J.R. Todd Racing for Third U.S. Nationals Funny Car Title
Indianapolis, IN – With the 68th NHRA U.S. Nationals on tap this weekend J.R. Todd and the DHL Toyota GR Supra team will be looking to 
race into the history books as just one of seven drivers to have won the prestigious event three times in Funny Car. The back-to-back winner in 2017 and 2018 was runner-up in 2020 and has his sights set on a third U.S. Nationals crown.
“This is the biggest race of the season and you want to get that win and take some momentum into the Countdown,” said Todd. “We won this race in 2018 and went on to win the Funny Car championship. We are sixth in the points and we want to hold onto that spot in the standings.”
Todd and the DHL GR Supra team raced to a runner-up finish in Seattle at the end of the Western Swing. Over the past six races Todd has collected a runner-up a semifinal finish and three quarterfinal finishes to maintain his position in the standings. Throughout this season with the newly designed Toyota GR Supra Funny Car body Todd has been in the mix every weekend on race day. Over the off-season with the help from Toyota, Revchem Composites and his DHL team Todd worked to make sure the new Funny Car body was ready to make a statement in the 2022 NHRA season.
“I think we have a team that can compete for the championship and the U.S. Nationals title,” said Todd, a ten-time Funny Car national event winner. “We were right there in the final in Seattle. We have had some very close races this season and now is when you have to dig deep. This is a championship caliber team and we have been through this before. Indy will be a busy weekend, but we just need to stay focused on the task at hand.”
For the first and only time this season Todd and his DHL Toyota team are scheduled to get five qualifying runs before final eliminations on Monday. The extra session combined with his team’s experience has Todd filled with confidence going into race weekend at the sixteenth national event of the season.
“If you give (crew chiefs) Todd Smith and Jon Oberhofer some time and a good race track they will find the best tune-up,” said Todd. “We have made progressively better runs throughout qualifying this season and then stepped it up on race day. I think we can do the same thing this weekend with really good results.”
2021 NHRA U.S. Nationals Highlights: Qual. No. 5, Beat Jim Campbell; Lost to Cruz Pedregon
Last Event Recap 2022 Brainerd Nationals: Qual. 7; Beat Jim Campbell; Lost to Robert Hight
Career Stats: 270 events, 262 starts, 296 round wins, 19 wins, 41 finals, 14 No. 1 qualifiers; In Funny Car: 118 events, 118 starts, 10 wins, 21 finals, 148 round wins, 5 No. 1 qualifiers
2022 Results
Winternationals: Qual. 8; Beat Bobby Bode; Lost to Ron Capps
Arizona Nationals: Qual. 8; Lost to Alexis DeJoria
Gatornationals: Qual. 11; Lost to Blake Alexander
Las Vegas1: Qual. 9; Beat Tim Wilkerson and Jason Qual. 7; Beat Jim Campbell; Lost to Robert Hight Rupert; Lost to Ron Capps and Matt Hagan
Houston: Qual. 13; Beat Bob Tasca III, Jim Campbell; Lost to Matt Hagan
Charlotte1: Qual. 6; Beat Dale Creasy Jr, Chad Green; Lost to Ron Capps, Mike McIntire
Richmond: Qual. 5; Lost to John Force
Epping: Qual. 10; Beat Blake Alexander, Cruz Pedregon; Lost to Matt Hagan
Bristol: Qual. 11; Lost to Cruz Pedregon
Norwalk: Qual. 7; Beat Blake Alexander, John Force; Lost to Robert Hight
Denver: Qual. 6; Beat Cruz Pedregon; Lost to John Force
Sonoma: Qual. 10; Beat Tim Wilkerson; Lost to John Force
Seattle: Qual. 7; RUNNER-UP; Beat Blake Alexander, Bob Tasca III, bye; Lost to Robert Hight
Topeka: Qual. 8; Lost to Alexis DeJoria
Brainerd: Qual. 7; Beat Jim Campbell; Lost to Robert Hight
