The Kalitta Motorsports team brings its trio of nitro-burning hot rods west to Seattle for the Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals. Each team shares the same goal, to win the event at Pacific Raceways, but they also have their own side missions they’d like to accomplish to kick off the 2025 Western Swing.

Shawn Langdon Eyes Big Career Milestone

As the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series heads to the Pacific Northwest, Top Fuel veteran Shawn Langdon is on the verge of a major milestone, his 400^th career round win. Langdon has built a decorated résumé that includes championships in the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, and Junior Dragster competition. He’s also one of only a few drivers in NHRA history to have wins in both professional and sportsman categories.

Langdon will be aiming for his 400th career round win — an achievement that reflects his versatility and longevity across NHRA’s national categories. Langdon needs to reach the semifinals to secure the milestone. While he’s not dwelling on the number, he acknowledges the significance.

“That’s pretty cool,” Langdon said. “Right now, I just go race, and that’s just where I am with round wins. I wouldn’t look at my career any differently if I had only 300 round wins or if I had 500 round wins at this point. It’s a cool accomplishment, and I’m sure at some point in my career, when I kinda get done with everything, I’ll look back on this type of accomplishment, and it will really sink in. In the meantime, we have a job to do, and the job is not complete.”

Langdon enters the event second in the Top Fuel standings, trailing points leader Tony Stewart by 52 markers. He holds a 25-point edge over third-place Justin Ashley, while teammate Doug Kalitta is in fourth, 111 points further back. With just four races remaining in the regular season, the top three drivers have separated themselves in the race for the $150,000 regular-season championship bonus, introduced for the first time this year.

“It’s a great time for us to get on a little run,” Langdon said. “We have a good car – it’s just a matter of putting it together for the next four races and putting ourselves in the best position we can. Some of the races could be kinda tricky with the size of the fields and whatever the weather conditions are, but everyone has to deal with the same things. It’s still just doing the best job we can to win races and the regular season, but it gives the teams a little bit more incentive for sure,” Langdon explains.

Doug Kalitta Has His Eyes On The Regular Season Title

It doesn’t matter how big your racing operation is; a $150,000 payday is a big deal. Doug Kalitta is not only chasing the Regular Season championship purse, he’s also trying to pick up all the points that come with winning the regular season series.

Last year, Kalitta entered the Countdown to the Championship as the top seed, ultimately finishing second in the final standings after securing his first Top Fuel world championship in 2023. Now, with a $150,000 bonus awarded for the regular-season title for the first time, there’s even more incentive for Kalitta to have a strong regular season and win the points battle.

Currently fourth in the Top Fuel standings, Kalitta trails third-place Justin Ashley by 110 points and sits 187 points behind leader Tony Stewart with four races remaining before the Countdown begins.

“We just have to take it one-by-one on Sunday and see if we can start accumulating enough points to catch back up. I feel really confident that our Mac Tools team can. We’re trying our best, so it’s just a matter of hopefully turning the corner and start making it to the final round. All the pieces are there, and my car is really good, so we’ll see what happens,” Kalitta says.

Kalitta has dominated in qualifying and earned four Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge wins this season. On the flip side, Kalitta has only been to one final round the first half of the 2025 season, and he’s ready to change that with a focus on Sunday win lights.

“We’ve had good luck on the Mission Foods races, and we’ve been good in qualifying,” Kalitta added. “We’re just trying to go rounds on Sunday. That’s where we need to be focused, so we’re looking forward to getting to Seattle and seeing what we can do,” Kalitta explains.

J.R. Todd Wants To Stay Late On Sunday In Seattle  

The Western Swing provides a change of pace that could be exactly what J.R. Todd and his DHL GR Supra team need to jumpstart a second-half season surge in Funny Car. With tuner Dickie Venables continuing to push the team in the right direction, Todd knows that Seattle could be the start of something great.

“It’s definitely an improvement from where we started, which means we’re doing what we’re trying to do,” Todd said. “That’s make more runs and learn as we go, which we’re still doing. I hate that we stumbled like we did in Norwalk, but this DHL team is focused. We put that behind us, and now it’s time to start making a move.”

Currently sixth in Funny Car points, Todd trails third place by just 116 points with four races remaining in the regular season. A win at New England Dragway in early June and a semifinal finish at Virginia Motorsports Park two weeks later highlighted a mid-season upswing for the 2018 Funny Car world champion. Now, Todd hopes to recapture that form as the team continues its progression in 2025.

“Things can definitely change within a race,” Todd said. “If guys go out early, and you go out and win, that definitely could shift the points around a little bit. Ideally, you definitely want to be in the top two or three in points so you’re kind of breaking away, but we definitely can get inside the top five. With points and a half at Indy (the last race of the regular season), anything could happen so we just need to focus on being consistent and going to the later rounds of these next four races.”

The back-to-back events in Seattle and Sonoma could provide a big opportunity for all of the Kalitta teams to make big moves in the championship points. You can see how things play out for all three teams right here on Dragzine.