POMONA, Calif. (March 30, 2025) – Clay Millican edged out Tony Stewart in an explosive Top Fuel final round on Sunday for Rick Ware Racing, winning for the first time at historic In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip at the 65th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals.
Jack Beckman (Funny Car) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) also won the third of 20 races during the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.
Millican went 4.273-seconds at 189.71 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Mighty Fire Breaker/Parts Plus dragster before a wild engine explosion at the finish line, as Stewart drove into tire smoke almost immediately in the finals. It is the eighth career victory for Millican, who defeated Shawn Reed, Jasmine Salinas and No. 1 qualifier Brittany Force to reach the final round, and first in 2025.
“My crew chief (Jim Oberhofer) told me he had it loaded up and a couple things were going to happen. He said we’re going to win, we’re going to blow up and if we lose, we’re going to be a footnote in history,” Millican said.
Stewart reached the final round for the third time in his career and first this season after defeating reigning world champion Antron Brown, Doug Kalitta and points leader Shawn Langdon.
In Funny Car, Beckman handed John Force Racing its 300th Funny Car 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 round at the legendary facility – and the home track for JFR. It is the 38th career win for Beckman, who replaced Force after his crash last year and has won the last two races in Pomona.
Wilkerson reached the final round for the second time in his career thanks to round wins against J.R. Todd, Paul Lee and Funny Car rookie Spencer Hyde.
There appears to be no stopping Pro Stock’s Greg Anderson these days, especially at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, as the reigning world champion set the track record in the final round against KB Titan Racing teammate Dallas Glenn with a stellar run of 6.476 at 210.90 in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro. That gives Anderson a remarkable 16 career wins in Pomona – the second-most in NHRA history – including the last two races.
Anderson, the current points leader who also won the GESi Pro Stock No. 1 Qualifier Award for a second straight race, then broke it again in the championship round with a spectacular run, giving the six-time world champion his second victory this season and 108th in his marvelous career.
“We set a [track] record in the final and this is the way you want to do it,” Anderson said. “You want to go out and earn it every single run, and you want to save your best for the final round, and that’s what we did.
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action April 11-13 with the 25th annual NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.