NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship hasn’t quite turned out like J.R. Todd has planned, but the Top Fuel standout still has at least one big goal remaining this season.

Currently sixth in points, Todd has a chance to join Kalitta Motorsports teammate Doug Kalitta in the top five with a strong finish at this weekend’s Auto Club NHRA Finals at historic Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. With Antron Brown already clinching his second straight world championship, Todd, just 14 points out of fourth, has changed his focus to finishing as well as he possibly can in his 10,000-horsepower SealMaster dragster.

"Once the championship was out of sight, my goal has been to finish in the top five,” Todd said. “That would say a lot about our organization having both dragsters finish inside the top five. Going back to this summer, I felt like we had one of the best cars and that we would battle it out for the championship. We may have peaked a little early. Our SealMaster team is made up of mostly new guys or guys in new spots, so I'm really happy with the direction and performance of our hot rod.”

Shawn Langdon (Top Fuel), Del Worsham (Funny Car), Allen Johnson (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) were last year’s winners of the season-ending event that will aired for the first time on FOX Sports 1 this November. On Sunday, FS1 will televise three hours of live finals coverage starting at 4 p.m. (ET). It is the final race of the 2016 season and Todd knows how much a win at Pomona means.

Todd posted three final round appearances in a four-race stretch over the summer, getting a victory in Sonoma, but struggled out of the gates in the Countdown to the Championship, losing in the first round at two of the first three races. That ended his championship aspirations, but Todd has come on strong to close out the year. He advanced to the final round at the most recent race in Las Vegas and could add even more momentum to the off-season with an Auto Club NHRA Finals victory.

“Pomona is one of my favorite tracks on the tour,” Todd said. “There's always a different feeling when you pull in the gates there. That place packs a lot of history and finishing off the 2016 season with a win will for sure help the winter go by easier. It's good to keep everybody's morale up going into the offseason and what better way than to win, and we definitely have a car right now that is capable.”

A victory, or at least a strong showing in Pomona, also gives Todd and the rest of his standout team a head start on 2017. His primary sponsor, SealMaster, is back and the rest of the Kalitta Motorsports organization is gearing up another championship run next year. With a strong season that included Countdown to the Championship berths from all four-time cars (Todd, Kalitta and Funny Car drivers Worsham and Alexis DeJoria), Todd knows the future is bright for the entire group.

“Having SealMaster back for 2017 takes a huge load off and it's great to have SealMaster and all of their franchisees back with us,” Todd said. “I'd like to think that we are a key in helping their company grow and in turn they are for sure a major key in us going after the 2017 Mello Yello championship.  We have our work cut out for us but we have already tested some things for next year so that we can hit the track running when we unload for the Winternationals. I’m excited about 2017."
 
Mello Yello Drag Racing Series qualifying feature two rounds at 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 11, and two final qualifying rounds on Saturday, Nov. 12, at 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. Final eliminations are scheduled for 11 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 13.
  
Tickets are available at NHRA.com/tickets or by calling 1-800-884-NHRA. Kids 12 & under can see it all for free with a general admission ticket, while all students can save 50 percent on general admission at the gate with a student ID.