The powerhouse Kalitta Motorsports team is having a most-memorable 2026 season – and it added another chapter Monday afternoon at the prestigious 72nd annual Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals … thanks to one of the team’s Top Fuel drivers, Shawn Langdon.
In the finals, Langdon clocked a 3.804-second elapsed time at 333.99 mph to defeat Tony Stewart’s 3.904, 315.27 and claim the title at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
This was the third time Langdon won the U.S. Nationals with the others coming in 2013 and 2020. However, it was his crew chief Brian Husen’s first U.S. Nationals win, making the celebration even more special.
“Brian, his work ethic has brought a whole new element to this team,” Langdon said. “I mean, he’s changed this team forever, and his impact on the guys and his impact on everybody there, he’s such a great leader to the team. He’s been around, he’s won many races before, and I guess I lost a little in translation there. That was his first Indy win as a crew chief, and they’d said that, and [NHRA announcer] Jason [Galvin] said that, and, so, yeah, it clicked in my head.
“I mean, for Brian, the career he’s had, you know, working under AJ [Kalitta crew chief Alan Johnson] for so many years, but for him to step out in the last couple years and really make his mark within the first couple seasons as a crew chief makes me happy that I’m his driver and that I get the opportunity to be a small piece of his success.
“On top of that, you know, a few of the other guys, it was their first Indy win as well, so it was special for a lot of people for a lot of reasons. A lot of people had family here, so yeah, I mean, it’s Indy, so it’s exciting for sure.”
With his victorious performance in Indy, Langdon will begin the six-race Countdown to the Championship in second place behind Kalitta after the points were reset.
In the 14 races this season, Langdon has a class-best five wins, followed by Kalitta’s four. This was the team’s fourth national-event Top Fuel victory in a row. Kalitta won Sonoma, Calif., Seattle and Brainerd, Minn., and Langdon claimed Indy’s title.
Langdon’s five wins this season have come at: the Arizona Nationals in Phoenix, on March 22; the Southern Nationals in Adel, Ga., on May 3; the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals in Chicago on May 17; and the NHRA Potomac Nationals in Mechanicsville, Md.
In the past two seasons, Langdon has had some unforgettable moments, winning the milestone 1,000th NHRA Top Fuel trophy at the 2025 American Rebel Light NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte, N.C. He is now the proud owner of NHRA’s special-edition “Diamond Wally” trophy from the U.S. Nationals. The Diamond Wally is being awarded exclusively during the organization’s 75th anniversary season in 2026.
“It’s kind of one of those things, you read your name in those lines and you’re just like, ‘I don’t know … I don’t know how I got here, but I’ll take it.’ It’s very humbling. I’m very grateful,” Langdon said. “Obviously Connie [Kalitta] gives us an opportunity of a lifetime to be able to do stuff like that, and, honestly, right now I’m just … I’m focused on racing and I’m focused on winning. I’m focused on being the best that I can be to compete for the championship at the end of the year.
“As grateful as I am for all that stuff, it’s probably more something, years down the road, I’m going to look at. I’m definitely putting them up on the trophy shelf and they’ll be front and prominent, but it’ll be something, years from now to look back and be very proud of. But obviously I’m very proud of being able to do it today.”
Langdon now has captured 27 national events in his career, and this was his 25th in Top Fuel. Langdon also won two Wallys while driving a nitro Funny Car for Kalitta Motorsports in 2019.
Langdon won his lone NHRA Top Fuel championship in 2013 driving for Al-Anabi Racing. He won a career-best seven races that season, and five is the second most he has won in a year.
“I mean there are a lot of similarities,” Langdon said in comparing 2013 to 2026. “And Brian, you know, he said it was 13 years ago when he and I were in the winner’s circle together with the Al-Anabi team, and so it was kind of a cool little moment just rehashing some old stories. I mean, it’s a great, great weekend – great win. We’ve had a good year, and, like I said, five wins, it’s a great year, but obviously we want more. We’re not going to stop there, and obviously with seven wins it was a spectacular season. Anytime you can get multiple wins in a season is good, especially with the competition, so our goal is hopefully we can get seven or more, and hopefully we can be there at the end for the championship, and that’s obviously our goal.”
Langdon was on point all weekend in Indy. He qualified No. 1 with a 3.727-second elapsed time at 333.99 mph in Q1 Friday and it held through five qualifying sessions and then he ousted Clay Millican, Justin Ashley, Leah Pruett, and Stewart, Pruett’s husband.
“On Saturday, we weren’t trying to top Friday. We knew with the conditions, the hot conditions, we were just trying to kind of see what we can get away with the car, setup-wise, and we weren’t able to, so we just kind of had to address that for Sunday,” Langdon said. “It cooled off a little bit more, and we still didn’t get away with it in Q4, so we really had to reel it back in Q5. I think we were like fifth quick or sixth quick or something like that for Q5, but it was just, at that point, it was just getting some type of information, get it to the finish line so we can make sure everything looks in sync and good, and then we’ll kind of readdress.
“We knew Round One [Monday] was going to be really fast, so we felt very confident with that, where we felt like we could be ET-wise, but with the heat coming back out, it was a little bit of a crapshoot. We kind of had to make an educated guess, I guess you could say.
“We felt pretty confident with that, but you know, there’s always changing conditions, and, you know, like you saw today with oildowns and stuff, there’s always a lot of variables to that. But for the most part, we felt good with what we had. We felt like we had a car that could win the race, and fortunately we were able to.”
The performance of Langdon hasn’t gone unnoticed. During the semifinals, legendary drag racer Don Prudhomme was overheard in the media center saying, “Sean Langdon is the greatest Top Fuel driver here right now.”
When Langdon was told of Prudhomme’s praise Langdon couldn’t believe it.
“Shit, that’s pretty badass. I mean, Snake, we all know Snake is as cool as they get,” Langdon said. “For whatever reason, I’ve had great conversations with Snake throughout the years. He was a guy I idolized as a kid and grew up watching and watched many of the Thrills and Spills and all the NHRA Today videos and all that stuff with him. We’ve had great conversations, and he always gives me very good compliments and high praises, and it means a lot. You know, somebody like that, I guess, just to take notice of a little of me just going out there racing my race car and just doing what I do, and it’s very humbling, absolutely.”
Langdon did acknowledge he has done some reflection this season, looking back at where he started to where he is now.
“There are times I drive to the races and think about things, and it’s kind of funny because what I was thinking about on the last drive was 20 years ago when I was driving to the race, I was always thinking about like in the future what I could become,” he said. “But now it’s like I always do the drives and I always think about the past of … me driving thinking about what could be and just how to get opportunities and what it would be like to drive a Top Fuel car and all that stuff,” Langdon said. “It’s crazy – a crazy journey, crazy how just life’s been, and very fortunate just all the right people along the way who have given me opportunities and just … so I’ve always said as a kid, I just need an opportunity, and I’ll make the most of it.”
Now, he is keeping things in perspective as his team prepares for the six-race Countdown to the Championship that begins with the Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals presented by Mopar, Sept. 18-20 in Martin, Mich.
“I feel like our team has a really good track record this year of first-time events with South Georgia and Maryland, so obviously a little bit of confidence builder with that, but home track for the whole Kalitta group … so really excited to go there,” Langdon said. “I’ve raced there the last couple years in Big Money Bracket Racing, so I am very familiar with the facility and the track, and I know it’s a great track. I love going there, so, yeah, we’re excited. I mean, we’ve had a great season, and we still have a lot of work to do.”
