Alan Johnson Racing 16th annual Summitracing.com NHRA Nationals
Shawn Langdon enters the Summitracing.com NHRA Nationals in third place in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel 
point standings. He trails second-place Tony Schumacher by 16 points and leads fourth-place Spencer Massey by 26 points. He trails points leader Antron Brown by 42.
Alan Johnson Racing is still searching for primary sponsorship after unexpectedly losing its funding a month before the 2015 season began, but the team now has some breathing room. Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Alan Johnson Racing’s longest-standing partner having first joined the team in 2001, has increased its support. Thanks to Toyota’s increased backing announced March 28, the team can continue to compete while searching for primary sponsorship. Alan Johnson Racing hopes to race the entire 2015 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season and compete for the 2015 Top Fuel championship, but it must secure long-term primary sponsorship.
Langdon prior to Las Vegas:
“We’re definitely excited to get back out to Las Vegas. We started off the year pretty well on the west coast so it’ll be nice to get back out to conditions that are similar to what we raced in earlier this year. We definitely had a tough race in Charlotte, but we’ve put that behind us. We’re focused on heading out to Vegas, and now that we have some funding from Toyota to keep the car out there for now, I think we can focus a little better on improving our tune-up.
“Toyota has had a long-standing relationship with Alan (team owner Alan Johnson) and Alan Johnson Racing for the last 15 years or so, and we all really appreciate their increased support of our race team. We’re excited to have them on board and to keep this Knuckle Sandwich/AJPE Toyota out there. We still need to find a primary sponsor, but Toyota’s increased support gives us some breathing room – we are very thankful for their help.
“The Knuckle Sandwich/AJPE Toyota has been running great this season. We had some conditions in Charlotte we weren’t really used to, and we just didn’t adapt well. Losing those two qualifying sessions Friday afternoon really hurt us. We’ve put that behind us now, and we’re focused on the way we ran the first three races of the season. We’re going to work with that and try to get the car back in the winner’s circle at Las Vegas.
“Las Vegas has always been a good track for Alan Johnson Racing. I haven’t won there yet, but I’m eager to get in the winner’s circle there. We tested at Las Vegas the first week of February this year so we have a little bit of an idea what to expect. We just need to take what we learned in testing, apply it this weekend and hopefully get into the winner’s circle.
“If I were an odds maker looking at this weekend’s race, I would have to give us pretty good odds. From the odds-maker’s standpoint, I’d probably give us 3-1, but if I was putting up the money on the other side, I’d only give it 1-1. I have a lot of confidence in the Knuckle Sandwich/AJPE team, and I am confident our Toyota team will rebound after Charlotte and take the win. I would definitely not bet against us.
