Having reached a point in his career where wins haven't come quite as often as birthdays, Cory McClenathan lit up the candles in his Fram Top Fuel dragster Sunday afternoon winning the NHRA Carolinas Nationals. McClenathan added icing to the cake as the win vaulted him to the top of the point standings, a spot he hasn't been in since 1998.

Racing to his 31st national event win in 57 final rounds, McClenathan dispatched Morgan Lucas, Larry Dixon and Doug Foley before overpowering Shawn Langdon in the final round.

The emotion of the win almost overpowered McClenathan.

"You feel bigger than life sometimes and that's the moments that I think I cherish the most," said McClenathan, who was qualified ninth coming into Sunday’s eliminations. "You're going down through there and you want that win light to come on so bad, you're almost willing your car to the other end, and when it did today, I was just overcome with Oh, my God, it’s been so long.

Having reached a point in his career where wins haven't come quite as often as birthdays, Cory McClenathan lit up the candles in his Fram Top Fuel dragster Sunday afternoon winning the NHRA Carolinas Nationals. McClenathan added icing to the cake as the win vaulted him to the top of the point standings, a spot he hasn't been in since 1998.

Racing to his 31st national event win in 57 final rounds, McClenathan dispatched Morgan Lucas, Larry Dixon and Doug Foley before overpowering Shawn Langdon in the final round.

The emotion of the win almost overpowered McClenathan.

"You feel bigger than life sometimes and that's the moments that I think I cherish the most," said McClenathan, who was qualified ninth coming into Sunday’s eliminations. "You're going down through there and you want that win light to come on so bad, you're almost willing your car to the other end, and when it did today, I was just overcome with Oh, my God, it’s been so long.

"Going a year and a half without winning a race, that's a long time. My teammate (six-time world champion Tony Schumacher) wins all the time, so it's easy for him to say, but for me it is that very moment, right then. It's unbelievable.

"This is for (crew chiefs) Todd Okuhara, Phil Shuler and all the FRAM Tough Guard guys who work on this car. I'm just trying to do the right thing in the cockpit, so I'm just really happy."

McClenathan attributes the teams improved performance from qualifying to eliminations to a host of things, mainly a change in confidence.

“The FRAM Tough Guard car just hadn't been itself, and the parts were unhappy and I saw that,” McClenathan said. “And all of a sudden today everything turned around. It got happy and it ran good. The guys found a couple of things last night. They don't want to tell anybody what it is. It is something we've been trying and we found one little thing that changed everything.

"I had more confidence this morning knowing it was going to go from A to B and not hurt itself, and it did."   

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