Team Toyota Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals Pre Race Report

Brainerd, MN – Todd In Hunt For Top Seed In Funny Car…J.R. Todd is trending upward with the Countdown to the Playoffs set to begin in just over three weeks. Todd climbed up to third in points, only 38 points out of the top spot in the Funny Car championship race after advancing to his second consecutive final this past weekend in Topeka. The DHL Camry driver appeared to be headed to his second win of the season after stretching out a .063-second lead by the 330’ mark before smoking the tires, giving John Force the Wally. Todd also reached the finals at Pomona in the previous race and overall has advanced to four final rounds this year, with a win at the Gatornationals.

Brainerd Special For DeJoria…Alexis DeJoria will be looking for her first Funny Car win since coming out of retirement at the same Brainerd track where she won her last race in 2017, defeating Tim Wilkerson, Cruz Pedregon, John Force and Tommy Johnson on the way to the victory. DeJoria made history at the track in 2014 when she ran the first sub-four second Funny Car pass ever run at Brainerd. She has advanced to the semifinals or beyond three times in the last five races and has qualified in the top two in six of 11 events this season.

Three Toyotas in, Two To Go For NHRA Playoffs…With two regular-season events remaining, three Toyota drivers have clinched their berths in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs with Antron Brown securing a spot in Top Fuel, and J.R. Todd and Alexis DeJoria both set to compete for the Funny Car title.  Shawn Langdon is fifth in Top Fuel and can clinch his spot this weekend in Brainerd, while Doug Kalitta holds down the tenth and final spot in the Countdown.

Quotes:

J.R. Todd, DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car: “The most important time of the year is coming up in the Countdown. We made up some ground and we’re right in the thick of it. We’ve got two more races before the Countdown starts and when we won the championship in Indy, we got hot right around Indy. It’s getting right about that time of year.”

Alexis DeJoria, Bandero ROKiT Toyota Camry Funny Car: “Brainerd’s a great place. I love racing out there.  The fans are just incredible. We’ve run well there. I ran a track record there. I think we were the first Funny Car team to run a sub-four second pass there, so we had the track record there for a minute. We won there in 2017 and that was my last win (before a two-year retirement). We have a really good Bandero Tequila Toyota right now and a great team to go with it. Going back to Brainerd feels pretty good.”