Kalitta Motorsports Funny Car driver J.R. Todd and the DHL Toyota team had a quality day at Sunday's NHRA Gatornationals, reaching the final round of eliminations for the first time since Seattle last summer.

Todd defeated Blake Alexander, Robert Hight and Chad Green before losing to Matt Hagan in the final. Todd was ahead for most of the final run, but the DHL Funny Car spun the tires causing the engine to backfire allowing Hagan to surge ahead and win the race.

When Todd advanced to the semifinals, he earned a spot in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge at the next race in Phoenix. During Saturday’s qualifying sessions in Phoenix, the drivers who reached the semifinals in Gainesville will re-run the semifinals and final earning additional purse and bonus points.

“We definitely take a lot of positives from this weekend – last year, we only went to one final round in Seattle, and that was a season we’d like to forget," said Todd. "It’s refreshing – new car, new parts and pieces, and we ran really well in testing. We didn’t show our full potential this weekend, but we made some good qualifying runs, qualified sixth and went to the final round in the first race of the year."

"It would have been nice to get a win, but we got some good points and are locked into the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA challenge which is cool and comes with some added bonus money which we really need now with all the body work we have to do,” added Todd.

Todd leaves Gainesville in second place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails points leader Matt Hagan by 24 points and leads third-place Chad Green by 17 points.

Top Fuel driver Doug Kalitta was the No. 3 qualifier at the season-opening NHRA Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals. Kalitta’s best of the three qualifying attempts was a 3.723-second effort at 327.82 mph. Inclement weather caused cancelation of Friday’s second qualifying round.

Kalitta defeated Spencer Massey and Antron Brown before losing to Steve Torrence in the semifinals. It was Kalitta’s first semifinal appearance since St. Louis during last year’s Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs.

In the first round of eliminations against Massey, the Mac Tools dragster needed just 3.646 seconds to reach the finish line at 333.82 mph. That elapsed time is Kalitta’s career best and now the Gainesville Raceway track record.

When Kalitta advanced to the semifinals, he earned a spot in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge at the next race in Phoenix. During Saturday’s qualifying sessions, the drivers who reached the semifinals in Gainesville will re-run the semifinals and finals earning additional purse and bonus points.

“Going through the day, it kinda of seemed like the Mac Tools team was in its groove, but obviously smoking the tires in the third round was not what we were looking for," said Kalitta. "It was just one of those deals. We know what was going on with it. The Mac Tools team is super excited about the progress we’ve made; we just need to get one more round further and give ourselves a shot to win one of these things. We are happy with the car's performance.”

w/ Kalitta Motorsports