NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

On this episode of the NHRA Insider podcast powered by Speedmaster, Texas NHRA FallNationals winners J.R. Todd and Matt Smith join the show to talk about victory when the pressure is on, breaking back into the championship discussion in their respective categories, and their race experiences at Texas Motorplex.

For Todd, the victory landed him in third place headed to Las Vegas 119 points back of the leader Matt Hagan and headed to a racetrack where his crew chief has won five times already. They seem primed to really make things hard on the competition over the course of the last two races. Todd talks about the evolution of the team, holeshots on race day, and finally running for a championship again.

Smith was blazingly fast in Texas and rode into the sunset with a cowboy hat, a third-place spot in the points, and only 85 of those points to make up over two races. Smith goes into depth on his team's strategy for the next two, the outlook for 2027 with Joey Gladstone, the parts he still has on the shelf, and more. A conversation with one of the most strategically thinking drag racers on the planet.  

All that and a Texas-sized recap to kick it off!