DINWIDIE, Va. — Justin Ashley has been declared the winner of Sunday’s Top Fuel final during the American Rebel Light Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park.
Ashley, who lost to Shawn Langdon in the final, round inherited the victory when Langdon was disqualified on Monday after NHRA officials discovered missing bolts in the bellhousing of Langdon’s Kalitta Motorsports dragster during post-race inspection.
According to the NHRA statement on Monday afternoon, “Per the NHRA Rulebook and related SFI Spec 6.2, the cover is required to be secured by no less than 12 bolts. During a post-run inspection, the cover on Langdon’s dragster did not meet the requirement of 12 secured bolts. The final-round run has been disqualified.
Kalitta Motorsports issued its own statement, accepting responsibility for the violation.
“Some of the bolts rattled loose during the run and fell into the belly pan,” Team Kalitta General Manager Chad Head said. “The 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’s on us.
“We 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’s race, but we’re moving on and are now focused on the next race.
“On behalf of our entire organization, this statement will be the only Kalitta Motorsports comment on this issue.”
Ashley, who picked up his first win of the season reached the final round for the fifth time in the past six races, defeating Doug Foley, Steve Torrence and Doug Kalitta. He moved to third in points with the victory, which is the 16th in his career.
