With the stars shining bright above the Texas Motorplex, Brad Plourd gave an object lesson of what versatility is.

Last month Plourd drove his Lucas Oil Stocker to victory at the Thunder Valley Raceway Park. With the sun already gone from the Ennis, Texas skyline, Plourd drove to his first victory of the season in the Rooftec Competition Eliminator Bonus program and did so behind the wheel of a supercharged, alcohol-burning altered. 

The NHRA is looking for a new series sponsor.

Jeffrey Young, vice-president of marketing and communications, confirmed Sunday that Camping World does not plan to renew its agreement with the NHRA at the end of next season and that the sanctioning body actively is searching for a replacement.

“Our contract expires at the end of next season. They let us know that they’re not going to renew that at the end of 2024.  They said they’re going to invest that [money] in their employees,” Young said during the NHRA’s Gerber Glass and Collision Route 66 Nationals at Joliet, Ill.

Clay Millican can still remember the exact day and the hour of his NHRA Top Fuel debut.

Sporting a unique Chicago White Sox-backed livery that spring afternoon back in 1998, Millican distinctly remembers the blur of faces in the grandstands and the sound of his nitro-powered engine when it roared to life for the first time. Though he failed to qualify that afternoon, placing his machine 25th out of 26 cars in a race won by Kenny Bernstein, Millican fondly recalls the feeling of finally seeing his dream come to life.

So it was no surprise when Millican crossed the finish line first at the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 Nationals presented by PEAK Performance at Route 66 Raceway on Sunday, a flood of emotions washed over the veteran racer.

Sometimes, it’s better to be lucky than good.

Tim Wilkerson will be the first person to tell you that he didn’t have the fastest car on Sunday, but he did have consistency. And that, sprinkled with a little bit of luck, is sometimes all you need to be victorious.

Wilkerson survived and advanced four times on Sunday, placing his SCAG Power Equipment/Okuma Ford Mustang Funny Car in the winner’s circle for the first time this season. His win at the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 Nationals presented by PEAK Performance at Route 66 Raceway, was his first since Charlotte in 2021.

The 2022 season was a hard pill to swallow for KB Racing.

The Pro Stock powerhouse team watched as rival Elite Motorsports dominated the class culminating with Erica Enders winning her fifth world championship.

KB Racing made changes late in the 2022 campaign to try and recapture its glory.

Earlier this season, Richard Freeman made laps in a Mountain Motor Pro Stock car and was critical, albeit in jest of his performance. 

“Yeah, I’m still not worth a s***, but it’s OK,” Freeman said. 

Freeman, who began his Pro Stock driving career in the large displacement Pro Stockers back in the IHRA days, apparently got better... a lot better. The owner of Elite Performance drove to the win at the season-opening Mountain Motor Pro Stock event during the Gerber Collision & Glass NHRA Route 66 Nationals presented by PEAK Performance, stopping John Montecalvo in the final round. 

 
Top Fuel veteran Clay Millican powered to his first win in five years, claiming the victory over Josh Hart on Sunday in the final round of the Gerber Collision & Glass NHRA Route 66 Nationals presented by PEAK Performance at Route 66 Raceway.

Tim Wilkerson (Funny Car) Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won at the sixth of 21 races during the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season. It was also NHRA’s first race at Chicago’s Route 66 Raceway since 2019.

Millican delivered a run of 3.801-seconds at 328.94 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Parts Plus/Rick Ware Racing dragster to slip past Hart’s 3.808 at 324.28, handing the driver his first victory since 2018, which also took place in Chicago, and Rick Ware Racing its first NHRA win. It’s the fourth career win for Millican, who entered the weekend without a round win in 2023 but knocked off Shawn Langdon, Doug Kalitta and defending world champ Brittany Force to reach the final round.

Bob Tasca III’s Friday night qualifying run at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals was disqualified because of a malfunction with one of the body latches on his Motorcraft/QuickLane Ford Mustang, forcing him to scramble Saturday to make the Funny Car field of 16.