Story By: ROB GOODMAN / KALITTA MOTORSPORTS – YPSILANTI, MI – J.R. Todd and his DHL GR Supra team know that racing in the later rounds on Sunday is the key to drag racing success – now they want to get back to them. The 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Season resumes July 19-21, 2024 at the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Kent, Wash.
At seven of the 10 races this season, Todd reached at least the semifinals including a win at the season-opening race and final-round appearances at Charlotte and Bristol, Tenn. All three of the races at which he did not reach the semifinals were in the last five events including each of the last two. That said, the team qualified No. 2 in Norwalk, Ohio one race ago so the issue, as it has been for some time, is something for which all teams strive: consistency.
“The DHL GR Supra team has had some great moments this year,” Todd said. “But we’ve also had some not-so-great moments, and that goes back to us needing to make consistent runs every time we go down the race track. That’s a hump we just can’t seem to get over. I’ve been saying all season that if you get into the Mission Foods deal, you’re reaching the semifinals and getting to those later rounds. We’ve raced in a lot of the Mission deals this year and won it twice – now we just need to get back to it.”
The DHL team raced in the Mission Foods Challenge seven times this season winning the Saturday event in both Phoenix and Chicago. It’s a good barometer of success if one’s goal is racing in the later rounds. That’s something Todd and team did well on the western swing last season. The 2018 Funny Car champion advanced to the final round in Seattle, his second Seattle final round in as many seasons, won the Mission Foods Challenge in Sonoma the next week and then won the Sonoma race the next day. Warm race tracks are generally good for the DHL GR Supra team, and each of the next two races on this year’s western swing should fall into that category.
“When it gets hot and tricky, that’s where this DHL Toyota team generally runs well,” Todd said. “I expect it to be warm in Seattle like it usually is, and that’s usually the kind of conditions when we run well so I’m looking forward to getting there.
“We’re getting to the point now where it’s getting later in the year, and you have to start looking towards Indy and the Countdown when points matter. We’re fifth in points, but we need to get back to making semifinals and finals on a regular basis to make sure we don’t slide back. You definitely want to put some space between yourself and the guys behind you, but you also don’t want to let the guys in front of you get too far away. We’re going to Seattle where we’ve had some success so hopefully, we can take those notes, get some consistency and leave there with a trophy.”