Doug Kalitta, Mac Tools Team Ready for ‘Crap Shoot’ in Last Two Races
Doug Kalitta’s Mac Tools team is resilient, and the team is up to the challenge it faces this weekend. The 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs resumes Nov. 1-3, 2024, at the NHRA Ford Performance Nationals in Las Vegas, the fifth of six playoff races.
In the first four Countdown races, Kalitta has just two round wins – a far cry from the first two thirds of the season when the Michigan driver won three races and among six final-round appearances and qualified in the top-four positions 12 times. Kalitta enters the 19th of 20 races in seventh place in the NHRA Mission Foods Top Fuel point standings. He trails sixth-place Clay Millican by 19 points, leads eighth-place Brittany Force by 57 points and trails points leader Justin Ashley by 133 points with two races remaining in the season. The team enters Las Vegas following first-round losses at three of the last four races – a very unusual stat for current champion – but Kalitta remains optimistic about righting the ship.
“We’re feeling good,” Kalitta said. “We brought the cars back from Dallas and went through everything, and we’re very optimistic. We’ve kind of had a gremlin we’ve been chasing, and I think, with any luck, we’ve narrowed that down, and hopefully, the Mac Tools car will be super happy this weekend.”
“Super Happy” would be a welcome change for this team that experienced so much success in the last two years, including three Countdown wins on its way to the 2023 Top Fuel title. After capturing his first four-wide win earlier this season in Las Vegas, Kalitta’s third win in eight final rounds on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, this weekend is a good opportunity for the reigning champion to get his mojo back.
“It sure would be – it’s been a good place for us over the years,” Kalitta said. “The fans there are awesome really; it’s kinda cool that they run early enough that people can still do that they do on the strip. It’s a beautiful facility, and we’re super excited to get there. I definitely like going to Vegas – it’s always exciting to hit the last two races at the end of the year, be in contention to win those and see where you shake out. It’s definitely a crap shoot when it comes to these last two races with points and a half at the last one. You never count yourself out, but we definitely have to collect as many points as we can.
“After losing in the first round these last few races, we definitely need to start going rounds again. As long as the boys have the car happy again, hopefully we can tune the thing and keep it running better than the next guy. For me, every race I go to, I’ve been very fortunate to know we have the car and the team to beat so that’s kinda the way I roll.”
This story was originally published on October 29, 2024.
The post Doug Kalitta, Mac Tools Team Ready for ‘Crap Shoot’ in Last Two Races first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
