Fellow Countdown contender Steve Torrence was the first opponent. Torrence dropped a cylinder at the hit and Doug was on a run. Kalitta made his best run of the weekend, 3.791, to move on and earn lane choice over Richie Crampton in round 2.

Crampton versus Kalitta was a tough match-up for the Mac Tools team, but Kalitta was ready at the tree and inched out just a bit further each time to move back to the semis for the first time since his win in Norwalk.

But Kalitta was not done yet. In the battle with the pink tool cars, Kalitta beat Antron Brown by two inches with a stellar 3.774-second pass. That took Kalitta back to the finals in Las Vegas in back-to-back seasons and six overall. His opponent was Larry Dixon. Dixon and Kalitta were both stellar on the tree, but Dixon fell to immediate tire smoke.

Although Kalitta blew an injector near the finish line, he was able to cross the finish line first.

“The last race for the Mac Tools for the pink Wrenching for a Cure breast cancer awareness scheme,” said Kalitta. “It was big to get a win with those colors. It was great to see so many fans here. It might have been a lucky win but we will take it. So many of our great sponsors are here and to celebrate with them is thrilling.”

Kalitta advanced from tenth to sixth in the standings less than one round from the top five.

Larry Dixon (far lane) took the quarterfinal win with a 3.777/326.32 over Tony Schumacher’s 3.812/321.35.

In the first round, Leah Pritchett was out first with a .033-seond RT (the quickest of the first round), but her Black Magic/Dote Racing dragster smoked the tires at half track and Larry Dixon took the win. It was a tough way to end the 2016 season as the team are not scheduled to compete in the NHRA season finale in Pomona.