Clay Millican still had a grip on 10th place in his NHRA Full Throttle Series showdown with Joe
Hartley when he left damp Brainerd International Raceway Sunday afternoon, but the his advantage
dwindled to 24 points (651-627) with two regular-season races remaining.
The motor in Millican's LifeLockracing.com Top Fuel dragster dropped a cylinder and then expired in
the opening round of eliminations, giving the victory to Brandon Bernstein, 3.886 seconds at 313.80
mph to 3.974 at 293.09.
Hartley took immediate advantage of that setback when he upset Spencer Massey in the next run.
Hartley was knocked out by Larry Dixon in the quarterfinals.
The rain that wiped out Saturday's final qualifying session delayed the race's start for several
hours before Millican and Bernstein opened competition.
"It's tough when you are the first pair. No matter what you do, you still don't know what the
track will give you," Millican said. "The motor dropped the cylinder and then it broke 3.1 seconds
into the run, but we weren't going to catch him.
"We let Hartley get one round closer . . . and we can't let him get any closer than that."
Millican's next opportunity to get back on track comes Friday when the 25th Lucas Oil Nationals
begins at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa. The Countdown to the Championship contenders -- the
top 10 in each professional category -- will be set following the 55th Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in
Indianapolis, Sept. 4-7.
