J.R. Todd, DHL GR Supra Funny Car​


2025 NHRA Midwest Nationals Recap: Qualified No. 10; lost to Cruz Pedregon.

J.R. Todd Career Stats: 353 events, 23 wins, 28 runners-up, 389 round wins, 17 No. 1 qualifiers.

Current Points Position: T3

Pre-Race Notes:

  • J.R. Todd enters the NAPA NHRA Midwest Nationals in third place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails second-place Jordan Vandergriff by 22 points and leads fourth place Ron Capps by three points
  • At each of the first two Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs, Todd qualified fifth and advanced to the semifinals.
  • The DHL GR Supra made seven runs down the racetrack last weekend in Rockingham, N.C., and all seven were consistently strong performances. The seven elapsed times were all within four hundredths of a second.
  • Todd has one runner-up finish at the Midwest Nationals but is still in search of his first win at the suburban St. Louis track.
  • Todd advanced to at least the semifinals 10 times this season. He has one win, one runner-up finish and eight semifinal showings in addition to three No. 1 qualifiers.
  • Todd is the 2018 NHRA Funny Car Champion and has 23 race wins in his career.

Pre-Race Quotes:

“We’re definitely pleased with the runs we’re making and the way the DHL car is running; it’s pretty much running like Dickie and Todd (Crew Chiefs Dickie Venables and Todd Smith) are tuning it to run. We just need to pick up a hundredth (of a second) here or there throughout those runs to make it quicker, and I need to be better on the Christmas tree. Hopefully, that’s what it takes to get to the later rounds. We lost a close one in the Martin semis and then another one in the Rockingham semis. It’s good to be going to semifinals, but at the same time, it’s unfortunate to be losing ground to the guys in front of us.

“The last few years, we didn’t have a shot to go out there and win a championship because we couldn’t get out of the first round, but now, we’re in the points hunt. It’s just tough. Winning rounds is not easy; it’s even harder now with so many competitive teams in Funny Car, and one guy went to the final at the first two playoff races and won a race so he’s put a pretty big gap on the rest of the field. We’re getting to the point where we have to not just match his pace, we have to go further than him.

“Competing for championships is why we do this. If I was content just making runs, I probably wouldn’t have a job because I get paid not just to drive a race car but to win races. I’ve been competitive since I was a kid, and this is all I ever wanted to do. I’ve wanted to be in this position for years, so it’s a lot of fun.

“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 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.”

Todd Photo Courtesy: Kalitta Motorsports

For J.R. Todd’s 2026 race-by-race results, please click here.

TV Schedule (All times eastern):

  • Qualifying Show 1: 6:30-8:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2 on FS1
  • Qualifying Show 2: 11 a.m.-Noon Sunday, Oct. 4 on FS1
  • Finals No. 1: 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4 on FOX or
  • Finals No. 2 4:30-6:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4 on FOX

Broadcast will be either before or after the NFL on FOX broadcast. Please check local listings.

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