NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Four‑wide racing is both forgiving and unforgiving. You only need to finish second to advance from round one to the semifinals and only second to reach the final, but between you and the coveted Wally stand three other drivers who also have made their way to the money round, and for some of the sport’s most accomplished competitors, the format has produced a familiar ending: strong performances that stop just short of the winner’s circle.

No current driver underscores that reality more starkly than Clay Millican, one of the most frequent Four‑Wide finalists without a victory.

Millican has reached eight four-wide finals, second only to Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Eddie Krawiec (nine finals, no wins) among non‑winners. But five of Millican’s eight appearances ended in fourth place, the most fourth‑place finishes of any driver in the 23-race history of the event. What’s a fella have to do to get a win?

Getting to the final eight times in Top Fuel is an achievement in itself; doing so while often sharing the stage with multi‑time champions underscores the difficulty of sealing the deal.

Millican has reached the Top Fuel final five times in Charlotte and three times Las Vegas, and every one of them has come against the sport’s heaviest hitters. Two of those finals brought him closest to breaking through, finishing second, while the other six reflect the volatility that comes with four cars leaving side by side.

At the 2016 4‑Wide Nationals in Charlotte, Millican finishing fourth behind three future or former champions: Brittany Force, Antron Brown, and Doug Kalitta. The next year, the list ahead of him read like a Top Fuel rollcall of the era: Brown, Steve Torrence, and Richie Crampton, and Millican again took fourth.

In 2018 in Las Vegas, Torrence won ahead of Tony Schumacher and Kalitta, and Millican once more exited fourth. A month later in Charlotte, Millican reached the final again only to finish behind Torrence, Kalitta, and Terry McMillen. At the Las Vegas event in April 2019, Millican again reached the final, this time finishing behind Mike Salinas, Force, and Kalitta.

His first true shot came a few weeks later in the 2019 NHRA 4‑Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway, when Millican lined up against Torrence, McMillen, and Leah Pruett. Torrence was in the middle of a stretch that would define the modern 4-Wide era, and on that April Sunday, Millican was the closest to stopping him but settled for runner‑up.

Nearly five years after his first runner‑up finish, Millican found himself back in the same position in Charlotte in 2024. This time, the winner was Justin Ashley, who claimed his first four‑wide Top Fuel victory. Millican finished second behind him, ahead of Kalitta and Brown. It was another reminder that he hadn’t faded from contention; the door just never opened all the way.

Across those eight finals, Millican has finished second twice, third once, and fourth five times — never first, despite repeatedly racing alongside drivers like Torrence who have turned four-wide dominance into a calling card.

"I don't know what I haven't been able to finish first in one of these four-wides, because I've surely been in position to do it, and I'd sure like to do it this weekend," he said. 

"I think that early on I had an advantage on the guys and gals from all of my bracket racing experience," he offered. "I was used to using delay boxes and leaving off of other drivers' lights, so I was comfortable in the confusion. Now that we're more than 20 four-wide races in, I think that advantage has disappeared, but I still feel very comfortable on the starting. My ADD kicks in a little, and I ask the crew guys to remind me which lane I'm in so I look at the right Tree.

"The other thing that's different about four-wide racing, obviously, is that the first two finishers get to go to the next round, and where you might normally shut off on Sunday when you smoke the tires, you can't do that here because you can't see what's happening in the other two lanes. You might be able to see their wing over the wall, but then it's too late. Back when I drove for cars that didn't have as good of funding as I have here at Rick [Ware Racing], your foot is pretty much tied to your wallet, and you can't afford to smoke the tires across the finish line. But you have to remember you're racing four-wide; [wife] Donna actually taped a note on my dashboard that says 'four wide' as a reminder when we do this."

Beyond Krawiec and Millican, six other drivers have reached at least four Four‑Wide finals without a win, each for very different reasons.
Scotty Pollacheck had six Pro Stock Motorcycle final‑round appearances, evenly divided between third and fourth place.

Tony Schumacher, despite being one of the most decorated drivers in NHRA history, has appeared in five finals without a win, with four runner-up finishes, a reminder that the format has often neutralized even the sport’s most proven closer.

Alexis DeJoria has reached five Funny Car Four‑Wide finals without winning, including three fourth-place finishes.  Josh Hart (Top Fuel) and Matt Hartford (Pro Stock) each logged four appearances without a win. Hart split his results evenly between third and fourth, while Hartford posted two runner‑ups and two thirds.

Taken together, these records highlight what four‑wide racing rewards, and what it punishes, and even drivers with championship pedigrees and multi‑event consistency can pile up finals without ever grabbing a trophy.