Shawn Langdon, DHL Top Fuel Dragster Runner-Up in Phoenix

Chandler, AZ – Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 8 qualifier at the NHRA Arizona Nationals. During the final round of qualifying Saturday afternoon, Landon posted a 3.729-second effort at 330.07 mph for his best of three qualifying attempts.

Eliminations: Langdon defeated Antron Brown, his teammate, No. 1 qualifier Doug Kalitta and Leah Pruett before losing to Justin Ashley in the final round – Langdon’s 38th-career final round. The DHL dragster showed excellent consistency Sunday. Langdon’s four elapsed times during eliminations were 3.716, 3.725, 3.719 and 3.732 seconds – all within .016 seconds. With teammate J.R. Todd’s final-round in Gainesville two weeks ago, Langdon’s final round is the second for Team Kalitta in this season’s first two races.

When Langdon advanced to the semifinals, he earned a spot in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge at the next race in Pomona, Calif., next weekend. During Saturday’s qualifying sessions in Pomona, the drivers who reached the semifinals in Phoenix will re-run the semifinals and final earning additional purse and championship bonus points.

Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon leaves Phoenix in sixth place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails his teammate, fifth-place Doug Kalitta, by 12 points and leads seventh-place Brittany Force by six points.

Langdon on Phoenix: “We’re definitely leaps and bounds ahead of where we were this time last year. The DHL Toyota team made some good runs this weekend – we learned some things. We had a good car when the track was cool, and we also had a good car when the track was hot. We made a really good run in the semifinals. In the final, we had a couple of little mishaps on the clutch side of things, some parts didn’t live up to expectations, and I was a little bit late on the starting line. Congratulations to Justin Ashley and his team – they did a good job. The DHL team has no reason to hang its head. It was a good day, a good points day and a good momentum day heading into Pomona next weekend.”