Toyota earns fifth consecutive Top Fuel win
LAS VEGAS (April 14, 2024) – No. 1 qualifier Doug Kalitta took home his first Wally Trophy of the season at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas Sunday afternoon, the 53rd win of his career and his first in a Four-Wide Nationals event. Kalitta’s 3.715 elapsed time was enough to capture victory against a stout Top Fuel final lineup with Justin Ashley, Steve Torrence and Tony Stewart. The triumph is also Toyota’s fifth consecutive Top Fuel win and gives Kalitta Motorsports three of the first four category wins to begin the season.
In Funny Car, Ron Capps reached the final round, but came up short in star-studded finals that featured Austin Prock, Matt Hagan and event winner, Bob Tasca III. This was the 148th final round appearance of Capps’ historic career. J.R. Todd and Alexis DeJoria both reached the second round on Sunday.
The triple final round appearance in Top Fuel and Capps’ finals feature in Funny Car now makes 27 straight NHRA events where Toyota has reached the finals in its competing categories.
Toyota Post-Race Recap
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series
NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Race 4 of 20
TOYOTA TOP FUEL FINISHING POSITIONS
| Name | Car | Final Result | Round-by-Round |
| Doug Kalitta | Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | Winner | W (3.728) v. S. Torrence (3.766) & S. Langdon (3.945) W (3.751) v. S. Torrence (3.777), B. Force (3.776 – holeshot) & J. Hart (3.796) W (3.715) v. J. Ashley (3.745), S. Torrence (3.745) & T. Stewart (3.769) |
| Justin Ashley | SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | Runner-up | W (3.777) v. T. Totten (3.911), T. Schumacher (4.109) & S. Reed (4.197) Adv. (3.798 – holeshot) v. T. Stewart (3.754) C. Millican (3.789) & T. Totten (4.052) L (3.745) v. D. Kalitta (3.715), S. Torrence (3.745) & T. Stewart (3.769) |
| Steve Torrence | CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | Finalist | Adv. (3.766) v. D. Kalitta (3.728) & S. Langdon (3.945) Adv. (3.776 – holeshot) v. D. Kalitta (3.751), B. Force (3.776) & J. Hart (3.796) L (3.745) v. D. Kalitta (3.715), J. Ashley (3.745) & T. Stewart (3.769) |
| Shawn Langdon | Kalitta Air Careers Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | First Round | L (3.945) v. D. Kalitta (3.728) & S. Torrence (3.766) |
| Antron Brown | Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | First Round | L (3.807) v. C. Millican (3.773), T. Stewart (3.773), & K. Baldwin (No Time) |
| Billy Torrence | CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | First Round | L (4.094) v. B. Force (3.750), J. Hart (3.957) & J. Salinas (4.666) |
TOYOTA FUNNY CAR FINISHING POSITIONS
| Name | Car | Final Result | Round-by-Round |
| Ron Capps | NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra Funny Car | Finalist | W (4.289) v. J. Todd (4.356), D. Richards (4.637) & D. Wilkerson (7.286) W (3.932) v. M. Hagan (3.938), J. Todd (3.951) & J. Rupert (4.055) L (3.902) v. B. Tasca III (3.915 – triple holeshot), A. Prock (3.904) & M. Hagan (3.895) |
| Alexis DeJoria | Bandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car | Second Round | Adv. (3.946) v. A. Prock (3.916), J. Diehl (3.995) & B. Alexander (4.178) L (3.932) v. A. Prock (3.907), B. Tasca III (3.922) & C. Green (3.954) |
| J.R. Todd | DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car | Second Round | Adv. (4.356) v. R. Capps (4.289), D. Richards (4.637) & D. Wilkerson (7.286) L (3.951) v. R. Capps (3.932), M. Hagan (3.938) & J. Rupert (4.055) |
*= Non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
DOUG KALITTA, Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Kalitta Motorsports
TF Final Result: Winner
How much fun are you having driving this car right now after today’s victory?
“Yeah, Alan Johnson (crew chief), Mac (Savage, assistant crew chief) and all of these Mac Tools Toyota Revchem guys really got this thing running. Each round, we were running quick times. Yeah, it’s great to do it in (Las) Vegas and my first Four-Wide win. It’s pretty special!”
Walk us through the experience of that final round.
“Yeah, that was a hell of a run there. I was really happy to see a win light come on. Obviously, those other three teams are hungry and running strong there. Yeah, that was as exciting as it gets there. It was super close for all four cars and the fans got their money’s worth. We came out with the win there and getting my first Four-Wide win was pretty special as I’ve been really hungry to pull one of these off. My guys really had my car running strong this weekend. We qualified with a low elapsed time, and I think we had the lowest times in each session. Yeah, it would’ve been a crying shame to miss this opportunity and fortunately, we got it done.”
RON CAPPS, NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, Ron Capps Motorsports
FC Final Result: Finalist
How would you describe your day and that final round?
“I mean, what a drag race there at the end! It was interesting, we had all of the manufacturers represented there and we sure wanted to get that win in that quad for Toyota. But I can’t tell you how ecstatic I am with our NAPA team. What they’ve done with a new car and a lot of new parts, they’ve had to get used to and it usually takes a lot longer than this. I’m pretty bummed that we couldn’t win that round. The car got out there, and I’m not sure if the wind or what it was, but it made a jump on me and I think if I could’ve caught it quicker and kept it straighter, we wouldn’t have lost a lot of elapsed time there and might have gotten the win there. I also need to get better on the tree. But look at (Matt) Hagan. Hagan was the quickest elapsed time and last. So that was a crazy, crazy race. But so happy we have our race car back. Now, head to Charlotte and get on the swing here where we’re getting comfortable. I’m so happy with the car but bummed at the same time.”