Doug Kalitta Wins NHRA 4-Wide Nationals

Qualifying: Doug Kalitta was the No. 1 qualifier at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals. It was his first No. 1 qualifier of the season and the 54th of his career. His best qualifying attempt was during the first session Saturday afternoon when he made a 3.738-second pass at 336.82 mph.

Eliminations: Kalitta defeated his teammate, Shawn Langdon, and Steve Torrence in the first four-wide round, Brittany Force and Josh Hart in the semifinals followed by Justin Ashley, Steve Torrence and Tony Stewart in the final round of 4-Wide eliminations. Kalitta had the low elapsed time in each of the three eliminations rounds. His 3.715-second final round run was low elapsed time of the weekend, and his semifinal speed, 336.65 mph, was the fastest speed of race day. 

It was Kalitta’s 53rd-career victory, and with Kalitta’s win, and Langdon’s wins in Gainesville and Phoenix, Kalitta Motorsports now has three Top Fuel wins in the season’s first four races.

When Kalitta advanced to the quarterfinals, he earned a spot in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte in two weeks. During Saturday’s qualifying sessions, the drivers who reached the quarterfinals in Las Vegas will re-run the quarterfinals in the 4-Wide format with the four winners advancing to the “finals” earning additional purse and championship bonus points. 

Unofficial Point Standings: Kalitta leaves Las Vegas in fourth place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails third-place Steve Torrence by 10 points and leads fifth-place Billy Torrence by 41 points.

Kalitta on Las Vegas: “That was a helluva run (in the final), and I was really happy to see that win light come on,” Kalitta said. “Those other three teams are all hungry and all running pretty strong. That was about as exciting as it gets – it was a super-close race for all four cars. The fans got their money’s worth today, and we came out with the win.

“Getting my first four-wide win was real special for me, and it was great to have our friends from Mac Tools, Revchem, Safety-Kleen and Toyota here with us to enjoy it. I’ve been really hungry to try to pull off one of these. My Mac Tools guys really had my car running strong this week. We qualified low, and I think we were low of each session so it would have been quite a shame to miss this opportunity. Fortunately, we got it done. I just love being out here. Connie (Team Owner Connie Kalitta) gives us great cars, and we’ve put together a helluva team with Chad (General Manager Chad Head) leading our charge. We’re real fortunate to have this early success with all of our cars winning this season so we’re just trying to keep all three teams running strong with everyone working together. We’re trying to make Connie proud of all of us. We were able to pull it off so it was a good day.”