In the paper explicit functional continuous Runge–Kutta and Runge–Kutta–Nyström methods for retarded functional differential equations are considered. New methods for first order equations as well as for second order equations of the special form are constructed with the reuse of the last stage of the step. The order conditions for Runge–Kutta–Nyström methods are derived. Methods of orders three, four and five which require less computations than the known methods are presented. Numerical solution of the test problems confirm the convergence order of the new methods and their lower computational cost is performed.