Victory puts 2023 world champion within striking distance of regular season title
BRAINERD, Minn. (Aug. 17, 2025) – Doug Kalitta continued his recent surge by winning the NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway on Sunday, his second consecutive victory on the season, the 57th in his Top Fuel career and the sixth consecutive Top Fuel win for Toyota. Today’s triumph also puts Kalitta directly in the hunt for the inaugural Top Fuel regular season championship, sitting just 51 points back of points leader and teammate, Shawn Langdon, heading to the regular season finale in two weeks.
Kalitta’s road to the win today included defeating Billy Torrence, who made the semifinals in his first race start of the season. Langdon was the other Toyota Top Fuel Dragster to advance out of round one on Sunday.
In Funny Car, J.R. Todd made his second final round of 2025 and was one round win away from his second Wally Trophy this season but fell just short in the end. Ron Capps advanced to round two but was defeated by Todd on that run.
With Kalitta and Todd making the final round on Sunday, Toyota has reached 10 straight Top Fuel and/or Funny Car final rounds, dating back to the Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals in April.
Toyota Post-Race Recap
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series
Brainerd International Raceway
NHRA Nationals
Race 13 of 20
TOYOTA TOP FUEL FINISHING POSITIONS
| Name | Car | Final Result | Round-by-Round |
| Doug Kalitta | Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | Winner | W (3.721) v. T. Totten (4.269) W (3.683) v. Bye W (3.665) v. B. Torrence (3.710) W (3.670) v. C. Millican (No Time) |
| Billy Torrence | CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | Semi-finals | W (3.706) v. I. Zetterstrom (6.733) W (3.708) v. T. Stewart (3.746) L (3.710) v. D. Kalitta (3.665) |
| Shawn Langdon | Kalitta Air Careers Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | Second Round | W (3.683) v. A. Brown (6.742) L (4.087) v. B. Force (3.679) |
| Justin Ashley | SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | First Round | L (3.740) v. C. Millican (3.693) |
| Antron Brown | Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | First Round | L (6.742) v. S. Langdon (3.683) |
TOYOTA FUNNY CAR FINISHING POSITIONS
| Name | Car | Final Result | Round-by-Round |
| J.R. Todd | DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car | Finalist | W (3.894) v. P. Lee (3.923) W (3.852) v. R. Capps (4.245) W (3.863) v. J. Beckman (3.889) L (9.126) v. A. Prock (3.907) |
| Ron Capps | NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra Funny Car | Second Round | W (3.861) v. B. Bode (4.078) L (4.245) v. J. Todd (3.852) |
*= Non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
DOUG KALITTA, Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Kalitta Motorsports
TF Final Result: Winner
What has your team found to ignite these recent wins?
“Yeah, for me, I just need to do my job. I’ve kind of let the Mac Tools Toyota guys down on occasion. Really proud of this effort that we’ve got going on, especially with the timing and with Alan (Johnson, crew chief), Mac (Savage, crew chief) and our whole team. They’re putting it together well and it’s going down the track. Just real thankful. It’s great to win here (Brainerd) and going to Indy (U.S. Nationals) next. Hopefully we can keep it rolling!”
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