Doug Stringer knew it was love at first sight, the moment he saw the 18-wheeler pull into his driveway. 

And for Clay Millican, the timing couldn't have been better. 

Stringer, in 2014 was a NASCAR team owner, with a marketing relationship with Great Clips. He'd previously had drivers such as Kasey Kahne and Jason Lefler under his employ.

Millican, at the time, was struggling to remain in drag racing, he'd just endured the toughest regular season of his Top Fuel career, having missed the Countdown following a difficult split with Bob Vandergriff Racing. He was finishing up a season with Dexter Tuttle with an uncertain future. 

Stringer is a man with an interesting motorsports background, and before he went into the NASCAR world, worked with veteran tuning icon, Lance Larson on the Jim Epler Funny Car. Stringer also owned a small dirt track in Wayne City, Ill., where each year there was a Memorial Race in the name of fallen racer Jason Lefler.

The night before the storied event, Stringer hosted a party at his house and reached out to Millican to bring the dragster by his house to put on display. 

When the rig rolled closer to the house, Stringer knew the time was right to make his foray into drag racing. 

"I just saw a way to keep a good guy in racing, and drag racing had already been a part of my life," Stringer said. "I had wanted to get into racing, and maybe have a Super Comp dragster. But seeing the hauler  pull in, I imagined it leaving my driveway headed to the races."

Drag racing consideration was nothing new, as Stringer had engaged in dialogue the past couple of years with Millican. The common denominator of seeing the rig and both having dads who introduced them to the straight line sport provided the emotional nudge to seal the deal. 

"Clay and I started talking, talking, talking, years and years and years," Stringer revealed. "I said, ‘I can’t do it, I can’t do it, I can’t do it. My dad’s still alive; your daddy’s still alive." 

"I went to sleep one night, I woke up, called him back the next day and said, ‘Okay."

With Stringer, Millican got the kind of team he'd always envisioned, one build on loyalty and family; qualities Stringer admitted were ingrained in him by his father Duane and former teammate Brad Akins. 

"Both of us have mentors that we wouldn’t be out here without their involvement," Stringer said. "So when you talk about building a program and how did you pull this all together, it was through people that surrounded both Clay and I. 

"I watched the press conference recently where Clay spoke about family. Racing is a huge family. We put families first anywhere that I’m involved. At any time, families come first. And I think that that bond that Clay and I have where he has the same beliefs as I do, and along with my wife and his wife, I think that’s what brings it together."

If there's one aspect of Stringer, is he will never hold someone back from a better opportunity. Case in point, Stringer released Kasey Kahne to take advantage of an opportunity offered. 

"I drove Kasey to the Cup series," Stringer revealed. "He came to me and sat in front of my desk, and he said, ‘Hey I got an opportunity to go Cup racing, and I don’t want to let you down." 

"I said, ‘Get in the car, I’ll take you there."

That's how it went down when Kahne left for Evernham Motorsports.

"People, families, and putting the family values first, that’s really what makes us successful," Stringer confirmed. "No secrets on our team. There's secrets on every other team, but there’s no secrets on our team. Everybody in our organization knows what’s going on with the car. No egos, they’re all checked at the door. 

"I hear a lot of people in motorsports talk about ‘We’re a team, it’s a team effort, it’s a team program.' I’m going to call BS on a lot of it. A lot of it’s about the dollars and cents, you know. Who can spend the most money? With us, it’s who can get the best people. And that’s what we’ve attempted to do." 

And to hear Stringer talk, he's clearly hit a home run with Millican. 

"Everyone in our team feeds off of Clay’s personality," Stringer explained.  Most people will put on a certain persona in front of the media, and then outside of the media, they’re a different person. Same guy that’s on the golf cart with me is the same guy that’s going to go in the pit area. He does smile all the time; his teeth are really bright. It’s all the time. And when I’m down and out and struggling and maybe fighting a little depression or something, all I got to do is call Clay; he’ll dig me out of the ditch. 

The feeling is clearly mutual from Millican's standpoint. 

"If something’s going on with me, I just call him and it ain’t long, and we’re laughing," Millican added. "So, life is definitely not worth being down and out all the time. That’s like you smile when you lose. Like I told y’all last night, I’m still driving a Top Fuel car. It’s just not that bad a life; it’s really not. Nothing’s that bad. 

"I didn’t know it, but I hit a home run as soon as that thing turned in the driveway."