Landon, Tasca, Enders & Herrera Take No.1 Spot at PlayNHRA Virginia Nationals

DINWIDDIE, VA – June 23, 2024 – (Motor Sports NewsWire) – Top Fuel’s Shawn Langdon closed out qualifying with the quickest run of the day on Saturday at Virginia Motorsports Park, taking the No. 1 spot at the PlayNHRA Virginia Nationals.

Bob Tasca III (Funny Car), Erica Enders (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also qualified No. 1 at the ninth of 20 races during the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.

On a day where the NHRA pro categories all made three qualifying runs on Saturday for the first time ever, Langdon went 3.872-seconds at 319.82 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Kalitta Air dragster in the final round of qualifying, giving the former world champion his second No. 1 qualifier of the season and the 21st in his standout career. The veteran is also looking for his first career win at Virginia Motorsports Park, opening eliminations against Lex Joon.

“In the first couple of runs, we just were off a little bit. You’re dealing with 150-degree track temperature, so it’s just getting everything right,” Langdon said. “This track is so good and so smooth that, unfortunately, these hot conditions don’t do this track much justice for how good it really is. So we’re tiptoeing down the track. It’s crazy how much we’ve got these things backed up and it’s just a matter of getting everything in sync.”

Reigning world champ and points leader Doug Kalitta is qualified second with a 3.883 at 318.69 and Tony Stewart, who is in his debut season in the Top Fuel ranks, qualified third with a 3.885 at 317.79.

In Funny Car, Bob Tasca III made the most of the final qualifying session to finish off an impressive day, as Tasca’s 4.024 at 320.74 in his 11,000-horsepower Ford Performance Mustang Dark Horse gave the veteran his 17th career No. 1 qualifier and first this season. No Funny Car made a 3-second run in the heat, but Tasca put together three solid runs to give him confidence heading into raceday. He’ll face off with Dave Richards to open eliminations and is thrilled with the progress his team made this weekend.

“To bring home a win, you got to go down the racetrack, and if you don’t get on the racetrack, you’re going to lose. Anyone out here is going to beat you,” Tasca said. “You have to have good decision-making, but it makes it a whole lot easier to make those decisions when you have a day like you had today because we can fall back on a baseline. We look at tire temperature and…