Yahoo Autos NHRA Midwest Nationals, Updated Points: Millican Throws Monkey Wrench Into Top Fuel Chase
Clay Millican sweeps Illinois races in Top Fuel final representing two NASCAR team owners
Funny Car’s Matt Hagan, Pruett try to give Tony Stewart Racing a nitro double
Greg Anderson goes back-to-back for 103rd Pro Stock victory, while Gaige Herrera keeps winning in Pro Stock Motorcycle
Debuting 19-year-old Cody Krohn brings surprising experience to Top Fuel
Leah Pruett has emerged as the biggest threat to Doug Kalitta in the NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship as both eye the final three races of the season.
Meanwhile, with Sunday’ developments at World Wide Technology Raceway at Madison, Ill., the title hopes of Justin Ashley, Antron Brown, Mike Salinas, and Brittany Force grew slightly dimmer. But even Pruett had a tinge of disappointment, because Clay Millican outran her in the final of Sunday’s AAA Midwest Nationals.
He won along with Funny Car’s Matt Hagan, Pro Stock’s Greg Anderson, and Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Gaige Herrera.
Clay Millican Upsets Top Fuel Apple Cart
Doug Kalitta had the hottest Top Fuel dragster on the property. Steve Torrence had his take-no-prisoners game-face on, determined to unseat points leader Kalitta. Justin Ashley wanted to halt his slide from the points lead and broke a first-round slump in the Countdown by advancing past “super part-timer” T.J. Zizzo. Leah Pruett eliminated 2013 champion Shawn Langdon, then Kalitta, then Torrence to reach the final round and jump from fourth place to second in the standings for Tony Stewart Racing.
But No. 8-ranked Clay Millican was the spoiler, beating Pruett by 17-thousandths of a second. It was Millican’s third victory of the season for Rick Ware Racing (like Stewart a NASCAR team owner) and second triumph this season in Illinois. He won at Joliet, Ill., in May and at Denver in July.
The Parts Plus Dragster driver, who also bested Pruett in 2017 at Bristol for a highly emotional first NHRA victory, plowed past Countdown contenders Austin Prock, Mike Salinas, and Tony Schumacher to face her in the final round.
Pruett’s improvement, coupled with teammate Matt Hagan’s Funny Car victory, somewhat salved the wounds of her team owner husband Tony Stewart. He was disqualified from the previous event, in the heart of NASCAR country at Charlotte, because unbeknownst to his team, it used an uncertified part. The nitro double possibility fell short by a mere nine feet after Pruett and Millican left the starting line with identical reaction time (.065 of a second) and Millican won the close sprint.
Millican, mired in 11th place entering this event, gained three positions in the standings.
Steve Torrence, Justin Ashley Still Duking It Out
Steve Torence sliced into points leader Doug Kalitta’s cushion, cutting it from 63 to 51 points as the Camping World Drag Racing Series will take a week off at this halfway point in the six-race playoffs. The tour will herd itself to Texas Motorplex, south of Dallas for the Oct. 13-15 Stampede of Speed’s Texas Fall Nationals.
But he lost a spot to Pruett, marking the first time all season he has been lower in the order than second, despite scoring just a single victory. He will trail Pruett by a mere four points when qualifying opens at Dallas, the hometown track for Kilgore native Torrence.
“Like I’ve said so many times, it’s gonna go right down to the wire,” Torrence said of the chase. “We’re halfway through [the Countdown], and there are five drivers who still have a legit shot. I like where I’m sitting with these CAPCO boys behind me and the Countdown coming home to Texas.”
Like he did the previous weekend at Charlotte, Torrence got behind in early qualifying and had to scramble the rest of that weekend. He said Friday night “was the hero session, and I guess we forgot our cape. We were on a monster run until we overpowered the track and didn’t make it down. My guys did a great job of getting us back in the hunt on race day. We got a huge win against Justin [regular-season champ Justin Ashley, in the quartefinals], but we just didn’t have quite enough against Leah.”
Ashley is fourth in the lineup, 26 points behind No. 3 Torrence, 77 off Doug Kalitta’s pace.
“You really have to go one round and one race at a time,” Ashley said. “On race day qualifying is in the past and we're focused on the future. We're doing the best we can, but we know this will be a long fight and an absolute battle. The Countdown competition is so good you have to be at your best every run.” And even then it might not be enough.\
In the second round, Torrence defeated him by.0015 of a second, or about nine inches. “That was a race in the second round,” Ashley said. “I could hear him right beside me the whole way and I didn’t know who won until the very last second. You hate to lose a race early, but we just came up a little short. We weren’t hurt too badly in the points, and now it is anyone’s game. I have a lot of confidence heading to these final three tracks. This Phillips Connect Toyota team is starting to hit its stride again, and I can’t wait to get back on track.”
Matt Hagan Looking Strong in Funny Car
Ron Capps and Matt Hagan, each seeking a fourth Funny Car title, went into their final- round match tied for third place in the standings. In their 13th final-round meeting, Capps started losing power at about 660 feet and watched as Hagan drove away in his American Rebel Dodge Charger for his 48th triumph.
“We were just being more aggressive,” Hagan said of his fresh push to get that fourth crown that Capps and points leader Robert Hight also are pursuing.
Hagan joked that team owner Tony Stewart was on the mike in the FOX Sports broadcast booth and “I’m going to kick his ass” for not being there trackside to celebrate with him, “He’s good juju. We’re back in this thing,” Hagan said. Then, crediting Capps for motivating him even more, Hagan said, “They make everybody dig deep.”
Capps said afterward, “A result like this always happens in the Countdown, whether you win the championship or not. I lost on a holeshot here last year to Robert [Hight], and I was miserable. I was not fun to live with at home for that [idle] weekend. We talked about it Friday after qualifying, that it was going to be a topsy-turvy eliminations ladder because of the way some guys didn’t get down the track Friday night. We fought in the heat to qualify and really had a bizarre eliminations ladder. A lot of teams that qualify top five or so were scattered, and some didn’t have lane choice. It created a lot of crazy first- and second-round matchups with teams high in the Countdown. I knew going into today we were either going to lose a lot of ground or make some of the ground up.”
Capps is in fourth place, 20 points behind No. 3 Hagan.
Meanwhile, Bob Tasca III assumed the points lead with his second-round victory over nemesis Robert Hight.
Aaron Brooks, Tasca’s co-crew chief, said, “This is hardball. I feel like we’re at the [season-ending] Finals at Pomona (Calif.).”
Capps said, “I bragged a lot about our guys winning the regular season and those points that came with it. We went out first round in Charlotte, and that is the reason we earned those points – to not feel it. And today, I bragged on my guys to have the ‘Get Up and Go’ all day. The heat was incredible today, making the track very demanding.” He said he knew Hahan and crew chief Dickie Venables “could run those types of numbers, and we were right there with them. He threw a pretty good light on me, and I saw his car out of my window. And I was just hoping he would smoke the tires. It is going to be a battle, and it is going to be like this from here on out. I’m really excited now, going to Dallas.”
Cody Krohn, 19, Makes Top Fuel Debut
Since Pro Stock champion Tanner Gray left the NHRA in 2018, barely at age 20, and began a career in stock-car racing, folks wondered when the next teenage sensation would materialize. He has arrived in Cody Krohn, the 19-year-old who owns his own business in Southwest Florida, at Englewood and already has built an equally impressive drag-racing resume.
Krohn’s 2023 racing campaign started in March at Gainesville, Fla., with back-to-back Top Alcohol Dragster runner-up finishes at the Baby Gators Lucas Oil Series regional and the next weekend at the NHRA Gatornationals.
The Jr. Dragster graduate made his professional debut in three-time Top Fuel champion Larry Dixon’s car. Although he experienced tire smoke and lost in the opening round to Mike Salinas, Krohn – the No. 15 qualifier – said, “It feels great to be out here with all of the big shots. It’s been a dream of ours. My parents have worked so hard, and I’ve worked hard. For me, it’s still surreal that I’m out here on Sunday, racing a Top Fuel car. It’s wild.”
At age 18, in June 2022, Krohn established his own business, mobile auto and boat detailing service By Design Detailing LLC. In his racing career, he was experienced in Nostalgia Top Fuel Dragster, Top Dragster, Top Alcohol Funny Car, and Top Alcohol Dragster before tackling the NHRA-headliner Top Fuel class.
Results
NHRA Midwest Nationals
Final finish order (1-16) at the 12th annual NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway. The race is the 18th of 21 events in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series.
TOP FUEL:
1. Clay Millican; 2. Leah Pruett; 3. Steve Torrence; 4. Tony Schumacher; 5. Mike Salinas; 6. Justin Ashley; 7. Antron Brown; 8. Doug Kalitta; 9. Shawn Langdon; 10. Brittany Force; 11. Kyle Wurtzel; 12. Cody Krohn; 13. T.J. Zizzo; 14. Lex Joon; 15. Austin Prock; 16. Josh Hart.
FUNNY CAR:
1. Matt Hagan; 2. Ron Capps; 3. Blake Alexander; 4. Bob Tasca III; 5. Robert Hight; 6. Alex Laughlin; 7. John Force; 8. J.R. Todd; 9. Tim Wilkerson; 10. Cruz Pedregon; 11. Chad Green; 12. Alexis DeJoria; 13. Dave Richards; 14. Jack Wyatt; 15. Terry Haddock; 16. Bobby Bode.
PRO STOCK:
1. Greg Anderson; 2. Aaron Stanfield; 3. Bo Butner; 4. Erica Enders; 5. Deric Kramer; 6. Fernando Cuadra Jr.; 7. Chris McGaha; 8. Mason McGaha; 9. Matt Hartford; 10. Troy Coughlin Jr.; 11. Eric Latino; 12. Dallas Glenn; 13. Camrie Caruso; 14. Cristian Cuadra; 15. Jerry Tucker; 16. Kyle Koretsky.
PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE:
