Story By: ROB GOODMAN / KALITTA MOTORSPORTS – INDIANAPOLIS, IN – In a stunning turnaround from the team’s problems in Brainerd, Minn., two weeks ago, J.R. Todd and his DHL GR Supra Funny Car team raced to the Toyota U.S. Nationals winner’s circle in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge featuring a rematch of the semifinals and finals from the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd, Minn.
The 70th Toyota U.S. Nationals is set for Monday in Indianapolis.
With the win, Todd earned three Mission Foods bonus points which will be added to his points total after the point standings are reset entering the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs. Todd earned 10 Mission Foods bonus points this season.
“Gotta thank Mission Foods for giving us the opportunity to race for extra money and bonus points, and those bonus points definitely come in handy when the Countdown comes around,” Todd said. “It’s nice to add to our points reset, whatever that may be after Monday. Hopefully, we can put ourselves in good position to maybe finish second in the regular season going into the Countdown and see where we stack up.”
When Todd advanced to the semifinals of the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, he qualified for today’s Mission Foods Challenge. Todd raced Matt Hagan while Blake Alexander raced Chad Green in a rematch of the Brainerd semifinals. In his second-round win at Brainerd, the DHL GR Supra suffered an engine malfunction which damaged the second DHL body of the weekend. Ron Capps Motorsports loaned the team a GR Supra body so they could compete in the semifinal matchup, which Hagan won. After damaging one car and destroying two bodies, it took a monumental effort to have the DHL GR Supra ready for the Toyota U.S. Nationals.
“I never had any doubt in the guys’ ability to turn things around and be prepared for this weekend, I just hate creating more work for them,” the 2018 Funny Car champion said. “That was a bummer of a weekend. The last three years, our results showed we should probably stay home over the Brainerd weekend and maybe come here (Indianapolis) to test and get ready for this race and the Playoffs. It’s awesome to be able to reward them with a little extra bonus money and hopefully a little more tomorrow and even more on Monday. At the end of the day, we want to win the race and win the championship. That’s the ultimate reward. If we can pull that off, I think they’ll look back at Brainerd and say it was probably worth it.”
Today, Todd and Hagan both posted 3.918-second runs in the Mission Foods semifinal rematch round, but Todd left the starting line .0156 seconds before Hagan and won the race by the same margin. In the final, Todd defeated Chad Green with a 3.953-second run to Green’s 4.151-second effort to win his third Mission Foods Challenge of the season. He also won the special event in Phoenix and Chicago.
Todd entered the Toyota U.S. Nationals with an opportunity to win three races in one weekend: today’s Mission Foods Challenge, tomorrow’s Pep Boys All-Star Callout and Monday’s Toyota U.S. Nationals. The Pep Boys All-Star Callout features the eight Funny Car teams that earned the most qualifying bonus points in the last year. Coincidentally, Todd will race Chad Green in Sunday’s Callout first round.
“You have to take it one run at a time – and not go into the weekend focusing on winning three races, but you want to win everything that’s out there,” Todd added. “It’s nice to check this one off the list, and tomorrow, we just have to focus on getting past Chad Green in the first round. He’s going to be out for blood after what happened today. The Callout is tough no matter who you race; hopefully we can move past first round and maybe get to call somebody out after that. If we don’t succeed tomorrow, I’ll take winning Monday.”
Today’s qualifying sessions, in which the Mission Foods Challenge was contested, were the second and third of Toyota U.S. Nationals qualifying. The fourth and fifth sessions are set for Sunday with the Toyota U.S. Nationals set for Monday.