Doug Kalitta’s 2026 NHRA season hasn’t been dominated by race victories. After 10 events, the reigning Top Fuel champion had just one win, and that was way back on April 26 at Charlotte.
Well, Kalitta put himself back in the winner’s circle Sunday at the Denso Sonoma (Calif.) Nationals.
Kalitta’s Aflac dragster powered a 3.731-second elapsed time at 339.96 mph to defeat first-time Top Fuel finalist Jasmine Salinas’ 3.815 effort at 319.14.
For Kalitta to win at Sonoma Raceway is no surprise. This was his seventh career Top Fuel victory at the track – the most of any NHRA Top driver – and his second in a row. Kalitta has won in Sonoma in 1998-2000, 2004-05, and 2025-26.
“This is a very special place for me,” Kalitta said. “The first [national-event] win I had [came at Sonoma]. So, since then, I just come here thinking that we’re going to win every time. And we had a little dry spell through the years, but I’m glad that we managed to get the last two wins here.
“Speaking of special, it’s been 30 years since – unfortunately – we lost Blaine Johnson [Aug. 31, 1996]. And I’m going to have the honor of giving this trophy to Alan [his crew chief and Blaine’s older brother] this evening. Very deserving family with everything that he’s put into this sport. And certainly, Blaine was a hell of a driver, so that’s going to be fun for me.”
Kalitta’s inaugural national-event win in Sonoma came when he beat Bruce Sarver in the finals in 1998. Sunday was his 61st. He entered the weekend with a season record of one win, four runners-up, and three semifinals.
Kalitta came out swinging in Sonoma, capturing his third No. 1 qualifier this season and then defeating Clay Millican, enjoying a bye run in the second round, and then beating Antron Brown and Salinas.
Kalitta was quick to credit the addition of legendary crew boss Johnson as a huge reason for his team’s success the last four years.
“For me, it’s been just an incredible relief. As you can imagine, I’ve had, you know, a lot of seconds [in the points standings], a lot of times when, you know, you look over to see who won,” Kalitta said. “You know, he was the crew chief on the car [that won]. We had to get him in my camp, and that was a dream come true for me. You know, the first year we kind of struggled. We changed everything about our car. Then we really started getting some momentum. … It’s really like I was mentioning – it’s a hell of a family. You know, it’s great to be part of their family. The last four years, we’ve worked quite a bit together. It’s just been really special, for sure. We’re right in the heat of the battle here now. You know, certainly winning this race is a great momentum builder for us going into the rest of the year.”
When Johnson signed on with Kalitta Motorsports, Doug knew expectations were immediately raised for him and his legendary team, led by Connie Kalitta.
“You can only hope that all of your dreams will come true once he starts working with you,” Doug Kalitta said. “Like I mentioned, I think the first year we ended up 10th in points. I was like, ‘God, I’d hate to be like you and have Alan Johnson as a crew chief and not win a race.’ Until I got that first win, it was just kind of a nail biter. But, you know, once we got past that first win and started cooking, that was a huge relief.”
Doug Kalitta leaves Sonoma in second place in the standings behind teammate Shawn Langdon. Kalitta Motorsports has been one-two in points since the second race of the season. In 11 races this season, Langdon has four wins and Kalitta two.
“This is the time of the year. It gets really fun because, you know, we’re all battling for points,” Kalitta said. “And, you know, we’ll reset the points in the final six races of the season – the Countdown to the Championship – but, yeah, Alan is certainly a trained assassin over there with Brian [Husen]. You know, they were together for a number of years, won a lot of championships and a lot of races. So yeah, it’s a hell of an opportunity. I think it’s just something that Alan’s super proud of, that he’s got Brian over there tuning that thing [for Langdon] and doing such a good job. It’s going to be fun. You know, it’s a hell of an opportunity for me and all my guys to see if we can get another championship.
“Anytime you can get to the final and win one of these things, you know, it definitely builds confidence for me and all my guys. We just need to keep the momentum going and just hope that we can keep going rounds and qualify first.”
