LANGDON, BROWN TAKE TOYOTA TO SEMI-FINALS AT GATORNATIONALS

GAINESVILLE, FL – Shawn Langdon and Antron Brown each advanced to the Top Fuel semi-finals to lead Toyota at today’??s Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at the Auto Plus Raceway at Gainesville (Fla.).

Langdon, who was the top qualifier for the event, defeated fellow Toyota drivers Morgan Lucas and Richie Crampton in the first two rounds before being eliminated by Tony Schumacher in the semi-finals. Langdon continues to lead the Top Fuel point standings after three races.

The Knuckle Sandwich/AJPE Toyota was very good today,? said Langdon, the 2013 world champion. ??We just overpowered the track and smoked the tires. It still would have taken a great run to beat Tony; we were pretty much even off the starting line, and he ran 3.83 (seconds). It would have been tough to beat him. We had a good car so it was a little disappointing, but hopefully we can regroup, find some sponsorship and go to Charlotte.

Brown ran a solo in his opening round today and then knocked off J.R. Todd in round two. He was then eliminated by teammate Spencer Massey in the semi-finals. It marked the third straight race that the 2012 Top Fuel champion has advanced to the semi-finals or beyond.

Crampton defeated Steve Torrence in his opening run before matching up with Langdon in round two. By beating Torrence, Crampton has won at least one round in each of the seasonâ??s first three races. Lucas was making his 2015 debut and will run a limited schedule similar to last season where he earned two victories while competing in just seven races.

In Funny Car, both Cruz Pedregon and Alexis DeJoria advanced to the second round, but both hazed the tires midway down the track while leading and were eliminated. Del Worsham, Chad Head and Tony Pedregon each lost in their opening runs.

Next up for the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series is the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, N.C., March 27-29.