CONCORD, N.C. – J.R. Todd knows the time is now if he wants to charge past championship leader Robert Hight and win the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Funny Car title this season.

Oddly enough, he’d be saying that entering zMAX Dragway regardless of whether it was this season or last, but this weekend’s NHRA Carolina Nationals at ‘The Bellagio of Drag Strips’ carries even more significance than in seasons past.

Once the opening race of the Countdown to the Championship – NHRA’s six-race playoff run – Charlotte is now the fourth event of six in the closing stretch of the season, making every point earned critical to those trying to chase down the title.

Todd can feel it, too.

“It’s definitely a different feeling entering Charlotte this year as opposed to years past,” noted Todd. “It’s always an important race, but now we’re halfway through the Countdown instead of opening it and that makes this weekend even more pivotal than it would normally be.

“It’s make it or break it time. We have to keep going in, do what we’ve been doing and go to late rounds and rack up as many points as we can, because that’s what has kept us in the hunt for this championship up to now.”

Todd and his Kalitta Motorsports DHL Toyota Camry team enter the Carolina Nationals 50 points back of Hight. That equates to three rounds of racing on the track, and with just three events left, Todd knows that only so many points are left within his control.

“At this juncture, we need Robert (Hight) to go out early and then we need to go on and win the race,” Todd pointed out. “That’s one of the few ways we’re going to gain some decent points here with only three races to go in the season. When you’re racing a car that’s as good as his, you’re not going to get a lot of help from the other competitors because he performs at such a high level every pass.

“My team is running really well also and I feel like we can perform just as well as they can, but we keep meeting up in the final (round), it’s hard to stop the bleeding or cut a huge chunk out of a deficit. It’s been a lot of fun up to this point, though. As a driver, all you can ask is to have a car that’s as good as our DHL Camry Funny Car is right now and I hope the trend continues over the next three races.”

For a driver who started his professional career in the Top Fuel class and envisioned that being where he made his title push, to have an opportunity to do so now in a Funny Car is something Todd relishes.

“It’s pretty crazy to look back and think that everything I’ve been through in my career has led to this,” admitted Todd. “I mean, I never thought that I would be in this position … battling for a championship in a Funny Car. I was always expected to do it in a Top Fuel dragster. Once this opportunity came about, though, I knew that this would be my best opportunity to reach the top of the heap.

“Last year was a growing year for our team. We had some different personnel changes and with me being new to the seat, it took me a little while to get comfortable driving it,” Todd explained. “Now I feel like things are clicking at the right time for us, in my second year behind the wheel, and I’m finding myself worrying less about a lot of things and more focused on keeping (the car) straight down the track.”

Todd has 15 career national event wins, nine in Top Fuel and six in Funny Car, but said that to be successful in the different disciplines takes very different skill sets.

“Both cars make the same amount of power, but it takes a completely different mindset to drive them,” Todd explained. “Looking at the engines and the different parts and pieces, you would think you would drive them somewhat similarly, but just because of the long wheelbase in the dragster, you build up these characteristics and habits as a driver that become second nature. Then when you hop in a Funny Car that’s shorter, and the engine’s in front of you and you have a body over the top of you … it’s just two different worlds.

“It takes time to retrain yourself how to drive, and it took me a while to learn it … but this year I have enough passes under my belt now that I feel like the hard work has paid off.”

The grind towards a championship continues this weekend, however, and Todd feels that exiting zMAX Dragway with a Wally would be a major turning point in his championship quest.

“It would be huge to come out of this weekend with a win,” said Todd. “I would think that if we could come out and win all three of the races that are left, we would be holding a championship trophy on Sunday in Pomona. We just have to keep doing what we have been and race smart.

“If we can do that and get some luck to fall our way, we’ll have a good chance to be alright.”