J.R. Todd was the No. 7 qualifier at the Menards NHRA Nationals presented by PetArmor; his best qualifying attempt came during the third and final session when the DHL GR Supra reached the finish line in 4.011 seconds at 319.52 mph.
Todd defeated Chad Green and Ron Capps before losing to Matt Hagan in the semifinals after the DHL Funny Car dropped a cylinder. With his win in Sonoma two weeks ago and today’s semifinal finish, Todd and the DHL Toyota team won six-consecutive eliminations rounds.
Todd leaves Topeka in eighth place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails seventh-place Tim Wilkerson by 12 points and leads ninth-place John Force by 78 points.
“We’re definitely in the hunt,” said Todd. “It’s getting cut-throat out here as we get kind of late in the season. Guys are murdering the tree and throwing down great runs, but that’s what it takes to win in Funny Car these days. We put a hole out three seconds into the semifinal run, and if it weren’t for that, I think we could at least have had a shot at winning again here in Topeka. All in all, good day, good weekend. We just came up a little short in the semis, but good job by our DHL Toyota team this weekend – we’ll try again next week at Brainerd.”
This story was originally published on August 14, 2023. 
