EPPING, N.H. (May 31, 2025) – – The Team Kalitta Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge Top Fuel season sweep remains intact after Doug Kalitta’s Mac Tools Toyota team won its third Challenge of the season. On the same run, the 2023 Top Fuel champ claimed the No. 1 qualifier for tomorrow’s NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway.
Kalitta’s teammate, Shawn Langdon, won the Challenge at Phoenix, Pomona and Charlotte while Kalitta won it in Chicago, Las Vegas and today. The drivers who advanced to the semifinals in Chicago raced in today’s Mission Foods Challenge in a rematch of the semifinals and finals. Team Kalitta is 6-0 in the Mission Foods Challenge this season.
Kalitta raced Justin Ashley in their semifinal rematch. Kalitta’s 3.724-second effort at 327.51 moved him into the final round against points leader Tony Stewart. Kalitta left the starting line first and never looked back. His 3.670-second run at 337.24 beat Stewart’s 3.694-second effort at 330.55 and gave Kalitta the Mission Foods win by .0368 seconds. The winning pass also clinched Kalitta’s fifth No. 1 qualifier of the year and set the New England Dragway Top Fuel speed record. It was Kalitta’s fifth No. 1 qualifier of the season and fourth-straight, the 63rd of his career and his third at New England Dragway.
“Alan Johnson (Crew Chief) is turning the screws on his thing and Mac Savage (Assistant Crew Chief) and the Mac tools Toyota guys are making it happen,” Kalitta said. “It’s just the consistency of everything everybody’s doing. These Mission Foods chips will definitely be good with the lobster that we’re gonna have tonight. I’m just real happy to be able to pull this off, and we’re just glad we got it in. It seemed like the weather was right on our tail here, but we got it done, so good deal.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow; we were fortunate enough to win this thing last year. We’ve been qualifying really well and running well on Saturdays, but we’re looking for a good Sunday. I’ve had some great opportunities we’ve missed out on these last few races so we’re hoping to go rounds, make it to the final and compete for the win. We’ll have a little get together with our Lobsterfest (in memory of Scott Kalitta) tonight, and that’ll get us ready for tomorrow.”
With only 15 Top Fuel cars at the New England Nationals, Kalitta have a first-round bye and race either Ida Zetterstrom or Steve Torrence in the second round. Langdon qualified No. 5 and will race No. 12 qualifier Dan Mercier. J.R. Todd qualified No. 10 and will race No. 7 Cruz Pedregon in Sunday’s opening round.
Photos Courtesy: Kalitta Motorsports
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Kalitta’s teammate, Shawn Langdon, won the Challenge at Phoenix, Pomona and Charlotte while Kalitta won it in Chicago, Las Vegas and today. The drivers who advanced to the semifinals in Chicago raced in today’s Mission Foods Challenge in a rematch of the semifinals and finals. Team Kalitta is 6-0 in the Mission Foods Challenge this season.
Kalitta raced Justin Ashley in their semifinal rematch. Kalitta’s 3.724-second effort at 327.51 moved him into the final round against points leader Tony Stewart. Kalitta left the starting line first and never looked back. His 3.670-second run at 337.24 beat Stewart’s 3.694-second effort at 330.55 and gave Kalitta the Mission Foods win by .0368 seconds. The winning pass also clinched Kalitta’s fifth No. 1 qualifier of the year and set the New England Dragway Top Fuel speed record. It was Kalitta’s fifth No. 1 qualifier of the season and fourth-straight, the 63rd of his career and his third at New England Dragway.
“Alan Johnson (Crew Chief) is turning the screws on his thing and Mac Savage (Assistant Crew Chief) and the Mac tools Toyota guys are making it happen,” Kalitta said. “It’s just the consistency of everything everybody’s doing. These Mission Foods chips will definitely be good with the lobster that we’re gonna have tonight. I’m just real happy to be able to pull this off, and we’re just glad we got it in. It seemed like the weather was right on our tail here, but we got it done, so good deal.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow; we were fortunate enough to win this thing last year. We’ve been qualifying really well and running well on Saturdays, but we’re looking for a good Sunday. I’ve had some great opportunities we’ve missed out on these last few races so we’re hoping to go rounds, make it to the final and compete for the win. We’ll have a little get together with our Lobsterfest (in memory of Scott Kalitta) tonight, and that’ll get us ready for tomorrow.”
With only 15 Top Fuel cars at the New England Nationals, Kalitta have a first-round bye and race either Ida Zetterstrom or Steve Torrence in the second round. Langdon qualified No. 5 and will race No. 12 qualifier Dan Mercier. J.R. Todd qualified No. 10 and will race No. 7 Cruz Pedregon in Sunday’s opening round.
Photos Courtesy: Kalitta Motorsports
The post Doug Kalitta Keeps Team Kalitta Perfect in Mission Foods Challenge, Takes Fifth No. 1 Qualifier first appeared on Team Kalitta Motorsports.
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