Early Exit for Doug Kalitta and the Mac Tools Top Fuel Dragster

Brainerd, MN – Qualifying: Doug Kalitta was the No. 2 qualifier at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals; it was his eighth top-four qualifying effort of the season. During the first round of qualifying, Kalitta made a 3.757-second pass at 330.31 mph to earn the provisional No. 1 qualifier. That run set him up perfectly for the night session, but that session was canceled after the Funny Car session due to a lack of daylight. Kalitta made two strong runs Saturday, but did not keep the No. 1 spot.

Eliminations: Kalitta made his best run of the weekend, a 3.720-second run at 327.82 mph, but Clay Millican made a 3.689-second pass to win the round and advance.

Unofficial Point Standings: Kalitta leaves Brainerd in eighth place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails seventh-place Mike Salinas by eight points and leads ninth-place Clay Millican by 37 points.

Kalitta on Brainerd: “This Mac Tools team is doing a great job in qualifying, but we’ve been struggling on race day lately so we really need to get that fixed before we get to Indy in a couple of weeks. I’m still really proud of my guys and all the hard work they put in for Mac Tools, Revchem, Toyota and everybody else that supports us. We have to keep everybody moving forward – we have a lot talent on this team, but we just have to prove it on Sunday. Our team is testing tomorrow so we’ll figure it out and be ready to race at the U.S. Nationals.”