J.R. Todd made the most of his off week, but now it’s time to get dialed in for a strong push to the U.S. Nationals and the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs. The 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Season resumes Aug. 16-18, 2024 at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd, Minn.

With two full weeks off between races at Sonoma, Calif., and Brainerd, Minn., Todd was ready for some down time and knew the perfect place to take his mind off drag racing while spending relaxing time with friends.

“I went to the Knoxville Nationals, which is basically the Indy 500 or U.S. Nationals for winged Sprint Cars,” Todd said. “I got to see a bunch of my old buddies I hadn’t seen in a while. It was a good getaway to take my mind off drag racing more than anything. I always think it’s good to get your mind off things especially when you have two weeks off to sit and think about things. You can wear yourself out. It’s nice to go out there and have some fun with some old buddies I don’t get to see too often – it’s a good stress release.”

With the stress now released, it’s time to focus on the final third of the NHRA season. With two races remaining in the regular season, Todd is fourth in the NHRA Funny Car point standings – 46 points behind third-place Matt Hagan, 89 points behind second-place Bob Tasca and 122 points ahead of fifth-place Ron Capps. The next two races are all about finishing the regular season as high as possible to assure the best-possible starting position in the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs.

“I’ve been thinking about it since we were leading the points early this season,” Todd added. “Every round, every qualifying point; everything matters. It matters because we’re coming into the part of the season where you want to be as high in the standings as possible entering the Countdown. Now’s when we really need to go to these later rounds to at least keep pace with the guys around us, but it would be nice to get ahead of them. First place definitely isn’t gonna happen for us. Is it important? Yes, but second would be a great way to start the countdown, and we have two races to make it happen. More than anything else, it would be nice to start building momentum going into Indy and the playoffs. That’s when you really want to start heating up.”

Brainerd International Raceway has not been kind to the 2018 NHRA Funny Car champion over the years. He’s never won there and never been to a final round in the land of 10,000 lakes, yet he knows it’s the kind of atmosphere in which he should be comfortable.

“It’s definitely a unique atmosphere,” Todd said. “I’d compare it to where I just came from, Knoxville, Iowa. The fans like to camp out and have a really good time. They’re really supportive, and that means a lot as a driver. I haven’t done well at Brainerd in the past so it would be nice to reverse that.

“Most of the teams are testing at Brainerd Monday getting ready for the U.S. Nationals and the Countdown to the Championship Playoffs so it’s a pretty important event for sure. I like to test with everybody to kind of gauge where we are, not that everybody shows their hand, but you get a sense of how important it is in the season when everyone stays over to make test runs. It shows how important the U.S. Nationals and Countdown to the Championship are.”

Also this weekend, Todd’s teammate, 2023 NHRA Top Fuel driver Doug Kalitta, will start his 600th-career race – a monumental moment in his career.

“When I was a younger guy, I remember when he came into the sport, and I was a fan of his because of his USAC background,” Todd said. “He’s definitely one of the GOATs of our sport, and now that he has a championship, he’s accomplished just about everything there is to do in a Top Fuel car for sure.”