KALITTA SETS TOP FUEL TRACK SPEED RECORD TO LEAD TOYOTA AT NHRA TOYOTA SONOMA NATIONALS QUALIFYING

SONOMA, CA – Doug Kalitta ran a 331.28 mile-per-hour pass to set a new Top Fuel track speed record on the way to qualifying third as he paced the Toyota drivers in preparation for Sunday’s Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway.

This weekend’s performance marks the fifth time in the last six races that Kalitta has qualified in the top three. He earned bonus points for finishing in the top three in each of the weekend’s first three sessions and will match up with Shawn Reed in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday.

“A really solid effort by the whole Mac Tools Toyota team here in qualifying,” said Kalitta. “We had three nice runs that earned us some bonus points and we have a great setup heading into tomorrow. Toyota is the sponsor of this race and we always want to perform well in front a partner that does so much for our team.”

Antron Brown will start Sunday’s eliminations one spot behind Kalitta in fourth as he pursues his second Western Swing sweep after winning last weekend in Denver. Brown was the last Top Fuel driver to sweep the Swing back in 2009. Shawn Langdon qualified seventh and earned one bonus point in the final session, while Troy Coughlin placed 12th.

Alexis DeJoria was the top qualifying Toyota in Funny Car for the fourth time in the last five races in earning the seventh seed after running a 3.926-second pass in her Tequila Patrón Camry. She will match up with her Kalitta Motorsports teammate J.R. Todd in Sunday’s first-round after Todd placed tenth in his DHL Toyota.

Cruz Pedregon jumped up to ninth in his final qualifying pass and will face Tim Wilkerson in the opening round in a match-up with major playoff implications. Pedregon opens tomorrow’s action in tenth place and can close to within four rounds of eighth-place Wilkerson with a first-round win in his Snap-on Camry.  Del Worsham qualified 11th in the Lucas Oil Toyota and will face Matt Hagan.

Today’s qualifying can be seen tonight at 10 p.m. on FS1, as well as a re-air tomorrow at 3:00 p.m., immediately prior to Sunday’s NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Toyota Sonoma Nationals eliminations, which will be televised live on FS1 beginning at 4:00 p.m. (all times EDT).