Quarterfinal Finish Keeps Todd and DHL Funny Car in Championship Mix

Charlotte, NC – The DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car and J.R. Todd qualified No. 6 at the DeWalt NHRA Carolina Nationals after two days of qualifying. On Friday and Saturday Todd and his team worked to get a solid tune-up for race day. Their best run of 3.899 seconds at 326.08 mph set them up to race journeyman Mike McIntire in the first round.

Todd and his team took full advantage of the information they gathered during qualifying and posted a strong first round winning time versus McIntire. The 10-time Funny Car winner was first off the line and never trailed in the race. His winning time of 3.913 seconds was one of the quickest runs of the opening round.

Heading into the quarterfinals Todd would race Cruz Pedregon for the third race in a row. The DHL Toyota Camry was giving up lane choice, but Todd was confident heading to the starting line. When the Christmas Tree flashed amber Todd took a sizable starting line advantage with a .043 reaction time to Pedregon’s .081, but just before the 60-foot timer Todd’s Funny Car hopped up on the tires and he was forced to try and pedal his race car to regain momentum. Despite his best effort, he was unable to chase down Pedregon and his day ended in the quarterfinals.

“We got a good win in the first round and I felt good about how this DHL Toyota Funny Car was running,” said Todd. “I got a good jump on Cruz in the second round but we smoked the tires pretty early. I tried to get back on it but he was pretty far out there. We held onto fourth place and we have five races left but we definitely need to go more rounds on race day. I am ready to get to St. Louis.”

He will leave zMax Dragway in fourth place in the Camping World Funny Car point standings with five races remaining.

Statistics:
Qualified: No. 6 (3.899 sec, 326.08 mph
Bonus points: 0

Race Details:

First Round
Driver                                  Qual       R/T         ET           MPH
J.R. Todd                            6             .057       3.913     325.85 (W)
Mike McIntire                      11           .071       6.960     94.50

Second Round
Driver                                  Qual       R/T         ET           MPH
J.R. Todd                            6             .043       7.389     110.11
Cruz Pedregon                    3             .081       3.962     324.20 (W)