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Billy Torrence scores third Top Fuel win at NHRA Sonoma Nationals

Billy Torrence gets closer to NHRA Countdown to the Championship with NHRA Sonoma Nationals victory.
28 Jul 2019
Jacob Sundstrom, NHRA National Dragster Associate Editor
Race coverage
Billy Torrence

Billy Torrence is just 31 points away from an NHRA Countdown to the Championship position after winning his third career Top Fuel race. He ended the three-race winning streak of his son, Steve Torrence, and put his Capco Contractors Top Fuel dragster in the winner's circle at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals. 

To get to the third win of his career he beat Clay Millican in the final round. Torrence left .032-second behind Millican but was able to drive around the holeshot advantage of Millican to turn on his fourth win light. Torrence's margin of victory was just .006, the most narrow of his career in a final round. He earned his first career victory in Brainerd in 2018 and also won in Phoenix earlier this season. 

"There will be a little bragging going on at home tomorrow and then we'll be back at work," said Torrence. "We knew Clay had a good car and I knew I needed to be on time. I was later than I wanted to be, but I eased it in there and was confident that I had enough car under me to get the job done."

Torrence got past his son, 2018 world champion Steve Torrence, rookie of the year candidate Austin Prock (one of two racers he chasing for a Countdown to the Championship spot) and Steve Faria. Torrence will not race in Seattle next week but is entered to race in the other two races before the top 10 locks for the NHRA Countdown to the Championship. 

Millican reached the final for the second-straight race after reaching the semifinals in Epping two events ago. He defeated three-time world champion Antron Brown, 2017 world champion Brittany Force, and received a bye run in the first round to get to his fourth final of the 2019 season. His first-year repairing with Mike Kloeber has proved to be a fruitful one. 

Prock earned a key first-round win against Leah Pritchett to move into the top 10, past Scott Palmer, before falling to Torrence in the second round. He is 31 points clear of Torrence as the teams move to Seattle. The next race on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series tour is the Magic Dry Organic Absorbent NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle. It's set to begin on August 2.