Todd, Camry Advance To NHRA Winternationals Finals; Brown Reaches Top Fuel Semis
POMONA, CA – J.R. Todd drove his DHL Toyota Camry to the Funny Car final round at Sunday’s Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals at Auto 
Club Raceway at Pomona before eventually falling to Ron Capps, while Antron Brown advanced to the Top Fuel semifinals as the top finishing Toyota drivers on the day. It was the third final round appearance of the year for Todd and he leaves Pomona just 57 points out of the top spot in the Funny Car championship race.
The 2018 Funny Car world champion opened the day with a match-up against fellow Camry driver Jeff Diehl. He had a slight lead at the tree, but Diehl started to drop cylinders right off the line and lifted early as Todd registered a strong pass for the win, giving him lane choice over Robert Hight in round two. Once again, Todd had the starting line advantage and held off a charging Hight for the close hole shot win with the two running the exact same ETs. That set up a semifinal against Jim Campbell where Todd had an .047 lead at the starting line and led wire-to-wire to send him to the finals against Ron Capps. With track temperatures at 138 degrees, Todd had an .018 advantage on the tree, but dropped cylinders before the midway point, with Capps taking the lead early and driving to the victory. For the day, Todd had a quicker reaction time than all four of his opponents.
Also in Funny Car, Alexis DeJoria advanced to the second round today. She opened the event with a solo after Jason Rupert wasn’t able to run after a Saturday incident. In round two, she had a big advantage on the starting line against Campbell and opened up a five one-hundredths lead by the 330’ mark, only to lose the blower belt after shearing the bolts off the flywheel, giving the win to Campbell.
Brown entered the weekend second in the Top Fuel point race and solidified his position as the regular season winds down by advancing to the semifinals today. It was the seventh time this season that Brown has reached the semifinals or beyond in 10 races.
His first win of the day may have been his biggest, squaring off with series point lead Steve Torrence. Brown had a sizeable starting line advantage and never trailed for the win, going straight down the groove with his quickest pass of the weekend. The victory put an end to Torrence’s drive to sweep the Western Swing. He then defeated fellow Toyota driver Shawn Langdon in round two. In the semis. Justin Ashley would have a slight lead on the tree, but Brown started to haze the tires early, eventually dropping a cylinder, allowing Ashley to drive away for the win.
Langdon advanced to the second round after earning a victory over Jim Maroney where he had a starting line advantage and never trailed for the win.
Doug Kalitta saw his three-race Winternationals win streak come to an end with a first-round loss to Clay Millican. Kalitta had a slight lead on the tree, but then started to lose traction, allowing Millican to pull away for the win.
The Camping World Drag Racing Series will be off next weekend before resuming action at the Menards NHRA Nationals at Heartland Motorsports Park in Topeka, Kansas, August 13-15.
Notes:
– J.R. Todd advanced to his third final round of the season and the 38th of his NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series career with 19 in Funny Car and 19 in Top Fuel. Todd won the season-opening Gatornationals and he also advanced to the finals at Charlotte.
– Antron Brown has now advanced to the semifinals or beyond three times in the last four races and seven times in the season’s first 10 races, including a win at Atlanta. Brown currently sits second in points.
– With just three regular-season events remaining, all five Toyota NHRA drivers appear to be on the way to the NHRA Countdown to the Playoffs. Antron Brown sits second in Top Fuel, while Shawn Langdon is fifth and Doug Kalitta is ninth. In Funny Car, J.R. Todd is currently sixth, with Alexis DeJoria in seventh.
