FUNNY CAR WINNER: J.R. Todd, DHL Funny Car
Finals Broadcast Replay (eastern time): 10 p.m. – 1 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21 on FS1
Qualifying: J.R. Todd was the No. 5 qualifier at the Texas NHRA FallNationals. Todd’s best qualifying attempt came in the second session Friday night when the DHL GR Supra needed only 3.874 seconds to reach the finish line at 337.13 mph. It was Todd’s lowest elapsed time of the season. Todd has now qualified fifth at each of the last four races.
Eliminations: Todd raced to his second win of the season and the 24th of his career. He defeated Spencer Hyde, Alexis DeJoria, Ron Capps and points leader Matt Hagan. Todd won the races with Hyde and DeJoria at the starting line before his opponent. Todd is just the fourth driver to win the Texas FallNationals in both Top Fuel (2008) and Funny Car. With the win, Todd moved from fifth to third in points and within striking distance of the points lead.
Unofficial Point Standings: Todd leaves Texas in third place in in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails second-place Jordan Vandergriff by 21 points and leads fourth-place Austin Prock by 36 points. He trails points leader Matt Hagan by 119 points with two races remaining in the season.
Todd on Texas:
“There’s no quit in these DHL guys – that’s what I love about them. That’s a big win for us. I’m just really proud of my guys. Thanks to DHL, SealMaster, Mac Tools and PJH for helping us make it happen. I always have all the faith in the world of my guys and Dickie and Todd (Crew Chiefs Dickie Venables and Todd Smith). They do an awesome job and give me a great car. Some days we’re clicking, and some days we’re not, but I felt like this weekend, we made a good rip on Friday, another good run Saturday, then strung it together today when we needed to. The driver doesn’t always rise to the occasion, but I felt like I was doing a good job today. That’s what we gotta do to try and beat these guys.
“I won here in 2008 in Top Fuel, and they weren’t giving away cowboy hats then so it’s nice to come back and finally get one of these, and I know it means a lot to do to Dickie to win in his home state and beat those guys (Venables’ previous team) in the final. We just need to get them (Hagan’s team) out early in the day. We can’t make up much ground on them when we run them in the final. As long as we still have a shot, we’re gonna keep digging until someone tells us that we can’t do it.
“The points thing, we’ll go to Vegas and see what happens there. Either way, we’re just gonna try to keep winning like we did here today and wherever we end up, we end up. (Matt) Hagan is making it tough on us. I’m gonna have to probably take him clubbing in Vegas (at the next race) – I know he likes to party so maybe keep him out all weekend, away from the racetrack to at least give us a shot.”
J.R. Todd Photo Courtesy: Kalitta Motorsports
Next Race: Team Kalitta will be back in action Oct. 30 – Nov. 1, 2026 at the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals. For additional information, please visit www.nhra.com. For additional information on Kalitta Motorsports, please visit www.teamkalitta.com.
The post J.R. Todd Wins Texas NHRA FallNationals first appeared on Team Kalitta Motorsports.
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