Toyota NHRA Preview JEGS Route 66 NHRA Nationals

PEDREGON ON FAST TRACK – Cruz Pedregon will arrive in Chicago eyeing his second win of the season and after some early season troubles, his Snap-on Camry has proven to be among the top cars in the field. In the last three races, the two-time world champion won in Charlotte and went to the semi-finals in Atlanta. In addition, he earned bonus points for qualifying in the top three of seven consecutive qualifying sessions– the longest streak in Funny Car this season.

TODD’S HOT STREAK CONTINUES –Over the last 18 events, no driver has more Funny Car wins than J.R. Todd with four. What makes those numbers even more impressive is that Todd is just 32 races into his Funny Car career after making the move to Funny Cars last season. The DHL Camry driver enters this weekend’s action in the midst of one of the hottest streaks of his career as he’s posted a 10-3 round win-loss record over the past five events with victories at Las Vegas and Houston and a semi-final showing at the most recent race in Topeka.

BROWN LOOKS TO EVEN THINGS UP – Even years have been awfully good to Antron Brown at the Route 66 Raceway and he will be looking to earn his fourth consecutive even year win at the Chicago track. In addition to his victories in 2012, 2014 and 2016, Brown fell just short of a fourth career win at the track last year, losing in the finals by just five one-thousandths of a second to Steve Torrence. With a victory this weekend, the three-time world champ would become just the fourth driver in NHRA history to win 50 career Top Fuel events.

Kalitta Motorsports Within Reach of Milestone – A Kalitta Motorsports sweep of Top Fuel and Funny Car this weekend would give team owner Connie Kalitta his 99th and 100th victories as a team owner. The team has four wins to date this season and has registered five previous wins at Route 66 Raceway, including three by Doug Kalitta (2002, 2004 and 2006).

Talking Chicago:Antron Brown, Matco Tools/U.S. Army Toyota Top Fuel Dragster:“When we go out to Joliet it’s always a special race because it’s the home-town race for Don Schumacher, who’s from Mount Prospect. Everybody at DSR really gets up to win at Route 66 – and that’w what I intend to do. We’ll also have a lot of Matco distributors, Toyota guests and Army soldiers that come out and want to give back and put them into the Winner’s Circle. It’s going to be scary fast running at the beginning of June compared to mid-July. Track conditions should be in the 60s when we’re running at night and you can go out there and run hard. It’s another really good track and it’s going to be a lot of fun for the fans.

Richie Crampton, Kalitta Air Toyota Top Fuel Dragster:“Route 66 is just a great Midwestern track. It’s close to most of the teams and we have a lot of friends and family that come out. I think it’s going to offer up some really good performances. The weather can be a little unpredictable, but it should offer up some great conditions with cooler temperatures predicted. Friday night’s session should be pretty impressive and I think it’s going to be another very fast race.”