Shawn Langdon, Kalitta Air Careers Top Fuel Dragster​


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:

  • Shawn Langdon enters the Mopar NHRA Las Vegas Nationals in first place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. Entering the fifth of six playoff races, Langdon leads his teammate, Doug Kalitta, by 139 points.
  • 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:

“What this team has done this year just goes to show this teams’ collective attention to detail. From the crew guys putting the car together perfectly, to Brian (Crew Chief Brian Husen) paying attention to every little detail. He doesn’t look at the whole run. He looks at every quarter-second of the run and dissects it. To get those quick ETs (elapsed times) and fast speeds, you have to look at every inch of that track and fortunately, we’ve been able to do that a lot this year, but it’s just a testament to a good team and good parts.

“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.”

Langdon Photo Courtesy: NHRA

For Shawn Langdon’s 2026 race-by-race results, please click here.

TV Schedule (All times eastern):

  • Qualifying Show: 3-5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1 on FS1
  • Finals: 5-8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1 on FS1

The post Shawn Langdon Looks to “Keep it Simple” in Quest to Clinch at NHRA Las Vegas first appeared on Team Kalitta Motorsports.

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