KALITTA THIRD, BROWN FOURTH AS TITLE BATTLE CONTINUES AT TOYOTA NATIONALS

LAS VEGAS, NV – Doug Kalitta qualified third while Antron Brown placed fourth as the Toyota drivers continued their battle for the Top Fuel world championship in front of a sell-out crowd at Saturday’s NHRA Toyota Nationals qualifying at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Kalitta gained two points on Brown during qualifying, but faces an uphill battle to catch his main rival as Brown will take a 148-point lead into tomorrow’s elimination rounds. Kalitta will need to go one round further than Brown to extend the title race to the season finale at Pomona. The two have run first and second in the point race since mid-May, with Brown holding the series lead since the Chicago race in July.

Shawn Langdon’s hopes also remain alive after qualifying eighth today. He’ll match up with fellow Toyota driver J.R. Todd, who was ninth, in Sunday’s opening round. Richie Crampton placed 11th, while Morgan Lucas did not qualify.

The Toyota Nationals will feature the quickest Funny Car field in history with a 4.045 bump spot (16th qualifier). Del Worsham led the way for the Camry contingent with a 3.895-second run. He will start tomorrow’s action as the seventh seed. Alexis DeJoria qualified ninth, with Chad Head 11th and Cruz Pedregon 12th.

Today’s qualifying show can be seen on FS1 from 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning, while Sunday’s NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series eliminations will be shown live on FS1 beginning at 4:00 p.m. (all times EDT).