Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 3 qualifier at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals. During the opening round of qualifying Friday afternoon, Langdon and his teammate, Doug Kalitta made nearly identical passes with both reaching the finish line in 3.690 seconds. Langdon’s speed was 335.23 mph, seven miles per hour faster than Kalitta, giving him the No. 3 qualifying position with Kalitta fourth. Rain canceled Saturday’s qualifying sessions.

Right Trailers Top Fuel All-Star Callout: Due to persistent Saturday rain showers, the Right Trailers Top Fuel All-Star Callout was postponed until Saturday, March 29 in Pomona, Calif. On Friday, Langdon, who is the third seed for the event, “called out” his opponent for the first round of the event. He will race reigning Top Fuel champion Antron Brown when the event begins.

Eliminations: Langdon defeated Justin Ashley, Tony Stewart and Jasmine Salinas before losing to Antron Brown in a brilliant all-Toyota final round. Brown’s 3.673-second run at 333.99 mph was good enough to beat Langdon’s 3.684 second-effort at 332.67 mph by .0218 seconds.

When Langdon advanced to the semifinals, he earned a spot in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge at the next race near Phoenix. During Saturday’s qualifying sessions, the drivers who reached the semifinals in Gainesville will re-run the semifinals and final earning additional purse and championship bonus points.

Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon leaves Gainesville in second place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails points leader Antron Brown by 22 points and leads third-place Steve Torrence by 24 points.

Langdon on Gainesville: “The Kalitta Air Careers team had a great weekend – the car qualified well and ran well on race day. Obviously, there were a lot of weather delays; it was a tough weekend, and the track was tough. We got behind with only two qualifying rounds, but we tested well last month so we were prepared – the car was making good runs. All in all, we have nothing to hang our heads about; we had a great final round against Antron – that was a championship-caliber run right there. I’m never happy to lose, but I can handle losing a good race like that. It was an awesome race for Kalitta Air, Dayco, Fifth Third Bank, Revchem and all the great companies that support us. We’re looking forward to going to Phoenix. We have a great race car right now so all is good.”

(Photo Courtesy: NHRA)

The post Shawn Langdon Reaches NHRA Final Round first appeared on Team Kalitta Motorsports.

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