YPSILANTI, Mich. (Sept. 23, 2025) – As the old saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and one could say the same about rebuilding a race team. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs continue with the third of six playoff races Sept. 26-28 at the NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals in Madison, Ill.
J.R. Todd and his DHL GR Supra Funny Car team are experiencing and feeling some growing pains this season. The team has shown flashes of the brilliance it seeks along with sometimes puzzling not-so-stellar results. Todd won in New Hampshire this summer; the team appeared on the upswing in the later part of the regular season, but despite solid consistency in qualifying, it has yet to win a round in the Countdown.
“We definitely need more performance,” Todd said. “We’ve shown we can make strong runs in just about any conditions, and we’ve had some strong qualifying results. But when race day rolls around, we’ve struggled. Like I’ve been saying all season, we’re still learning. We made a lot of changes when Dickie (Crew Chief Dickie Venables) joined the team before the season started. I think it’s all part of the process. This team is strong, the Yella Fellas work as hard as any crew out here, and we’ll get there eventually.”
Despite the team’s best efforts, Todd is currently ninth in the NHRA Funny Car point standings – his lowest of the season. That said, two thirds of the countdown remains so the team definitely have time to show what it can do in the season’s remaining four races.
“We just need to go out there, figure out how to perform and do our thing,” Todd said. “We don’t need to worry about where we are in the points or what we need to do there – just focus on our performance. It’s not hard to do that at this point because we’ve kind of put ourselves in a hole. We need to dig our way out a little bit before we start worrying about points and where we are in the standings. It would definitely be really nice to win another race before the season’s over.
“Each track is different, and St. Louis has its own characteristics with some bumps here and there. When it’s cool and the conditions are right, it can definitely be fast. It’s another track that’s somewhat close to Indy so it draws in that Indy crowd of people. It’s somewhat of a home race for a lot of people in our sport that live there. It’s another track where we haven’t won that I’d like to check off the list.”
Race Information:
Napa Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals Worldwide Technology Raceway; Madison, Ill.
TV Schedule (All times eastern):
2024 NHRA Midwest Nationals Recap: Qualified No. 13; lost to Jack Beckman.
J.R. Todd Career Stats: 334 events, 22 wins, 27 runners-up, 363 round wins, 14 No. 1 qualifiers.
2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Results to Date:
The post J.R. Todd, DHL Team Experience Countdown Growing Pains first appeared on Team Kalitta Motorsports.
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J.R. Todd and his DHL GR Supra Funny Car team are experiencing and feeling some growing pains this season. The team has shown flashes of the brilliance it seeks along with sometimes puzzling not-so-stellar results. Todd won in New Hampshire this summer; the team appeared on the upswing in the later part of the regular season, but despite solid consistency in qualifying, it has yet to win a round in the Countdown.
“We definitely need more performance,” Todd said. “We’ve shown we can make strong runs in just about any conditions, and we’ve had some strong qualifying results. But when race day rolls around, we’ve struggled. Like I’ve been saying all season, we’re still learning. We made a lot of changes when Dickie (Crew Chief Dickie Venables) joined the team before the season started. I think it’s all part of the process. This team is strong, the Yella Fellas work as hard as any crew out here, and we’ll get there eventually.”
Despite the team’s best efforts, Todd is currently ninth in the NHRA Funny Car point standings – his lowest of the season. That said, two thirds of the countdown remains so the team definitely have time to show what it can do in the season’s remaining four races.
“We just need to go out there, figure out how to perform and do our thing,” Todd said. “We don’t need to worry about where we are in the points or what we need to do there – just focus on our performance. It’s not hard to do that at this point because we’ve kind of put ourselves in a hole. We need to dig our way out a little bit before we start worrying about points and where we are in the standings. It would definitely be really nice to win another race before the season’s over.
“Each track is different, and St. Louis has its own characteristics with some bumps here and there. When it’s cool and the conditions are right, it can definitely be fast. It’s another track that’s somewhat close to Indy so it draws in that Indy crowd of people. It’s somewhat of a home race for a lot of people in our sport that live there. It’s another track where we haven’t won that I’d like to check off the list.”
Race Information:
Napa Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals Worldwide Technology Raceway; Madison, Ill.
TV Schedule (All times eastern):
- Qualifying Show: 2-3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 28 on FS1
- Finals: 3-6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 28 on FS1
2024 NHRA Midwest Nationals Recap: Qualified No. 13; lost to Jack Beckman.
J.R. Todd Career Stats: 334 events, 22 wins, 27 runners-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.
- Indianapolis: Qualified No. 7; lost to Bob Tasca.
- Reading: Qualified No. 5; lost to Ron Capps.
- Charlotte: Qualified No. 8; lost to Matt Hagan & Jack Beckman.
The post J.R. Todd, DHL Team Experience Countdown Growing Pains first appeared on Team Kalitta Motorsports.
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