POMONA, Calif. — Clay Millican edged out Tony Stewart in an explosive Prime Gas ultimate 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 through the 2025 NHRA Mission Meals Drag Racing Collection season.
Millican went 4.273-seconds at 189.71 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Mighty Hearth Breaker/Components Plus dragster earlier than a wild engine explosion on the end line, as Stewart drove into tire smoke virtually instantly within the finals. It’s the eighth profession victory for Millican, who defeated Shawn Reed, Jasmine Salinas and No. 1 qualifier Brittany Power to achieve the ultimate spherical, and first in 2025.
Millican was additionally dynamite on the beginning line throughout eliminations, together with a deadly .038 in opposition to Stewart, denying the racing legend his first profession Prime Gas victory and transferring to sixth in factors.
“My crew chief (Jim Oberhofer) advised me he had it loaded up and a pair issues have been going to occur. He stated 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 stated. “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 ultimate spherical was perpetually. Whenever 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.
“Successful [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 right now, it was a complete staff effort. I pulled us out as soon as, which hardly ever ever occurs, and the staff 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 Power 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 Power after his crash final 12 months and has received the final two races in Pomona.
Power additionally received final 12 months’s Winternationals, making the automotive a outstanding 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 achieve Sunday’s ultimate.
He defeated Jeff Diehl, Chad Inexperienced and Matt Hagan to achieve 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 stage since changing Power following his crash in June.
“The automotive was wonderful all weekend. We certified fourth, however we received 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 automotive shook the tires and knocked them free,” Beckman stated. “That’s the place, as a driver, you’ve received to be prepared to present one again to the staff as a result of they’d given me the whole lot all weekend lengthy.
“It felt good to have the ability to pedal the factor and take it down there and have the automotive not blow up. It’s fairly cool after they hand you a trophy, your automotive nonetheless intact, and get John Power Racing its three hundredth Humorous automotive win.”
Wilkerson reached the ultimate spherical for the second time in his profession because of spherical wins in opposition to J.R. Todd, Paul Lee and Humorous Automotive rookie Spencer Hyde.
Professional Inventory
There seems to be no stopping Professional Inventory’s Greg Anderson today, particularly at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, because the reigning world champion set the observe document within the ultimate spherical in opposition to KB Titan Racing teammate Dallas Glenn with a stellar run of 6.476 at 210.90 in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro. That offers Anderson a outstanding 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 in opposition to 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 ultimate spherical, this one was far more typical, as Anderson continued his torrid run this weekend. He was within the 6.40s all through eliminations, together with a 6.477 in opposition to Jeg Coughlin Jr. within the second spherical that originally broke the observe document 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] document within the ultimate and that is the best way you need to do it,” Anderson stated. “You need to exit and earn it each single run, and also you need to save your greatest for the ultimate spherical, and that’s what we did. These are proud days right now, and identical to three months in the past right here within the ultimate spherical, you need to give your greatest shot within the ultimate spherical in opposition to the hardest competitors.
“I really like this place. 9 occasions out of 10 after 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 want. I want we may race right here each weekend.”
Glenn continued his spectacular season as effectively, advancing to a 3rd straight ultimate 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-Huge Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
