YPSILANTI, Mich. (Aug. 26, 2025) – In a season dominated by rebuilding an entire program, J.R. Todd’s DHL GR Supra team enters the U.S. Nationals, the final race of the regular season, in its best form of the year and very much on the upswing. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series completes its regular season Aug. 29-Sept. 1 at the Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.
Todd raced to the final round at the Lucas Oil Nationals in Minnesota two weeks ago. It was his second final round of the season and his best showing since winning in New Hampshire earlier this summer. What was most significant about the weekend, however, was the consistency the team showed in the runner-up effort. Todd was the No. 5 qualifier but was No. 1 following the first qualifying session. The team made strong, consistent runs throughout the weekend, and except for overpowering the racetrack in the final round, Todd was a legitimate threat to win his second race of the season.
“It’s definitely the best our DHL car performed all year,” Todd said. “That gives you confidence going into the biggest race of the year and the most important time of the year. It would have been nice to leave Brainerd with a trophy, but we definitely know we have a car that’s capable of competing with the front runners out there now so that’s encouraging. That’s been the goal all year – to get to where they are. I’m not saying we’re fully there, but we made changes going in the Brainerd race to try and ‘wake up’ the car. It seems to have worked, but until we can keep repeating it, we’re not there yet.”
“We’ve been working on consistency,” Crew Chief Dickie Venables said. “We have to learn how to run quick in all conditions. That’s kind of where we are now. We’ve been working on getting clutch and engine working together, trying to make it down the track and learn on the fly. I feel like we’ve learned a lot about the car in the last few races. It’s consistent now; we just have to learn how to make it go consistently quick.”
Todd is sixth in points entering the U.S. Nationals trailing fifth-place Paul Lee by 47 points. With “points and a half” available at this race, a round win is worth 30 points instead of 20. Todd is not in contention for the regular season championship but depending on how qualifying and race day work out, he could potentially move as high as third in points if he wins his third U.S. Nationals title and everything else works out perfectly.
“The goal is win Indy and let the points shake out where they do,” the 2018 NHRA Funny Car champion said. “We don’t need to go in there, count points and worry about all that. We just need to rack up as many bonus points as we can, and points and half always makes things interesting. If the guys ahead of us go out early, and we go to the later rounds, who knows where we can end up?”
The U.S. Nationals is also the first race of the 2025 Race to End Hunger. Kalitta Motorsports, DHL Express, Kalitta Air and eight additional partners, including Applied Innovation this week, are partnering in the Race to End Hunger benefitting Feeding America, the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Every Team Kalitta race-day win light in the next six races will generate 40,000 meals in the fight against food insecurity. That’s another reason winning the U.S. Nationals would be special.
“People don’t ask who won in Topeka, Kan.; they want to know who’s won Indy,” Todd said. “It’s the biggest race of the year, it pays more; there’s just a lot a lot going on there especially with the Funny Car Callout. All the legends of the sport did well at Indy, and to be able to put your name up there with those means a lot. It’s pretty cool to be part of a list of those that won a championship, won Indy or both. I’ve always gotten that feeling in my stomach when I pull in the gate there since I was a kid. You definitely get a different feeling pulling into that race than any other race on the tour. That’s our Daytona 500 or Indy 500.”
Todd is one of four Funny Car drivers with a chance to win three trophies this weekend: The Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge, the Play NHRA Funny Car All-Star Callout among the eight teams that qualified best in the last year and the U.S. Nationals.
“It makes a Friday night qualifying that much more important and then especially Saturday,” Todd added. “You want to make sure you’re in the show and not fooling around going into Sunday when there’s $80,000 on the line for the callout when you need to focus on racing and not qualifying. I’m just glad to be part of the Mission Foods deal, the Funny Car callout and then hopefully the big race on Monday.”
Race Information:
Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park; Indianapolis
TV Schedule (All times eastern):
2024 Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals Recap: Qualified No. 10; lost to Ron Capps.
J.R. Todd Career Stats: 331 events, 22 wins, 27 runner-up, 363 round wins, 14 No. 1 qualifiers.
2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Results to Date:
Todd Image Courtesy: Kalitta Motorsports
The post J.R. TODD, DHL TEAM ENTER U.S. NATIONALS IN BEST FORM OF SEASON first appeared on Team Kalitta Motorsports.
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Todd raced to the final round at the Lucas Oil Nationals in Minnesota two weeks ago. It was his second final round of the season and his best showing since winning in New Hampshire earlier this summer. What was most significant about the weekend, however, was the consistency the team showed in the runner-up effort. Todd was the No. 5 qualifier but was No. 1 following the first qualifying session. The team made strong, consistent runs throughout the weekend, and except for overpowering the racetrack in the final round, Todd was a legitimate threat to win his second race of the season.
“It’s definitely the best our DHL car performed all year,” Todd said. “That gives you confidence going into the biggest race of the year and the most important time of the year. It would have been nice to leave Brainerd with a trophy, but we definitely know we have a car that’s capable of competing with the front runners out there now so that’s encouraging. That’s been the goal all year – to get to where they are. I’m not saying we’re fully there, but we made changes going in the Brainerd race to try and ‘wake up’ the car. It seems to have worked, but until we can keep repeating it, we’re not there yet.”
“We’ve been working on consistency,” Crew Chief Dickie Venables said. “We have to learn how to run quick in all conditions. That’s kind of where we are now. We’ve been working on getting clutch and engine working together, trying to make it down the track and learn on the fly. I feel like we’ve learned a lot about the car in the last few races. It’s consistent now; we just have to learn how to make it go consistently quick.”
Todd is sixth in points entering the U.S. Nationals trailing fifth-place Paul Lee by 47 points. With “points and a half” available at this race, a round win is worth 30 points instead of 20. Todd is not in contention for the regular season championship but depending on how qualifying and race day work out, he could potentially move as high as third in points if he wins his third U.S. Nationals title and everything else works out perfectly.
“The goal is win Indy and let the points shake out where they do,” the 2018 NHRA Funny Car champion said. “We don’t need to go in there, count points and worry about all that. We just need to rack up as many bonus points as we can, and points and half always makes things interesting. If the guys ahead of us go out early, and we go to the later rounds, who knows where we can end up?”
The U.S. Nationals is also the first race of the 2025 Race to End Hunger. Kalitta Motorsports, DHL Express, Kalitta Air and eight additional partners, including Applied Innovation this week, are partnering in the Race to End Hunger benefitting Feeding America, the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Every Team Kalitta race-day win light in the next six races will generate 40,000 meals in the fight against food insecurity. That’s another reason winning the U.S. Nationals would be special.
“People don’t ask who won in Topeka, Kan.; they want to know who’s won Indy,” Todd said. “It’s the biggest race of the year, it pays more; there’s just a lot a lot going on there especially with the Funny Car Callout. All the legends of the sport did well at Indy, and to be able to put your name up there with those means a lot. It’s pretty cool to be part of a list of those that won a championship, won Indy or both. I’ve always gotten that feeling in my stomach when I pull in the gate there since I was a kid. You definitely get a different feeling pulling into that race than any other race on the tour. That’s our Daytona 500 or Indy 500.”
Todd is one of four Funny Car drivers with a chance to win three trophies this weekend: The Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge, the Play NHRA Funny Car All-Star Callout among the eight teams that qualified best in the last year and the U.S. Nationals.
“It makes a Friday night qualifying that much more important and then especially Saturday,” Todd added. “You want to make sure you’re in the show and not fooling around going into Sunday when there’s $80,000 on the line for the callout when you need to focus on racing and not qualifying. I’m just glad to be part of the Mission Foods deal, the Funny Car callout and then hopefully the big race on Monday.”
Race Information:
Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park; Indianapolis
TV Schedule (All times eastern):
- Qualifying Show 1: 9:30-11:30 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 31 on FS1
- Play NHRA All-Star Funny Car Callout: 5-6:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 31 on FS1
- Qualifying Show 2: 7-8 p.m. 6:30-8:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 31 on FS1
- Finals Round 1: Noon-2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 1 on FS1
- Finals: 2-5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 1 on FOX
2024 Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals Recap: Qualified No. 10; lost to Ron Capps.
J.R. Todd Career Stats: 331 events, 22 wins, 27 runner-up, 363 round wins, 14 No. 1 qualifiers.
2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Results to Date:
- Gainesville: Qualified No. 11; lost to Bobby Bode.
- Phoenix: Qualified No. 9; defeated Daniel Wilkerson before losing to Bob Tasca.
- Pomona: Qualified No. 7; lost to Daniel Wilkerson.
- Las Vegas: Qualified No. 4: defeated Bobby Bode, Jack Beckman, lost to Matt Hagan, Paul Lee.
- Charlotte: Qualified No. 11; defeated Dan Wilkerson, Bob Tasca; lost to Austin Prock, Ron Capps.
- Chicago: Qualified No. 4; lost to Cruz Pedregon.
- Epping: Qualified No. 10; defeated Cruz Pedregon, Phil Burkart, Alexis DeJoria and Spencer Hyde.
- Bristol: Qualified No. 6; defeated Spencer Hyde; lost to Ron Capps
- Richmond: Qualified No. 3; defeated Buddy Hull and Hunter Green; lost to Austin Prock.
- Norwalk: Qualified No. 12; lost to Matt Hagan.
- Seattle: Qualified No. 3; defeated Cruz Pedregon; lost to Alexis Dejoria.
- Sonoma: Qualified No. 11; lost to Hunter Green.
- Brainerd: Qualified No. 5; defeated Paul Lee, Ron Capps and Jack Beckman; lost to Austin Prock.
Todd Image Courtesy: Kalitta Motorsports
The post J.R. TODD, DHL TEAM ENTER U.S. NATIONALS IN BEST FORM OF SEASON first appeared on Team Kalitta Motorsports.
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