Todd leads Toyota into Semifinals at NHRA Brainerd

J.R. Todd drove his DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car in the semifinals to lead Toyota in Sunday’s Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway. It is the third straight race that Todd has advanced to the semifinals or beyond and with that strong run, he’s now in a tie for second place, just 15 points and less than one round behind point leader Matt Hagan.

“Cruz (Pedregon) probably had the best car out here this weekend. We’re consistent, we just need to pick it up a little more. We’re gaining points and we’re turning on win lights for DHL, Toyota and Mobil 1. It kind of hurts to lose in the semifinals. We’re running well at the right time of the year. Now we just need to keep it rolling. Going into the Countdown, you definitely want to be as close to the top as possible and we’re right in the thick of it. We could certainly go into the Countdown leading in points. We want to go to Indy and win there. It starts here tomorrow, running on Monday and getting this DHL Toyota ready to go for Indy and beyond for the Countdown.” J.R. Todd

Todd began his day with a first round match-up against Robert Hight, Todd had the starting line advantage and never trailed for the win in registering a 3.933. In round two against Wilkerson, Todd once had the better reaction time and the power to hold on for the hole shot win, 3.931 to a 3.929. In the semifinals vs. Cruz Pedregon, Todd ran a strong 3.955 at 321.73 mph, but Pedregon had an advantage on the tree and led wire-to-wire for the win.

Alexis DeJoria ran almost as quick as Todd in the first round with a 3.940-second run but fell just short in the closest Nitro match-up of the day with Blake Alexander. The two left the line together and went side-by-side together all the way down the track but Alexander would take the win with a margin of victory of .002 seconds or approximately 12 inches. It was DeJoria’s quickest run of the weekend.

In Top Fuel, Antron Brown and Shawn Langdon would square off in an all-Toyota first-round match-up. Langdon had a great light with an .028 but was up in smoke right at the hit. Brown went straight down the groove with his quickest pass (3.749) of the weekend for the win. The victory set up a second-round showdown with Brittany Force.  The Matco Tools Toyota had a sizable advantage at the light, but Force was able to run him down early as she registered the quickest pass of the event. Brown ran a solid 3.771 in defeat.

Rounding out the Toyota contingent, Doug Kalitta had a starting line advantage in his match-up with Clay Millican, but Millican took the lead early and went on to the victory.

The NHRA will be off next weekend before heading to Indianapolis for the U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway, September 3-5.