Clay Millican wins for 1st time at NHRA Winternationals in fiery Top Fuel final

POMONA — NHRA Top Fuel driver Clay Millican won for the first time at the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, Jack Beckman won the 300th Funny Car race for John Force Racing and Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson set the track record Sunday in the 65th annual Lucas Oil Winternationals.

Millican beat Tony Stewart in the final to win his eighth career Top Fuel race and his first since the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis in 2024.

“That’s huge. That’s one of the majors so to speak,” Millican said. “Now we won Indy. We won here. That’s pretty cool. It was a total team effort.”

Millican, who drives for Rick Ware Racing, won the final round in a fiery run. His car exploded near the end of the race and caught fire. He was across the finish line, but his car crossed it in a ball of fire.

“The final was forever,” Millican said. “I couldn’t get there quick enough, I promise.”

Stewart reached an NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Top Fuel final for the second time in his career. He was in the Top Fuel final at Sonoma Raceway in 2024.

Stewart is in the NASCAR Hall of Fame and won three NASCAR Cup Series championships. He won the Indy Racing League championship in 1997 and the USAC Triple Crown in 1995. He is the only driver to win an Indy Series and NASCAR Cup Series championship.

Stewart also won the Turkey Night Grand Prix, a traditional USAC Midget Car race on Thanksgiving, at Irwindale Speedway in 2000.

Stewart won 49 NASCAR Cup Series races and three Indy Racing League events in his career, but he is still searching for his first NHRA Top Fuel win.

“We all know he’s going to win one. He’s won in everything he’s ever driven,” Millican said.

“That was a crazy final. I don’t know what happened to him. All I know is our win light was blinking, and I was ready to pull over because the Mighty Firebreaker was on fire.”

Stewart defeated Shawn Langdon in the semifinals at Pomona to reach the final at the Winternationals for the first time in his NHRA career.

Millican defeated Brittany Force in the semifinals and also reached the Top Fuel final at the Winternationals for the first time in his career.

Stewart defeated Antron Brown, the 2024 NHRA Top Fuel champion, in the first round of eliminations.

Force, the top qualifier in Top Fuel, defeated Steve Chrisman in the first round and earned a bye in the second round to advance to the semifinals.

Only 14 Top Fuel cars qualified for eliminations.

Jasmine Salinas defeated Steve Torrence in the first round. Millican defeated Shawn Reed. Doug Kalitta, the 2023 Top Fuel champion, defeated Scott Palmer. Shawn Langdon defeated Ida Zetterstrom. Josh Hart defeated Justin Ashley.

John Force Racing driver Jack Beckman won the 300th Funny Car race for his team defeating Daniel Wilkrson in the final.

“This is about John Force,” Beckman said. “This is a big deal.”

Beckman won the Funny Car final at Pomona in the NHRA Auto Club Finals in November and has 36 career NHRA Funny Car wins. He reached a Funny Car final for the 72nd time in his career, knocking out Matt Hagan in their semifinal.

“We owned the place,” Beckman said. “We didn’t qualify No. 1 or 2 or 3. We qualified fourth. But we got qualifying points every single run. I thought we kept making a statement.”

Wilkerson defeated Spencer Hyde in the other semifinal and reached an NHRA Funny Car final for the second time in his career.

Blake Alexander knocked out Austin Prock, the top qualifier in Funny Car, in the first round.

Hyde pulled off another upset in the first round of Funny Car eliminations. He defeated Ron Capps, the No. 3 qualifier.

Paul Lee, the No. 2 qualifier, advanced to the second round defeating Bobby Bode. Beckman defeated Jeff Diehl in the first round.

Other first-round winners were Matt Hagan, Chad Green, Wilkerson and Cruz Pedregon.

Anderson won the NHRA Pro Stock final and set the track record, defeating Dallas Glenn.

Anderson won the race in 6.476 seconds, breaking the record of 6.480 seconds set by Erica Enders in 2014. Anderson broke the track record twice, the first time in the first round of eliminations.

“I love this race track. It’s been very good to me,” Anderson said. “This is what I need. These are the conditions I need. I wish we could have them every weekend. This plays more into my hands.”

Anderson and Glenn met in the Pro Stock final for the third time in a row. They also met in the Pro Stock Winternational final last year.

Anderson set the track record for the first time Sunday in the first round of eliminations and defeated Mason McGaha in 6.477 seconds at Pomona.

Matt Hartford came within .002 seconds of breaking the track record in his first-round run. He defeated Troy Coughlin Jr.

The next race is the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway April 11-13.