Rick Ware Racing, Clay Millican Collect Landmark Victory in NHRA U.S. Nationals

As Rick Ware Racing continues to zero in on the organization's first-ever NASCAR Cup Series race win, the team, which has a diverse profile in the world of motorsport, is collecting trophies outside of the stock car racing world. The latest big win came in the Top Fuel final of Monday's NHRA U.S. Nationals event at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

After advancing through the tournament, RWR's Clay Millican squared off against Steve Torrence in the finals, and after the two drivers lit up their rear tires, and began to climb through the gears, Torrence suffered an as he smoked the tires, which caused his top fuel dragster to limp across the finish line with a 192.30 mph speed. Millican suffered no issues, breezed past Torrence, and stormed across the line reaching a speed of 327.82 mph.

For the first time in his legendary NHRA career, the 58-year-old Millican captured the Wally in the NHRA U.S. Nationals, and it came on a day where Rick Ware stood on hand to see the driver, who underwhelmed by qualifying 13th, complete the rally through the fierce field to take the win.

An elated Millican said the win equated to, "A lifetime of work, right there. And again, my sisters are here."

The win came on a day where Rick Ware himself stood on hand to see the driver, who qualified underwhelmingly in the 13th position, complete the rally through the fierce field to win. And Millican did so with a new major partner on his race car, Arby's.

"...I gotta say, Parts Plus, I love you guys, you've stuck with me for over a decade now. Comp Cams, Edelbrock, Arrowhead Brass, Arby's! We won for the first time with Arby's on the racecar. This is incredible," Millican stated. "I cannot wait to see Rick Ware. For the first time ever, he was on the starting line when I stomped on the loud pedal and brought home the Wally from the U.S. Nationals!"

Monday's triumph was the latest successful peak for the Rick Ware Racing organization in 2024. The organization, which once resembled more of a punchline than a true contender in the NASCAR Cup Series ranks, has really grown by leaps and bounds this season, and with that growth has come less and less fuel for memes on social media.

Justin Haley, the full-time driver of the team's No. 51 Ford Mustang Dark Horse captured the first two non-superspeedway top-10 finishes in team history earlier this year when he recorded ninth-place efforts at Darlington Raceway in May and World Wide Technology Raceway in June.

A couple of weekends ago in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, Haley looked to have a car capable of winning the race as he led the thundering pack for 21 laps in the 164-lap event, but unfortunately, he was swept up in a massive crash on Lap 153, which resulted in the driver being credited with a 32nd-place finish.

However, while Haley suffered disappointment, it was still a successful night for the Rick Ware Racing team as Cody Ware, Rick Ware's son, carried the team's No. 15 entry to an eye-opening fourth-place finish, which matched the team's all-time best finish in NASCAR Cup Series competition.

While Haley missed out on the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field, the driver and team will look to close out the final 10 races of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season strong. And who knows, Millican's win on Monday at IRP could spark the NASCAR Cup Series program to bring home the checkered flag for Rick Ware Racing.

This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway, which since the track's reconfiguration in 2022 has played host to wild superspeedway racing similar to Daytona and Talladega. Both the No. 15 and 51 cars were fast at Daytona, they'll look to back it up this weekend at Atlanta.