Tough Weekend for J.R. Todd and the DHL Funny Car Team

Las Vegas, NV – Qualifying: After a herculean effort to get the DHL Toyota GR Supra ready to compete following the team’s misfortune in Pomona, Calif., two weeks ago, the DHL Supra did not qualify for the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals. This race represents the first time J.R. Todd failed to qualify for a race since he started driving the DHL Funny Car in 2017.

After the team’s primary car was repaired following the Pomona qualifying incident, the car did not perform as it had prior to the incident. The DHL team will test Monday, April 17 in Las Vegas to prepare the car for the Circle K NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in two weeks and the remainder of the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing season.

Eliminations: Todd did not qualify for eliminations. He provided analysis on The Strip Vegas Motor Speedway public address system during the first round of eliminations and then joined Brian Lohnes and Tony Pedregon in the booth for the NHRA on FOX broadcast on FS1.

Unofficial Point Standings: Todd leaves Las Vegas in 11th place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails 10th place Blake Alexander by 15 points and leads 12th place Alex Laughlin by 16 points.

Todd on Las Vegas “I put the blame on me; I should have done a better job earlier in the weekend to keep the thing in the groove and not come down to Q4 (fourth qualifying session) to try and get into the show. All in all, I just feel bad for the guys, Dan and Joe at PBRC and everybody at Kalitta Motorsports for busting their (butts) to get us back out here. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but we’ll stay here and test tomorrow to get this thing figured out. It’s still early in the season – we have a lot of racing left. I told our guys I’m sorry – they deserve better than this. I wanted to get them a win this weekend – that’s the only way to pay them back. We still have plenty of time to try and do that.

“Not missing a Funny Car race before this one is a testament to Todd Smith (co-crew chief), John Oberhofer (co-crew chief), Chris Forton (car chef) and the rest of the “Yella Fellas.” Those guys work so hard all the time – they make DHL look good, and they make Team Kalitta look good. We’ll do our best in testing to get this car where it needs to be so we can start making up some points.”