Toyota NHRA Dallas Preview

Ennis, TX – LUCAS PEAKING AT RIGHT TIME – Morgan Lucas has won a number of races and gone on his share of streaks during his Top Fuel career, but the difference with his latest run is its come right at the most important part of the season – the beginning of the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.  With his victory this past weekend in Charlotte, Lucas has now gone to the finals three times in the last five races, winning two.  He heads to Dallas this weekend just 30 points out of the series lead and only six behind second-place Shawn Langdon.  He also takes a brand new dragster with just one race under its belt to the Lone Star state.

Morgan Lucas: “We wanted something a little bit better.  We wanted something that we knew we could build pre-load into the car that we could make it a little more forgiving and lighter. (Crew chief) Aaron Brooks and the guys in the shop took this deal and ran with it, and next thing you know we have a great car that we have a lot of confidence in that seems like every run it takes what we put on it.   We’ve never really had momentum going into the Countdown.  We’ve never been in this situation, chasing a championship.”

LANGDON STILL IN THICK OF THE CHASE – After leading the championship through most of the summer, Shawn Langdon saw his championship lead disappear after a first-round loss in Charlotte.  Yet, after running one of only five 3.7-second passes during the day only to lose on a hole-shot, there are no reasons to worry yet in the Al-Anabi camp.  Langdon leads the series in wins (five) and has reached the semi-finals or finals in 12 of the last 15 races.  He also became the first driver in series history to win the Winternationals, U.S. Nationals and Traxxas Shootout all in the same season.

In addition, Langdon registered the quickest run of the season with a 3.721-second pass to open the year in Pomona.