INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 6, 2026) – – Shawn Langdon is the No. 1 qualifier for tomorrow’s 72nd NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Monday’s race broadcast is scheduled for Noon-2 p.m. on FS1 and 2-5 p.m. on FOX.
Langdon made his best run of the weekend in the first of the five U.S. Nationals qualifying sessions Friday night. Langdon made a 3.727-second pass at 334.88 mph in his SealMaster Top Fuel dragster 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.
“It got a little bit warmer than we thought it would today, and I thought there could be an opportunity (for someone to take No. 1 from us),” Langdon said. “It was a good run Friday night, but we wanted to do a little bit more. We felt pretty confident we could make a good run in Q4 (first Sunday qualifying session) but didn’t so in the last run, we slowed everything down to kinda get everything back in check and get some information for tomorrow. We were able to do that and feel very confident for tomorrow.”
Langdon and his teammate, Doug Kalitta, are the only drivers with a mathematical chance to win the NHRA Top Fuel regular season title, but Langdon enters eliminations trailing Kalitta by 68 points. Should Kalitta reach the semifinals, he will be the regular season champion, but if not, Langdon can win the title by advancing three rounds further than Kalitta.
“Either way, it’s going back to (Team Owner) Connie Kalitta; that’s what matters. We would obviously like to have the opportunity to do that, but that’s not really our primary focus. We just need to go out there tomorrow and make good runs. If Doug makes it past the second round, he’s got it, and congratulations to them. Our plan is to go out there and win the race, and everything will fall where it will. Connie Kalitta wins; that’s all that matters.”
J.R. Todd, who qualified 10th, and his DHL Funny Car team are also in contention for a regular season championship. With points and a half on the line this weekend, a round win is worth 30 points, and Todd enters eliminations trailing points leader Ron Capps by 30 points. Capps, Matt Hagan, Jordan Vandergriff and Todd are all within one round of racing. Todd qualified No. 10 and will race Vandergriff, who qualified seventh, in the first round.
Langdon will race Clay Millican in Monday’s first round; Kalitta will race Will Smith.
Photos Courtesy: Kalitta Motorsports (No. 1 Qualifier) and NHRA (action shot).
The post SHAWN LANGDON WINS U.S. NATIONALS NO. 1 QUALIFIER, WILL RACE TEAMMATE FOR REGULAR SEASON TITLE; J.R. TODD CAN ALSO WIN REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP first appeared on Team Kalitta Motorsports.
Continue reading...
Langdon made his best run of the weekend in the first of the five U.S. Nationals qualifying sessions Friday night. Langdon made a 3.727-second pass at 334.88 mph in his SealMaster Top Fuel dragster 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.
“It got a little bit warmer than we thought it would today, and I thought there could be an opportunity (for someone to take No. 1 from us),” Langdon said. “It was a good run Friday night, but we wanted to do a little bit more. We felt pretty confident we could make a good run in Q4 (first Sunday qualifying session) but didn’t so in the last run, we slowed everything down to kinda get everything back in check and get some information for tomorrow. We were able to do that and feel very confident for tomorrow.”
Langdon and his teammate, Doug Kalitta, are the only drivers with a mathematical chance to win the NHRA Top Fuel regular season title, but Langdon enters eliminations trailing Kalitta by 68 points. Should Kalitta reach the semifinals, he will be the regular season champion, but if not, Langdon can win the title by advancing three rounds further than Kalitta.
“Either way, it’s going back to (Team Owner) Connie Kalitta; that’s what matters. We would obviously like to have the opportunity to do that, but that’s not really our primary focus. We just need to go out there tomorrow and make good runs. If Doug makes it past the second round, he’s got it, and congratulations to them. Our plan is to go out there and win the race, and everything will fall where it will. Connie Kalitta wins; that’s all that matters.”
J.R. Todd, who qualified 10th, and his DHL Funny Car team are also in contention for a regular season championship. With points and a half on the line this weekend, a round win is worth 30 points, and Todd enters eliminations trailing points leader Ron Capps by 30 points. Capps, Matt Hagan, Jordan Vandergriff and Todd are all within one round of racing. Todd qualified No. 10 and will race Vandergriff, who qualified seventh, in the first round.
Langdon will race Clay Millican in Monday’s first round; Kalitta will race Will Smith.
Photos Courtesy: Kalitta Motorsports (No. 1 Qualifier) and NHRA (action shot).
The post SHAWN LANGDON WINS U.S. NATIONALS NO. 1 QUALIFIER, WILL RACE TEAMMATE FOR REGULAR SEASON TITLE; J.R. TODD CAN ALSO WIN REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP first appeared on Team Kalitta Motorsports.
Continue reading...
