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<\/p>\nShawn Langdon\u2019s Top Fuel final-round victory at the\u00a0American Rebel Light Virginia NHRA Nationals\u00a0has been officially overturned following a post-race disqualification due to a technical violation. The NHRA announced Monday that Langdon\u2019s run did not comply with\u00a0SFI Spec 6.2, which mandates a minimum of 12 bolts securing the bellhousing inspection cover.<\/p>\n
A post-run inspection revealed the cover on Langdon\u2019s Kalitta Motorsports dragster was missing bolts, triggering the disqualification. In accordance with NHRA rules,\u00a0runner-up Justin Ashley has been awarded the event win\u00a0\u2013 his first of the 2025 season and the 16th of his Top Fuel career.<\/p>\n
Ashley\u2019s road to the final at Virginia Motorsports Park included wins over\u00a0Doug Foley, Steve Torrence, and Doug Kalitta, further solidifying his return to form after a slow start to the season. The win also catapulted him to\u00a0third in the NHRA Top Fuel points standings, marking his\u00a0fifth final-round appearance in the last six races.<\/p>\n
Kalitta Motorsports issued a statement Monday acknowledging the disqualification and offering an explanation for the infraction.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the bolts rattled loose during the run and fell into the belly pan,\u201d said Chad Head, General Manager of Kalitta Motorsports. \u201cThe bolts were in place before the run, but some were not in place after because they came loose and fell into the belly pan. That\u2019s on us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Head emphasized the team\u2019s respect for NHRA\u2019s safety regulations and accepted the ruling, stating:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe respect NHRA as the sanctioning body and understand that safety is always the most-important thing. We certainly apologize to our corporate partners, the race fans, and our fellow competitors. We did not win yesterday\u2019s race, but we\u2019re moving on and are now focused on the next race.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team noted that this would be its only comment on the issue.<\/p>\n
Langdon, a former Top Fuel world champion, appeared to have secured his first victory of the 2025 campaign in what was shaping up to be a momentum-building result for Kalitta Motorsports. Instead, the team is left regrouping as the series turns toward its next stop on the Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series schedule.<\/p>\n
For Ashley and the Davis Motorsports team, the unexpected win marks a major turning point in their season, as they aim to continue climbing the championship ladder during the heart of the summer stretch.<\/p>\n
This story was originally published on June 23, 2025. <\/p>\n
The post NHRA Disqualifies Shawn Langdon\u2019s Final-Round Win at Virginia, Justin Ashley Awarded Top Fuel Victory<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shawn Langdon\u2019s Top Fuel final-round victory at the\u00a0American Rebel Light Virginia NHRA Nationals\u00a0has been officially overturned following a post-race disqualification due to a technical violation. The NHRA announced Monday that Langdon\u2019s run did not comply with\u00a0SFI Spec 6.2, which mandates a minimum of 12 bolts securing the bellhousing inspection cover. A post-run inspection revealed the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}