J.R. Todd entered the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs as the fifth seed looking to make some noise in the battle for the championship, but with two of the six playoff races in the books, his outlook is a bit different. The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series resumes this weekend at the NHRA Midwest Nationals in Madison, Ill., the third of six races that make up the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs.
In the last three months of the NHRA regular season, Todd’s DHL GR Supra team advanced to at least the semifinals at seven of the last nine races of the regular season including a win at Sonoma, Calif., and three runner-up showings. The team appeared to be peaking at the perfect time, but things changed at the first Countdown race at Maple Grove Raceway in Pennsylvania. The DHL team qualified 11th and lost in the first round, and then last weekend Charlotte, they qualified ninth but again lost in the opening round. With 16 rounds or racing remaining in the season, the time to step up the performance is now.
“With four races left, you are almost in a must win situation,” Todd said. “St. Louis is another three-qualifying session race so you have to hit the ground running in that first qualifying session Friday night. We’re not mathematically out of the running for the championship; we have four races to go – that’s two thirds of the Countdown so we can still make a run at this thing, but now we don’t have any time to spare. We have four races left, and realistically, you probably have to win two of the four to have any legitimate shot. It won’t be easy, but it’s definitely possible.”
Last year, he qualified 10th and defeated Alexis DeJoria in the opening round before being a second-round exit at the hands of John Force.
J.R. Todd Career Stats: 294 events, 322 round wins, 20 wins, 45 final rounds, 14 No. 1 qualifiers
2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Results To Date:
Gainesville: Qualified No. 6; defeated Blake Alexander, Robert Hight, Chad Green; lost to Matt Hagan in final.
Phoenix: Qualified 15th; lost to Alexis DeJoria in the first round.
Pomona: Qualified No. 5; lost to Alex Laughlin in the first round.
Las Vegas: Did not qualify.
Charlotte: Qualified No. 6; lost to Robert Hight and Mike McIntire in the first round.
Chicago: Qualified No. 3; lost to Bob Tasca in the first round.
Epping: Qualified No. 8; defeated Cruz Pedregon and Matt Hagan before losing to John Force in the semifinals.
Bristol: Qualified No. 7; lost to John Force.
Norwalk: Qualified No. 7; defeated John Force and Ron Capps before losing to Matt Hagan in the semifinals.
Denver: Qualified No. 7; defeated Tim Wilkerson and John Force before losing to Alexis Dejoria in the semifinals.
Seattle: Qualified No. 5; defeated Alex Laughlin, Cruz Pedregon and Chad Green before losing to Tim Wilkerson by .0522 seconds in the final round.
Sonoma: Qualified No. 8; defeated Blake Alexander, Bob Tasca, Matt Hagan and Chad Green earning his first win of the season.
Topeka: Qualified No. 7; defeated Chad Green and Ron Capps before losing to Matt Hagan in the semifinals.
Brainerd: Qualified No. 2; lost to Dale Creasy in the first round.
Indianapolis: Qualified No. 10; defeated Blake Alexander, Bob Tasca and Cruz Pedregon before losing to Ron Capps in the final round.
Reading: Qualified No. 11; lost to Matt Hagan in the first round.
Charlotte: Qualified No. 8; lost to Paul Lee in the first round.
Current Point Standings: Todd enters St. Louis in eighth place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails seventh-place Tim Wilkerson by six points and leads ninth-place John Force by 19 points.
Similar in nature to Shawn Langdon.
Langdon’s Kalitta Air Careers Toyota team is running better but not yet well enough to challenge for a championship making this weekend’s third of six playoff races a pivotal event. The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series resumes this weekend at the NHRA Midwest Nationals in Madison, Ill., the third of six races that make up the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs.
Langdon’s season has not lived up to expectations, but a recent uptick in performance is reason for optimism. The Kalitta Air Careers team made six consistent runs in Reading, Pa., two weeks ago and appeared ready to step up its performance. With a second-consecutive quarterfinal appearance last weekend in Charlotte, Langdon, who has two wins in three St. Louis final rounds, did move up to 10th in points, but if the team is to have any shot at contending, a strong performance this weekend reaching deep into the eliminations ladder is vital.
“We go into St. Louis with the same game plan we had for Charlotte – try to get our Kalitta Air Careers car running as well as it can so we can continue getting better,” Langdon said. “We made six really good runs in Reading, but we weren’t able to keep that going in Charlotte (last weekend) so we’ll give it another shot this weekend. Mathematically, we can still win a championship, but realistically, it’s a long shot. We’d probably need to win at least two of the four races we have left so our goal is to continue improving our performance and hope we can keep moving up in points. St. Louis has a nice race track, and the weather looks good so we’ll go in there and keep working as hard as we can to keep getting better for Kalitta Air, Revchem, Toyota, Future Energy Solutions and everyone else who supports our team.”
2022 NHRA Midwest Nationals Recap: Qualified No. 3; defeated Kyle Wurtzel and Tony Schumacher before losing to Josh Hart in the semifinals.
Shawn Langdon Career Stats: 326 events, 345 round wins, 17 wins, 38 final rounds, 19 No. 1 qualifiers
2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Results To Date:
Gainesville: Qualified 11th and lost to Antron Brown by two 10 thousandths of a second.
Phoenix: Qualified No. 8; defeated Antron Brown, Doug Kalitta and Leah Pruett; lost to Justin Ashley
Pomona: Qualified No. 7; defeated Tony Schumacher, lost to Brittany Force.
Las Vegas: Qualified No. 6; defeated Krista Baldwin and Clay Millican before losing to Steve Torrence and
Josh Hart in the semifinals.
Charlotte: Qualified 11th, lost to Leah Pritchett and Pat Dakin in the first round.
Chicago: Qualified No. 6; lost to Clay Millican in the first round.
Epping: Qualified No. 2; lost to Tony Schumacher in the first round.
Bristol: Qualified 14th; lost to Steve Torrence.
Norwalk: Qualified 14th; lost to Brittany Force.
Denver: Qualified No. 9; defeated Greg Carrillo and Rob Passey before losing to Clay Millican in the
semifinals.
Seattle: Qualified No. 8; defeated Antron Brown and Mike Salinas before losing to Steve Torrence by .0609 seconds in the semifinals.
Sonoma: Qualified No. 5; defeated Leah Pruett before losing to Josh Hart in the second round.
Topeka: Qualified No. 9; lost to Brittany Force in the first round.
Brainerd: Qualified No. 9; lost to Antron Brown in the first round.
Indianapolis: Qualified No. 9; defeated Josh Hart before losing to Steve Torrence in the second round.
Charlotte: Qualified No. 9; defeated Tony Schumacher before losing to Doug Kalitta in the second round.
Point Standings: Langdon enters St. Louis in ninth place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails eighth-place Austin Prock by 29 points and leads 10th-place Tony Schumacher by 12 points.
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