YPSILANTI, Mich. (March 25, 2025) – Life is pretty good for the Kalitta Air Careers team and its driver, Shawn Langdon. The season is still very young, but it’s looking pretty good so far. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series continues March 28-30, 2025 at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif.

Two races into the 2025 season, Langdon has one win in two final rounds and enters this weekend’s race he watched through the fence as a child on a bit of a heater. After a runner-up finish in the season-opening NHRA Gatornationals in Florida, Langdon and his Kalitta Air Careers team ran the table in Phoenix last weekend winning in the desert southwest for the second-consecutive year and winning an all-Kalitta Motorsports final round one day after winning the season’s first Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge. Langdon enters In-N-Out Pomona Dragstrip atop the Top Fuel point standings.

“Sunday was a great day for Team Kalitta; we accomplished our goal of getting both cars into the Top Fuel final,” Langdon said. “It’s kinda neat when a plan comes together so I’m just happy for the guys.

I have 100 percent confidence in this team. I really feel like last year, we had a car capable of winning the championship; we showed up in Pomona (in November) with a shot, and that’s all you can ask for as a driver. Whether it’s good conditions or not, the Kalitta Air Careers team is able to adapt to the conditions very well, and that shows all their hard work from top to bottom.”

In Phoenix last weekend, the Kalitta Air Careers team adapted to very hot conditions and a hot, recently-paved track. This weekend in southern California looks to be significantly cooler with fast conditions. Langdon has four wins in seven Pomona final rounds and looks to keep the heater intact this weekend, and should the team reach the final round, don’t expect the Kalitta air Careers crew to be bashful.

“We have a lot of confidence going into Pomona, and we have a lot of confidence about this season,” the 2013 Top Fuel champion said. “I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of success at Pomona; it’s my home track, and I always look forward to racing there.

“What we’re doing started a year ago when we won in Phoenix, but then we went on a runner-up streak,” Langdon continued. “It’s not a horrible problem, but when you have high expectations with your team, it’s a problem if you’re not getting it done on race day. At the end of last year, we lost a couple final rounds in various ways, and then two weeks ago in Gainesville, we got the final round and lost a good race to Antron (Brown). Now we’re at the point where we have a little bit of an attitude in the final rounds that we’re not gonna get outrun, and I’m not gonna get treed (lose the race off the starting line). We’re gonna hope the track will hold our tune-up.

“We have the motivation that we’re a championship-caliber team with a championship-caliber car so it’s really neat to be a driver and feel like I just can’t be the weak link because I have such a great opportunity with a great team.”

The Right Trailers Top Fuel All-Star Callout, postponed from Gainesville, Fla., earlier this month, will be run during Pomona qualifying on Friday, March 28. In Gainesville, Langdon, who is the third seed for the event, “called out” his opponent for the first round of the event and will race reigning Top Fuel champion Antron Brown when the event begins. In addition, Langdon will compete in Saturday’s Mission Foods NHRA Challenge, a rematch of the Phoenix, Ariz., semifinals and finals.

Race Information: Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip; Pomona, Calif.

TV Schedule (All times eastern):

• Top Fuel All-Star Callout: 9:30-10:30 Friday, March 28 on FS1
• Qualifying Show 1: 8-930 p.m. Saturday, March 29 on FS1
• Qualifying Show 2: Noon-1:30 p.m. Sunday, March 30 on FS1
• Finals: 6:30-9:30 p.m. Sunday, March 23 on FS1

2024 NHRA Winternationals Recap: Qualified No. 7; defeated Krista Baldwin, lost to Tony Schumacher.

Shawn Langdon Career Stats: 352 events, 20 wins, 26 runner-up, 385 round wins, 21 No. 1 qualifiers.

2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Results to Date (Wins in Italics):

• Gainesville: Qualified No. 11; defeated Justin Ashley, Tony Stewart and Jasmine Salinas; lost to Antron Brown.
• Phoenix: Qualified No. 3; defeated Scott Palmer, Justin Ashley, Brittany Force and Doug Kalitta.

The post LANGDON ENTERS HOMETOWN RACE ON EARLY-SEASON HOT STREAK, LOOKS FOR MORE first appeared on Team Kalitta Motorsports.

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