TOP FUEL WINNER Shawn Langdon, SealMaster Dragster
Finals Broadcast Replay (eastern time): 5-8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10 on FS2
Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 1 qualifier at the NHRA U.S. Nationals. During the first of five qualifying rounds Friday night, Langdon made a 3.727-second pass at 334.88 mph to take the provisional No. 1 position. He held onto the top spot through the remaining four qualifying sessions to take his sixth No. 1 qualifier of the season and the 28th of his career.
Eliminations: Langdon defeated Clay Millican, Justin Ashley, Leah Pruett and Tony Stewart to win his fourth U.S. Nationals title including Top Fuel wins in 2020 and 2013 and his 2010 Super Gas win. It is the 27th professional win of his career, his fifth win of the season and his first since winning Budds Creek, Md., in May. With today’s win and Doug Kalitta’s four wins, Team Kalitta won the last four races and nine of the 14 races in the regular season. In addition, the Team Kalitta Top Fuel drivers competed in 53 of the 55 rounds of racing that comprised the regular season.
Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon completes the regular season and leaves Indianapolis in second place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He will open the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs as the No. 2 seed.
Langdon on Indianapolis: “These wins are hard to come by, and the competition’s so good. Doug’s been on a pretty good tear lately so it’s nice to get back in the winner’s circle for all my boys, for Brian, Justin, Aaron (Crew Chief Brian Husen, Co-Crew Chiefs Aaron Cave and Justin Groat), all my guys. They’ve been working so hard. We had that great Friday night run, but with the heat on the weekend, we had to back the car up a little bit because the track wasn’t quite there.
“Brian had to really do his homework, and he did a great job; today proved that. My whole team did a fantastic job all day long. After that second round, what we thought was a rear end (failure) was not the rear end. It ended up being the clutch that kinda came apart. The DHL boys came over, and dang near changed everything on it with plenty of time to spare. That goes to show that if you surround yourself with good people, good things can happen. We finally got a win with the SealMaster colors on the car so thanks to Duke from SealMaster, everybody at Kalitta Air, Gerber, Revchem, Mobil 1, Applied and PJH. For everybody at Kalitta Motorsports, it’s great to win Indy.
“Brian, with the career he’s had working under AJ (Kalitta Crew Chief Alan Johnson) for so many years, for him to step in and really make his mark in the first couple seasons, that was his first Indy win as a crew chief. It makes me happy that I’m his driver and that I get the opportunity to be a small piece of his success. On top of that, it was the first win for a few of the other guys so it was special for a lot of people, for a lot of reasons. A lot of people also had family here so winning Indy is exciting for sure.
“Brian is the man. I don’t want to give him too much credit because I don’t want people getting bright ideas with their pocketbook. For the rest of my career, I’d love to have Brian as my crew chief. Certain people just get it, and Brian gets it; he’s awesome. He’s a great leader who sets the tone for the team, and it shows with how the car runs. The guys have done such a great job the last couple of years. We’ve come close, in a lot of ways; we finished second in the regular season last year and again this year, and we finished second in points last year. I want nothing more than to get Brian his first championship, along with Connie Kalitta and the whole team. It’s just awesome to be a part of this team.”
Langdon Photo Courtesy: Kalitta Motorsports
Next Race: Team Kalitta will be back in action Sept. 18-20, 2026 at the Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals in Martin, Mich. For additional information, please visit www.nhra.com. For additional information on Kalitta Motorsports, please visit www.teamkalitta.com.
The post Shawn Langdon Wins NHRA U.S. Nationals first appeared on Team Kalitta Motorsports.
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