 mph.

Eliminations: Todd made his quickest and fastest run of the weekend against Matt Hagan in the first round. Todd's 3.933-second effort at 332.43 mph was quicker than Hagan's 3.944-second run, but Hagan left the starting line before Todd and won the race by .0182 seconds.

Unofficial Point Standings: Todd leaves Sonoma in fifth place in in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails fourth place Matt Hagan by 23 points and leads sixth-place Chad Green by 54 points.

Todd on Sonoma: "You can't lose on a hole shot - the driver has to do a better job. I hate it for the yella fellas - they did a great job, and the DHL team made a run that was good enough to win the round. Thanks to SealMaster, Fifth Third (bank) and PJH for supporting us. The good news is we race again next weekend so we don't have to wait long to put this one behind us."

Next Race: Team Kalitta will be back in action July 24-27, 2026, at the Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest in Kent, Wash. For additional information, please visit www.nhra.com. For additional information on Kalitta Motorsports, please visit www.teamkalitta.com.