Toyota NHRA Preview Toyota Nationals
LANGDON CLOSER TO SECURING TOP FUEL TITLE – Shawn Langdon will take an 83-point lead over his closest 
competitor into this weekend’s Toyota’s Nationals as he looks to secure his first NHRA Top Fuel title. Langdon leads the series in wins and top qualifiers (six each). He’s in the midst of a six-driver battle with two races remaining in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs. Fellow Toyota drivers Morgan Lucas and Antron Brown remain in the chase in fourth and fifth-place, but will need to make up ground this weekend or risk being eliminated prior to the finale in Pomona.
Lucas won the Countdown opener, but lost in the first round as the top qualifier in Reading to fall 125 points behind. Brown, who didn’t qualify at Charlotte, has since bounced back strong, climbing from 10th to fifth (129 points back) after winning St. Louis and advancing to the finals in Reading. A possible 260 points are still available barring an unlikely new national ET record.
PEDREGON STILL IN FIGHT – Cruz Pedregon enters this weekend’s Toyota Nationals in fifth-place in the Funny Car Countdown, 150 points behind leader John Force. Pedregon will be looking to sweep the two Las Vegas races as he won the April race earlier this year – one of four victories on the season. The two-time Funny Car champ also won the fall race at the track in 2008.
DEJORIA, NVHC TEAM TO PROVIDE FREE MAMMOGRAMS – Alexis DeJoria will compete in two races this weekend – the NHRA Toyota Nationals and an even harder-fought battle – the race to help defeat breast cancer. Alexis DeJoria Racing will partner with the Nevada Health Centers (NVHC) to provide free mammograms at the track to female race fans. The NVHC’s ‘mammovan,’ a mobile mammography unit housed within a semi-truck, will be located directly behind the team’s pit throughout the duration of the race weekend, and open for screenings at the start of each race day. Any woman over the age of 40, regardless of her health insurance status, is encouraged to stop into the mammovan at any point throughout the weekend and take advantage of the free screenings.
