KALITTA CLAIMS NO. 1 QUALIFIER IN CHARLOTTE; SECOND STRAIGHT OF THE SEASON
Justin Ashley Claims #2Fast2Tasty Win in Top Fuel
CONCORD, N.C. (April 27, 2024) – Doug Kalitta’s hot streak continues, as he claimed the Top Fuel No. 1 qualifying position for the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway near Charlotte. Kalitta’s 3.691 elapsed time during the Friday night session was fast enough to earn him his 55th career No. 1 qualifier. Toyota teammate, Antron Brown, got the second overall spot with a 3.698 elapsed time as he goes for his third win in the Charlotte spring event.
Justin Ashley made it a Toyota 1-2-3, claiming the No. 3 spot in Top Fuel through a 3.701 time in the final qualifying session on Saturday. This run also gave Ashley the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge victory as he defeated Brown, Steve Torrence and Josh Hart. This is the first Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win for Ashley this season and Toyota’s second consecutive after Brown was victorious in the challenge at Las Vegas two weeks ago.
In Funny Car, Alexis DeJoria earned the fourth overall position going into tomorrow’s eliminations after strong runs on Friday and Saturday. She aims to avenge her runner-up finish in the Charlotte Four-Wide Nationals a season ago. Ron Capps followed DeJoria in fifth and J.R Todd is the No. 12 spot going into tomorrow.
Toyota Post-Qualifying Recap
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series
NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
zMAX Dragway
Race 5 of 20
TOYOTA TOP FUEL QUALIFYING POSITIONS
| Name | Car | Qualifying Position | First Round Opponents |
| Doug Kalitta | Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | 1st | S. ReedJ. SalinasC. Krohn |
| Antron Brown | Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | 2nd | S. LangdonS. TorrenceB. Force |
| Justin Ashley | SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | 3rd | T. StewartD. FoleyD. Mercier |
| Billy Torrence | CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | 5th | C. MillicanJ. HartT. Schumacher |
| Shawn Langdon | Autodesk Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | 7th | A. BrownS. TorrenceB. Force |
| Steve Torrence | CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | 10th | A. BrownS. LangdonB. Force |
TOYOTA FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING POSITIONS
| Name | Car | Qualifying Position | First Round Opponents |
| John Force | Peak Chevrolet Camaro Funny Car | 1st* | C. GreenC. PedregonJ. Smith |
| Alexis DeJoria | Bandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car | 4th | R. CappsJ. ToddB. Hull |
| Ron Capps | NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra Funny Car | 5th | A. DeJoriaJ. ToddB. Hull |
| J.R. Todd | DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car | 12th | A. DeJoriaR. CappsB. Hull |
*= Non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
DOUG KALITTA, Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Kalitta Motorsports
TF Qualifying Result: 1st
Talk about how important it is to have consistency throughout the two days of qualifying.
“Yeah, it’s definitely important. We kind of struggled a little bit today. We put in this new blower, and it had just a little too much power in that first run, so we smoked them. In that last run, we got right to the finish line and kind of took care of that blower unfortunately. Will have to start from scratch tomorrow. We’ve got our setup we’ve been running, and we’ve just tried to get some spare blowers there. Hopefully we’ll be in good shape tomorrow. I got a lot of confidence in my guys. You know, they make things look easy. I think we’ll look good tomorrow.”
JUSTIN ASHLEY, SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, SCAG Racing
TF Qualifying Result: 3rd
Talk us through your day and what it means to win the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge.
“Yeah, I thought it was a great day today. Yesterday, we fell behind a little bit. We wanted to run a little bit better, a little bit quicker. It was important for us to come out here today and set a new tone for ourselves. Had a nice 3.739 time earlier in the day and running that 3.701 at the end was really important for our team. It gives us a lot of confidence going into tomorrow. Doesn’t matter if it’s qualifying or if it’s the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, we want to win each and every lap that we make down the race track. This is a testament to the team we have. They do a great job working hard, really since the offseason, putting us in a position to win. If it’s a race, event or challenge, it’s equally tough to win because the Top Fuel field is just that good. Just really proud of the guys and happy to be a part of it.”
ALEXIS DEJORIA, Bandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, DC Motorsports
FC Qualifying Result: 4th
Take us through your day and what you’re looking forward to tomorrow.
“So, we’re back here at zMAX Dragway! Last year, we were the runner up in the Four-Wide Nationals. My gosh, this is an elusive win. I’ve been wanting a Four-Wide win for so long. We qualified well, running a 3.859 last night. We’re in the No. 4 position going into tomorrow. I feel really confident as we’ve made some really good runs. This last one, we had a solid run inside the 3.900 range. Yeah, we’re ready for tomorrow and let’s see what happens!”
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Toyota (NYSE:TM), creator of the Prius hybrid and the Mirai fuel cell vehicle, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota and Lexus brands, and directly employs more than 63,000 people in North America (more than 49,000 in the U.S.).
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