LANGDON, KALITTA TOP TWO QUALIFIERS FOR VIRGINIA NATIONALS
Langdon earns second No. 1 qualifier of 2024 season
NORTH DINWIDDIE, Va. (June 22, 2024) – Kalitta Motorsports led the way for Toyota in Top Fuel with Shawn Langdon and Doug Kalitta claiming the top two qualifying spots for tomorrow’s NHRA Virginia Nationals. The blistering Virginia heat made the first two qualifying sessions of the day tricky, but a drop in track temperatures Saturday evening paved the way for faster speeds in the final session, which Langdon and Kalitta took advantage of. Langdon’s 3.872 elapsed time in the evening run earned him his second No. 1 qualifier of the 2024 season and the 21st of his career.
Should he couple today’s effort with a win tomorrow, it would be Langdon’s third victory of 2024 and the 20th of his career. Kalitta also goes for his third win this season on Sunday, and the 55th of his career, which would put him alone in fourth on the all-time Top Fuel wins list.
In Funny Car, Alexis DeJoria was the lead GR Supra Funny Car on Saturday, qualifying sixth for tomorrow’s eliminations. J.R Todd was right behind her in seventh and Ron Capps will be the No. 11 seed tomorrow.
Toyota Post-Qualifying Recap
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series
NHRA Virginia Nationals
Virginia Motorsports Park
Race 9 of 20
| Name | Car | Qualifying Position | First Round Opponent |
| Shawn Langdon | Kalitta Air Careers Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | 1st | L. Joon |
| Doug Kalitta | Mac Tools Employee Benefits Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | 2nd | C. Ferre |
| Antron Brown | Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | 5th | B. Torrence |
| Steve Torrence | CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | 8th | J. Ashley |
| Justin Ashley | SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | 9th | S. Torrence |
| Billy Torrence | CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | 12th | A. Brown |
TOYOTA FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING POSITIONS
| Name | Car | Qualifying Position | First Round Opponent |
| B. Tasca III | Ford Motorcraft Funny Car | 1st* | D. Richards |
| Alexis DeJoria | Bandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car | 6th | R. Capps |
| J.R. Todd | DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car | 7th | M. Hagan |
| Ron Capps | NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra Funny Car | 11th | A. DeJoria |
TOYOTA QUOTES
SHAWN LANGDON, Kalitta Air Careers Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Kalitta Motorsports
TF Qualifying Result: 1st
How would you describe the day, ending with a No. 1 qualifier?
“For me, I’m just hitting the gas. But Brian (Husen, crew chief) felt a run in the mid-3.80s was possible, and he was worried someone behind us in line would overtake us. There was a little bit left out there, but the problem was getting everything in sync. The track is so good and so smooth, but unfortunately, these hot conditions don’t do the track much justice. We’re tip-toeing down the track in this Kalitta Air Careers car. It’s crazy how much we have these things backed off so it’s a matter of getting the power level right and getting the clutch in synch. In the first couple of runs, we were off a little bit. Brian made some good calls for Q3, but he felt that run was out there all day long, but with a 150-degree track temperature, it’s just a matter of getting everything right.”
ALEXIS DEJORIA, Bandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, DC Motorsports
FC Qualifying Result: 6th
Challenging track conditions today. How was your car?
“Grueling conditions here at VMP (Virginia Motorsports Park). We managed to get down the track, pretty much every time. First run, we smoked the tires down the track, but still put a 4.335 time on the board. We started off 10th but moved up a little bit and then this last run, we were in the right lane which was a little bit better, and Del (Worsham, crew chief) was like, ‘we definitely want to move up some spots.’ So, he put a little bit to it, and we ran that nice 4.058 and we’re sitting sixth going into race day, which is awesome. Racing against (Ron) Capps, unfortunately, my Toyota teammate. But it feels good to be the quickest of the three Toyota GR Supra Funny Cars this weekend. Really tough conditions. We’ll see what happens tomorrow. It’s going to be just as hot; we start at noon. Marquee matchup.”
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