Clay Millican knows all about winning.

The resume for the Drummonds, Tennessee, native in the International Hot Rod Association includes 51 national event victories.

Friday at sun-baked zMax Dragway in Charlotte, North Carolina, the most successful Top Fuel driver in IHRA history continued his long quest for his first National Hot Rod Association trophy. Millican grabbed the No. 1 spot in qualifying for the  Four-Wide Nationals after posting a run of 3.716 seconds at 325.77 mph in the cooler second session.

With just three eliminations in the Four-Wide event, Millican feels the format plays into his favor.

“As a Top Fuel driver, I have never won four rounds of competition,” Millican said. “I have won three rounds a lot, and   want to turn that win-light on three times Sunday.”

Millican set the track elapsed-time record last week at Houston Motorsports Park before falling in the semifinals to Steve Torrence.

In his usual animated fashion, Millican described the factors behind the emergence of his underdog team owned by Doug Stringer and led by crew chief David Grubnic.

“Really and truly, it’s just the team working on consistency,” Millican said. “Last year, we wanted to run 3.6-second (passes). This year, we said we wanted to take a little step back but get down the track more. It’s just crazy that now we’re at the front of the field. If it’s 100 degrees (Saturday), I’m OK with that because we’ll stay No. 1.”

Doug Kalitta is just behind Millican after a run of 3.718 at 322.73, with Antron Brown (3.720, 328.06) in third.

As a single-car operation, Millican has little margin for error on his Parts Plus/Great Clips dragsters.

“We don’t have a Garage Mahal or one of those Brownsburg (Indiana) complexes,” Millican said. “We run out of the back yard in Doug’s house. We call it the Nitro Barn.”

With the support of Stringer and the wisdom of Grubnic, Millican said his Stringer Performance team is capable of accomplishing big things.

“When we pull up to the starting line, we’ve got the same amount of parts as everybody else,” Millican said. “I’ve been very confident essentially since we got this going three years ago and made that very first pass with Grubby.”

As for qualifying, Millican has heard the same refrain from Grubnic often.

“Grubnic said that he would trade the No. 1 qualifying spot every time for a smooth run down the track,” Millican said. “The car is just running well and it’s not hurting itself which is very important to be able to have those consistent runs.”

In addition to owning the IHRA Top Fuel record for wins, Millican won six straight IHRA Top Fuel world championships from 2001-2006. Because the IHRA Top Fuel featured eight car fields, those events had just three rounds.

Millican feels that everything is in place for an NHRA breakthrough weekend that could culminate with a Wally.

 “I’m jacked because we’re No. 1 at the Four-Wide Nationals,” Millican said. “l’m second on the all-time runner-up list, and that’s a record I do not want."