Top Fuel points leader ‘motivated’ to get first NHRA win at LVMS

Top Fuel driver Shawn Langdon has won some of the biggest races on the NHRA circuit. He even won the Top Fuel world title in 2013.

One track Langdon has not won at in the national series, however, is The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He said he doesn’t think about that most weeks, but things change once Las Vegas becomes the next race on the calendar.

“Then in the back of your head, you’re like, ‘Man, I’ve never won here, so it’d be nice to win,’” Langdon said. “That way you don’t have to think about it anymore to get that checked off the list and get back to preparing the car to win more races.”

NHRA returns to The Strip at LVMS for the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals this weekend. Qualifying begins at 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. Friday and continues Saturday. Elimination races are Sunday.

Langdon has plenty of momentum heading into Las Vegas. He leads the Top Fuel standings by 77 points over teammate Doug Kalitta.

“Vegas has been one of the tracks that has eluded me on the win, so I’d love to win that race,” Langdon said. “I’ve been fortunate to win at a lot of different tracks throughout the country and I won different series and races at Vegas dating back to (being) a junior dragster. But I’ve never been able to win the national event there. I’m really motivated to try and carry on what we’ve started and get the win checked off the list.”

Langdon said he’s having a “picture-perfect start” after the first three races of 2025. He was the runner-up March 9 in Gainesville, Florida, won March 23 in Chandler, Arizona, and reached the semifinals March 30 in Pomona, California.

“It sets the tone and gives the team a lot of confidence for a lot of the hard work that went into the offseason,” Langdon said. “It’s a good morale booster for everybody and it keeps that motivation level high to where everyone’s excited to get the year going.”

Langdon has also won both “2Fast2Tasty” NHRA challenge events, a race that takes place during qualifying sessions between the previous race’s semifinalists.

Langdon had a strong start in 2024 as well, winning the first two races. Those ended up being his only two wins of the season.

He made it to the final round in five other events and was still in title contention late in the year. Langdon ultimately finished fourth in the standings with 2,513 points, 87 behind champion Antron Brown.

Langdon, as he tries to win his second world title in a stacked Top Fuel class, knows he has a good team behind him. Crew chief Brian Husen and his group at Kalitta Motorsports helped Kalitta finish first in 2023.

“They know how to prepare to win races and prepare teams to win races,” Langdon said of his crew. “We follow their lead and take it race by race and prepare the best we can for each race. … A few years back, we struggled a lot and both of our cars were fighting to be in the top 10. Now, we have two great running cars that are fighting for the No. 1 spot. It’s been a collective team effort.”

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.