J.R. Todd is not shy about his opinion of four-wide drag racing.

He’s simply not a fan.

But after a couple of round wins and a session runner-up finish leading to his very first victory under the unique four-wide format, Todd’s perspective has changed - a little bit.

“I have been saying all along that I am not a fan (of the format), but it is definitely cool to be the inaugural winner of the first four-wide here in Vegas. I guess we have to somewhat like it now,” Todd said with a laugh.

Todd outlasted a fierce trio of Jack Beckman, Courtney Force and Tommy Johnson Jr. in the Funny Car finale to collect his 12th career NHRA victory, driving the DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car to a 4.041-second pass at 317.05 mph to edge Jack Beckman at the 19th annual DENSO Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Beckman crossed the stripe second with a 4.052 at 312.21 mph, while Courtney Force was third with a 4.007 at 300.53 mph. Johnson, who lit the red bulb by the smallest of margins, finished fourth.

And it was Johnson’s red light that created a bit of confusion for Todd, who didn’t actually realize he had won the race until after he had climbed from the car.

“I honestly didn’t know who won. I am going down through there and I see T.J. pulling away from me in the lane next to me and then cross the finish line and the win light is on over in Beckman’s lane. All I heard on the radio was someone saying ‘holeshot’ so I just assumed we lost on a holeshot,” Todd said. “I didn’t know until we turned the corner and they are waving me over to the TV guys that, holy crap, we actually won.

“I still had no idea until I got out of the car, got my helmet and everything off that, yeah, he lit the red light and that explains why he was driving away from me over there. That is the confusing part of the four-wide as a driver, you simply don’t know.”

And that wasn’t the only uncommon occurrence to take place during the race. The unique format lent itself to a number of oddball scenarios throughout the afternoon.

In round two, Todd advanced despite having the slowest elapsed time of the quartet, posting a 4.054 to finish second behind Johnson, who had a 4.007, and ahead of John Force (4.050) and Del Worsham (4.049). Todd completed the march to his 22nd career final with the quickest time of the day in round one, posting a 3.959 at 318.99 mph to advance ahead of Force, Bob Tasca and Shawn Langdon.

“The thing with Funny Cars is, you kind of cheat on the starting line,” Todd said. “In dragster racing everyone is in agreement that they are not going to roll it in on each other, where you might steal a few thou here or there on race day in a Funny Car. I probably robbed us maybe five thou in the second round and that was good enough to turn on the win light.

“It is tough in Funny Car because you have to be on your A game every time you roll up there because it is usually a matter of who gets off the line first is who is going to turn on the win light.”

Despite the opposition to the format, Todd admits that the unique four-wide element may be a good thing for the sport and, if it helps, he is just fine with it - as long as it is only a few times a year.

“It is new and exciting and draws a huge crowd and that is what our sport needs. If this is what we have to do to take the next step in drag racing to bring in the younger crowd, then I am all for it. I just hope we don’t do this 24 times a year,” Todd said. “As a driver you have to focus so much more on the starting line than you do two-wide. In a traditional race you know everyone’s routine on the starting line. I kept telling myself I want to know what lane John Force is in every time. Once I know he is staged-up then I am ready to go because I know he takes the longest of everybody out here. You have to make yourself aware of what lanes everyone is in. In the first round, Shawn and I had a gameplan of what we were going to do and we executed it and I think the reaction times tell the story.”

With Sunday’s win, Todd also continues a trend of saving his best stuff for the sport’s biggest races and also extends Kalitta Motorsports’ hot start to 2018 with the teams third win in four races, with Doug Kalitta and Richie Crampton winning earlier this year on the dragster side.

“All of our teams across the board have come out swinging. Doug and Richie have wins under their belt, Shawn (Langdon) has been to two semifinals, while we’ve kind of struggled up until this point,” Todd said. “We brought out a new car in Gainesville and then had that issue first round with the chutes coming out during the burnout and really didn’t run all that well Friday in qualifying. Saturday we made some changes, the conditions got a little bit better, the track got more cars on it, and we threw down in Q4. That got my confidence up as a driver.

“It is cool to win here in Vegas. I am just happy to win any race. We don’t show up to any race and say this one doesn’t mean as much so we don’t care if we win or not. I want to win every time I show up at the track. But I have had success here as a driver with Kalitta, we just haven’t gone that final step and come out here with a trophy. We finally did that today. It is nice to check that off the list.”