J.R. Todd qualified second in Funny Car, while Antron Brown placed third in Top Fuel to lead Toyota in preparation for Sunday’s Fitzgerald USA NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at the Bristol Dragway.
In qualifying second, Todd matched a career Funny Car-best originally set at Charlotte in September 2017. It also marks the fourth time he’s qualified in the top four in the last six races. For the season, he’s now earned qualifying bonus points in 10 off 11 races.
“I’m not sure that lane choice is going to matter with the heat tomorrow, but it’s good to have it,” said Todd, who will match up with Del Worsham in the first round tomorrow. “You always want to be up as high as possible on the ladder. It makes that Friday night run even more important and it was key that we capitalized on it. We’ve really stepped it up in qualifying and it’s just a combination of our entire DHL Camry team working hard on the tune-up, being consistent and not making a lot of changes.”
Cruz Pedregon also placed in the top five in Funny Car with a fifth in his Snap-on Camry and will square off with Jim Campbell in round one tomorrow. Pedregon has now qualified in the top five in four of his last five races.
Shawn Langdon will start from the tenth spot in his Global Electronic Technology Camry and race Jack Beckman in his opener on Saunday, while Worsham qualified 15th to set up his match-up with Todd.
In Top Fuel, Brown’s third is his best qualifying performance since Charlotte in April and continues an upward trend for the Matco Tools Toyota that saw him advance to the semi-finals last week in Richmond. Brown will open up with Kalitta Air Toyota driver Richie Crampton, who qualified 14th, on Sunday in pursuit of his 50th career Top Fuel victory.
Doug Kalitta, who advanced to the finals last week, qualified his Mac Tools Toyota 12th to set up a first-round showdown with Brittany Force.
Today’s qualifying can be seen tonight on FS1 at 9:00 p.m., while Sunday’s Mello Yello Drag Racing Series eliminations also will be shown on FS1 beginning at 7:30 p.m. (all times ET).
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Toyota Drivers
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Toyota Bristol Qualifying Results
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Qual. (1st Rd. Opponent)
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Driver
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Car
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Antron Brown
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Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster
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3rd (Crampton)
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Doug Kalitta
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Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster
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12th (Force)
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Richie Crampton
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Kalitta Air Toyota Top Fuel Dragster
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14th (Brown)
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Funny Car
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Car
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J.R. Todd
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DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car
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2nd (Worsham)
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Cruz Pedregon
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Snap-on Toyota Camry Funny Car
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5th (Campbell)
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Shawn Langdon
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Global Electronic Technology Toyota Camry FC
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10th (Beckman)
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Del Worsham
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Worsham-Fink Racing Toyota Camry Funny Car
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15th (Todd)
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Toyota Session-by-Session Qualifying
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Top Fuel
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Q1 Time/Speed
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Q2 Time/Speed
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Antron Brown
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4.648/169.00
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3.832/319.67 (1)
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Doug Kalitta
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5.704/151.80
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4.419/187.08
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Richie Crampton.
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4.626/169.81
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4.891/145.77
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Funny Car
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J.R. Todd
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9.184/81.72
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4.072/313.15 (2)
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Cruz Pedregon
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8.383/72.82
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4.109/304.05
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Shawn Langdon
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4.557/199.67
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4.191/299.00
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Del Worsham
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**
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4.335/213.91
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Top Fuel
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Q3 Time/Speed
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Q4 Time/Speed
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Antron Brown
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4.077/266.85 (1)
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6.694/100.82
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Doug Kalitta
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5.908/29.23
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4.091/243.81
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Richie Crampton.
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5.090/62.40
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4.850/152.45
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Funny Car
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J.R. Todd
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4.404/220.69
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4.231/292.46
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Cruz Pedregon
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11.531/59.94
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4.486/208.33
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Shawn Langdon
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4.358/239.40
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4.308/269.78
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Del Worsham
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No Run
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No Run
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(#) – Bonus Points Earned
Bold= Driver’s quickest pass during qualifying
Toyota Racing PR
