TV:
FS1 – Saturday Qualifying, 5/22 – 10:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.
FS1 – Sunday Qualifying, 5/23 – Noon – 1:00 p.m.
FS1 – Eliminations, 5/23 – 6:00 p.m. (all times EDT)
Brown Returns To Site of First Top Fuel Win…In winning at Atlanta,Antron Brown moved into a tie for third in all-time Top Fuel wins with Joe Amato at 52, but it was at Houston Raceway Park where his legacy began when he won his first Top Fuel event in just his fourth race as a rookie in the class in 2008. Since that win, no driver has won more Top Fuel races than Brown. In addition to his race win total, Brown earned his 750th overall career round win last weekend in Charlotte, becoming just the sixth driver in NHRA history to reach that level. He will be looking for his third Houston win this weekend as he also won at the Texas track in 2014.
Todd Holds Special Distinction At SpringNats…J.R. Todd is one of just two drivers in history to win at Houston Raceway Park in both Top Fuel (2007) and Funny Car (2018). The DHL Toyota Camry driver has already won this season, taking home the Wally at the season-opening Gatornationals and was the runner-up in Charlotte this past weekend. The only other driver to win in both classes in Houston was long-time Toyota driver and two-time world champion Del Worsham, who is now the crew chief on Alexis DeJoria’s ROKiT Toyota Camry Funny Car.
Mobil 1/TRD To Serve As Primary Sponsors For Kalitta…Technical alliance partners Toyota Racing Development (TRD) and Mobil 1 will serve as primary sponsors on Doug Kalitta’s Top Fuel dragster at this weekend’s SpringNationals. Since 2019 when the relationship was announced, ExxonMobil, TRD and Kalitta Motorsports have worked together to develop next-generation Mobil 1 synthetic lubricants to improve engine and gearbox performance.
DeJoria Returns Home To Texas On High Note…Alexis DeJoria will return to her home state of Texas on a high note after registering her best race-day performance of the year this past weekend. The Austin resident advanced to the final quad in Charlotte after qualifying second. She’s now qualified in the top three in three of the season’s four races and in the top five at eight of the last nine.
Toyota In Houston…Nine different Toyota drivers have combined to win 10 previous SpringNationals, including last year’s victory by Tony Schumacher. Overall, Toyota Top Fuel drivers have captured seven wins, while Camry Funny Cars have triumphed three times. Among current Toyota pilots, Doug Kalitta, Antron Brown and J.R. Todd have all won with Toyota support in Baytown.
Quotes:
J.R. Todd: “We’ve won at Houston in the past and anytime you get back to a track where you’ve had success, you look forward to going there. We’ll have some executives from Mobil 1 and Toyota there, so it’s a great time to show off in front of your sponsors. I won there in dragsters in 2007 and in Funny Car in 2018. It’s pretty cool to have won there in both classes. It always blows my mind to hear stats about ‘only you and so-and-so have ever done this’. I’m just fortunate to have a great team behind me and lucky to be driving this DHL Toyota Camry. We have a really good hot rod. We’re right in the thick of it – second in points. We just need to keep racking up points in Houston.”
Toyota-Sponsored Cars at NHRA SpringNationals
| Top Fuel | Car |
| Antron Brown | Matco Tools Toyota Dragster |
| Doug Kalitta | Mobil 1/TRD Toyota Dragster |
| Shawn Langdon | DHL Toyota Dragster |
| Funny Car | Car |
| Alexis DeJoria | ROKiT Phones Toyota Camry Funny Car |
| J.R. Todd | DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car |
2021 Toyota NHRA Drivers Performance Index/Schedule
| 2021 Toyota | Brown | Kalitta | Langdon | DeJoria | Todd |
| Gainesville | 10/Semis | 4/Rd. 2 | 6/Finals | 2/Rd. 2 | 6/Winner |
| Las Vegas 4-Wide | 8/Semis | 3/Finals | 6/Rd. 2 | 3/Rd. 2 | 9/Rd. 2 |
| Atlanta | 8/Winner | 9/Rd. 1 | 11/Semis | 14/Rd. 1 | 1/Semis |
| Charlotte 1 | 6/Semis | 12/Rd. 2 | 11/Rd. 1 | 2/Semis | 4/Finals |
| Houston | |||||
| Next Race | |||||
| Epping |
Toyota NHRA Driver Statistics
| Toyota Drivers Top Fuel | Points – Leader Torrence (408) | 2021 Wins | 2021 W-L | Career Races | Career Wins | Career Win-Loss |
| 2. Brown | 332 (-76) | 1 | 10-3 | 446 | 68 | 751-374 |
| 4. Langdon | 248 (-160) | 0 | 6-4 | 271 | 17 | 303-251 |
| 7. Kalitta | 197 (-215) | 0 | 5-4 | 528 | 49 | 715-472 |
| Funny Car | Tasca (360) | |||||
| 2. Todd | 343 (-17) | 1 | 10-3 | 239 | 19 | 260-216 |
| 6. DeJoria | 228 (-132) | 0 | 4-4 | 156 | 5 | 113-147 |
Toyota NHRA PR
