THREE-TIME LAS VEGAS WINNER J.R. TODD, DHL TEAM STRIVE FOR TOP FIVE

Published October 30, 2024

YPSILANTI, MI – In a season that began with such promise, the current situation for J.R. Todd and the DHL GR Supra team is not what anyone envisioned. The 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs resumes Nov. 1-3, 2024 at the NHRA Ford Performance Nationals in Las Vegas, the fifth of six playoff races.

The Countdown has not been kind to the 2018 champion – he enters Las Vegas in eighth place in the NHRA Mission Foods Funny Car point standings. He trails seventh-pace Blake Alexander by 11 points and leads ninth-place Chad Green by 13 points with two races remaining in the season. The DHL GR Supra team is 103 points out of fifth place and within reach of a top-five season finish.

“To me, fifth in points is definitely still possible, but we need to finish the season with two really strong races to make it happen,” Todd said. “I still have my sights set on that because with points and a half in Pomona, that always seems to shake things up. If guys go out early, and you have a good day, who knows where we could end up? A top-five finish is our goal – it’s just a bigger hill to climb now.”

But it’s a hill the team is definitely capable of climbing. The DHL team started the season with a bang winning the opening race and advancing to at least the semifinals at 10 of the season’s first 13 races. Todd has three Las Vegas wins including a Las Vegas sweep in 2018 when he won the Funny Car title. This team has the tools and the talent to turn the end of the season around.

“Finishing the season on a positive note is definitely key looking at the season we’ve had,” Todd added. “The way we started the season with the win in Gainesville, making all those Mission Foods Challenge deals and showing consistency each race was definitely really good for DHL, Toyota, Revchem, SealMaster and all the great people who support us. We needed that- we know we can still do it, but we have to kick our performance up to get back to that level. Overall, even though we started out really strong, it definitely hasn’t been the season we wanted so we’re hoping to finish with a trophy or two to close it out.”

Todd will appear on this week’s episode of “Talkin’ Funny Cars with Buddy Hull” Wednesday, Oct. 30 at 8 p.m. eastern time on the NHRA Fast Channel available through several digital channels including the Roku Channel (USA & Canada), Tubi, Samsung TV Plus, Sling Freestream and other free streaming services.

“It was fun, and it was good to learn more about Buddy,” Todd said. “It’s always good to sit down and talk about those things people don’t get to see on weekly racing shows during a standard NHRA race weekend. Anytime you can sit and talk with somebody and talk about past experiences or try to educate the fans on things they might not know, I think it’s always positive for our sport.”
2023 NHRA Ford Performance Nationals Recap: Qualified No. 10; lost to Cruz Pedregon.

Funny Car Career Stats: 316 events, 21 wins, 26 runner-up, 348 round wins, 14 No. 1 qualifiers

2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Results to Date (wins in italics):

Gainesville: Qualified No. 6; defeated Blake Alexander, Ron Capps, Bob Tasca and Austin Prock.

Pomona: Qualified No. 11; defeated Cruz Pedregon and Paul Lee; lost to Matt Hagan.

Phoenix: Qualified No. 5; defeated Cruz Pedregon and John Force before losing to Austin Prock.

Las Vegas 4W: Qualified No. 3; defeated D. Wilkerson, D. Richards before losing to M. Hagan and R. Capps

Charlotte 4W: Qualified No. 12; defeated Ron Capps and Buddy Hull in the first round, Cruz Pedregon and John Force in the semifinals before beating John Force but losing to Matt Hagan and Daniel Wilkerson in the final round.

Chicago: Qualified No. 12; lost to Alexis DeJoria.

Epping: Qualified No. 3; defeated Dave Richards and Bob Tasca before losing to John Force.

Bristol: Qualified No. 11; defeated Terry Haddock, Ron Capps, John Force; lost to Austin Prock.

Richmond: Qualified No. 7; lost to Matt Hagan.

Norwalk: Qualified No. 2; defeated Chris King; lost to Ron Capps.

Seattle: Qualified No. 4; defeated Buddy Hull and Bob Tasca; lost to Austin Prock.

Sonoma: Qualified No. 6 defeated Jason Rupert, lost to Ron Capps.

Brainerd: Qualified No. 8; defeated Paul Lee, Austin Prock; lost to Matt Hagan.

Indianapolis: Qualified No. 10; lost to Ron Capps.

Reading: Qualified No. 11; defeated Matt Hagan, lost to Jack Beckman.

Charlotte: Qualified No. 6; lost to Dan Wilkerson.

St. Louis: Qualified No. 13; lost to Jack Beckman.