POMONA, Calif. — Clay Millican edged out Tony Stewart in an explosive High Gasoline remaining spherical on Sunday for Rick Ware Racing, profitable for the primary time at historic In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip on the sixty fifth annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals.
Jack Beckman (Humorous Automotive) and Greg Anderson (Professional Inventory) additionally received the third of 20 races in the course of the 2025 NHRA Mission Meals Drag Racing Collection season.
Millican went 4.273-seconds at 189.71 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Mighty Fireplace Breaker/Components Plus dragster earlier than a wild engine explosion on the end line, as Stewart drove into tire smoke nearly instantly within the finals. It’s the eighth profession victory for Millican, who defeated Shawn Reed, Jasmine Salinas and No. 1 qualifier Brittany Drive to succeed in the ultimate spherical, and first in 2025.
Millican was additionally dynamite on the beginning line throughout eliminations, together with a deadly .038 towards Stewart, denying the racing legend his first profession High Gasoline victory and transferring to sixth in factors.
“My crew chief (Jim Oberhofer) informed me he had it loaded up and a pair issues have been going to occur. He mentioned we’re going to win, we’re going to explode and if we lose, we’re going to be a footnote in historical past,” Millican mentioned. “Thank goodness we’re not a footnote in historical past. Tony Stewart goes to win one in all these quickly, however all I do know is we received the Winternationals.
“However boy, that remaining spherical was endlessly. If you blow it up and – and we blew it up good – and you bought a HANS [head restraint] gadget on, you’re stretching that HANS to its limits, attempting to look over like, ‘Is he coming or not?’ I couldn’t get there fast sufficient. I promise I by no means let off the throttle, regardless that it wasn’t working no extra. However I had that factor buried. I used to be stomping on the loud pedal tougher than regular. What a day.
“Profitable [the Winternationals] is among the majors. It undoubtedly is. We’ve received Indy and now we’ve received right here, and that’s fairly dang cool. However to come back out and win the best way we did in the present day, it was a complete crew effort. I pulled us out as soon as, which hardly ever ever occurs, and the crew simply caught collectively.”
Stewart reached the ultimate spherical for the third time in his profession and first this season after defeating reigning world champion Antron Brown, Doug Kalitta and factors chief Shawn Langdon.
Humorous Automotive
In Humorous Automotive, Beckman handed John Drive Racing its three hundredth Humorous Automotive win after he went 4.015 at 302.88 in his 11,000-horsepower PEAK Chevrolet Camaro SS to knock off Daniel Wilkerson in a historic championship spherical on the legendary facility – and the house observe for JFR. It’s the thirty eighth profession win for Beckman, who changed Drive after his crash final 12 months and has received the final two races in Pomona.
Drive additionally received final 12 months’s Winternationals, making the automobile a exceptional 12-0 within the final three Pomona races. The weekend belonged to Beckman, who received the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Problem for the primary time with two standout runs after which made a collection of passes within the 3.80s to succeed in Sunday’s remaining.
He defeated Jeff Diehl, Chad Inexperienced and Matt Hagan to succeed in the championship spherical. There wasn’t one other 3.80s within the fold, however after Wilkerson had hassle on the beginning line, Beckman recovered and rolled to his first victory of the season and thirty sixth in his profession. It’s additionally the primary time he has led the factors since 2020, as Beckman continues to carry out at a excessive degree since changing Drive following his crash in June.
“The automobile was superb all weekend. We certified fourth, however we acquired qualifying factors each single spherical and ran 3.80s each spherical of eliminations till the ultimate when the flawless half fell off a few hundred ft out and automobile shook the tires and knocked them unfastened,” Beckman mentioned. “That’s the place, as a driver, you’ve acquired to be prepared to offer one again to the crew as a result of they’d given me every little thing all weekend lengthy.
“It felt good to have the ability to pedal the factor and take it down there and have the automobile not blow up. It’s fairly cool after they hand you a trophy, your automobile nonetheless intact, and get John Drive Racing its three hundredth Humorous automobile win.”
Wilkerson reached the ultimate spherical for the second time in his profession because of spherical wins towards J.R. Todd, Paul Lee and Humorous Automotive rookie Spencer Hyde.
Professional Inventory
There seems to be no stopping Professional Inventory’s Greg Anderson lately, particularly at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, because the reigning world champion set the observe file within the remaining spherical towards KB Titan Racing teammate Dallas Glenn with a stellar run of 6.476 at 210.90 in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro. That provides Anderson a exceptional 16 profession wins in Pomona – the second-most in NHRA historical past – together with the final two races.
He received the NHRA Finals final November towards Glenn, a final-round matchup that has repeated itself the primary three races of the 2025 marketing campaign. Glenn received the primary in Gainesville, however Anderson has taken the final two. Whereas Phoenix was a wild and wacky remaining spherical, this one was rather more typical, as Anderson continued his torrid run this weekend. He was within the 6.40s all through eliminations, together with a 6.477 towards Jeg Coughlin Jr. within the second spherical that originally broke the observe file from 2014.
Anderson, the present factors chief who additionally received the GESi Professional Inventory No. 1 Qualifier Award for a second straight race, then broke it once more within the championship spherical with a spectacular run, giving the six-time world champion his second victory this season and 108th in his marvelous profession.
“We set a [track] file within the remaining and that is the best way you wish to do it,” Anderson mentioned. “You wish to exit and earn it each single run, and also you wish to save your finest for the ultimate spherical, and that’s what we did. These are proud days in the present day, and similar to three months in the past right here within the remaining spherical, you wish to give your finest shot within the remaining spherical towards the hardest competitors.
“I really like this place. 9 instances out of 10 once we come right here, you get pleasant circumstances like this, and I used to be in a position to drive higher than I usually drive so far as response time goes. The slight cloud cowl, the cool temperatures simply really feel good for a driver and that simply performs extra into my hand. are the circumstances I would like. I want we might race right here each weekend.”
Glenn continued his spectacular season as effectively, advancing to a 3rd straight remaining spherical and thirtieth in his profession after defeating Erica Enders, Matt Hartford and Deric Kramer.
The NHRA Mission Meals Drag Racing Collection returns to motion April 11-13 with the twenty fifth annual NHRA 4-Extensive Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
