Toyota: NHRA Toyota Nationals Preview
BROWN LOOKS TO DOUBLE UP IN VEGAS – Antron Brown will be looking for a Las Vegas sweep at this 
weekend’s NHRA Toyota Nationals after winning the spring race at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The win was his fourth in Las Vegas. The track also is the site where he clinched the last two Top Fuel titles.
TITLE HUNT CONTINUES – Four Toyota drivers remain in the hunt for a world championship entering this weekend’s NHRA Toyota Nationals. In Top Fuel, Doug Kalitta ranks third, 76 points behind the leader, while two-time defending champion Antron Brown is fourth and Shawn Langdon has moved up to eighth. In Funny Car, ninth-place J.R. Todd is still mathematically alive, but Cruz Pedregon has been eliminated.
WINNING BIG IN VEGAS – Six of the eight Toyota drivers scheduled to compete at this weekend’s Toyota Nationals have previously won at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Nitro competition. Antron Brown has four wins, followed by Cruz Pedregron with three, Doug Kalitta, Alexis DeJoria and Del Worsham each have two victories, followed by Richie Crampton with one. Worsham holds the distinction of being the only driver to win at the track in both Top Fuel (Fall 2011) and Funny Car (Fall 2014).
LANGDON SET FOR FIRST FUNNY CAR RUNS – Following the Dallas announcement that he will move to the Funny Car ranks in 2018, Shawn Langdon will make his first career Funny Car runs in a test at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Monday following this weekend’s Toyota Nationals. Langdon won the 2013 Top Fuel championship and advanced to the finals in the most recent event in Dallas.
VIEWS ON VEGAS:
Antron Brown: “The Toyota Nationals is the second from last race in the Countdown to the Championship and it has always been a crucial race for us. There’s so much riding on this race. The last two years we’ve been fortunate enough to wrap up the championship there. This year, we’re going to go in there and just try to give ourselves a better chance to be in the running, so we can go to Pomona and try to win another championship. That’s our main focus right now. We usually end up in the finals or semi-finals in this race, but now we need to put the Matco Tools Toyota into the winner’s circle. If we do our jobs, everything else will take care of itself.”
Shawn Langdon: “If we have a car like we did in Dallas for the last two races, I plan on winning at least one of them. It would be awesome to get another win in Top Fuel (before moving over to Funny Car next year). My plan is to win the next two – that’s my goal. It will be a big change next year and I’m excited about it, but my plan is to just focus on the rest of this year first.”
J.R. Todd: “The Strip is a great track, especially this time of year. The Toyota Nationals are a big fan draw and it’s crazy around Halloween. We seem to do really well at Toyota-sponsored races. I’ve had some good runs in Vegas in a Top Fuel car and, hopefully, we can carry that over to the Funny Car. The team has had success and won with Del Worsham in the Funny Car in 2014. I’m really looking forward to getting back there.”
Richie Crampton: “The Strip in Las Vegas is one of the cooler venues we go to and it’s a very important one for us being a Toyota race. We’re looking to ruin some Countdown contenders’ day and make some room for our Kalitta teammates Doug and Shawn. There’s nothing cooler than winning in Vegas.”
