Welcome to day two of the NMCA World Street Finals here at the Lucas Oil Raceway. Two additional rounds of qualifying are slate for today, along with the True Street competition sandwiched in between. The sun is out and nary a cloud is in the sky, and with temperatures expected to soar above 90, it should prove an interesting day for those attempting to climb up in the qualifying orders and accumulate points.

In a normal circumstance, Doug Duell would have the Nostalgia Super Stock championship signed, sealed, and delivered with his more than 600-point lead, but with 70 cars on the property (and thus seven rounds and 700 points at stake), his lead is not insurmountable. That puts the pressure on second-place Brent Wheeler, though, who would need to win the event and have Duell to bow out in round one.

Start ’em young, folks.

Mary Esther, Florida’s Ryan Milliken sits sixth in the Street Outlaw qualifying order with a 5.10 at 153 mph in his unique Cummins diesel-powered ’66 Nova. Milliken’s all-billet, 6.8-liter (415 cubic-inch) mill produces 2,000 horsepower at the flywheel and upwards of 2500-3000 lb./ft. of torque with an 88mm turbocharger. Milliken leaves the line at 3,000 RPM, producing 24 lbs. of boost, shifts at 5,000, and redlines at 5,700, peaking at 73 lbs. of boost (he says it will produce 80 lbs.)

Milliken utilizes a close-ratio three-speed Turbo 400 with a lock-up converter to keep the load on the engine, sharing that “it gets pissy if it gets unloaded — without load and boost it won’t go anywhere.” Tipping the scales at 3,510 lbs. — the engine itself, surprisingly, weighs roughly equal to a big-block Chevrolet despite its physical size — Milliken has been a 4.85 best with the car.

With the NMCA World Street Finals in his backyard, Trafalgar, Indiana resident Keith Kriech decided to drag his beautiful ’71 Chevelle he’s owned for 32 years out of the mothballs to do some Open Comp racing this weekend. Kriech last drove the car in 2013 when he trekked to Syracuse, New York and “did a little street racing” with it. Since then, the car has sat in his garage while he toyed with the other muscle cars in his collection — a ’66 Nova, a 2014 1LE Camaro, a 1999 1LE Camaro, and a 1967 El Camino — but got the itch to run the Chevelle in his first trips down the track in a number of years.

Sporting power from a 454-inch big-block Chevrolet, the Chevelle is a true street-driver, with some minor upgrades from factory, including 4.88 gears, 33-spline axles, a Turbo 400 and Coan converter, and aftermarket upper and lower control arms. On 295 Drag Radials, the 3,975 lb. car has been a 6.02 best in the 1/8-mile in its life, but struggled to an 11.19 in this morning’s qualifying. “I don’t really know what’s going on….it’s probably just because it sat too long, might beed new plugs,” Kriech comments.

A few of the Street Outlaws television stars are here today making exhibition runs and signing autographs, including Kayla Morton and her beau, Chris “BoostedGT” Hamilton.

Who’s #1 in Street Outlaw? Nick Bruder has the answer. Brother Rich retained his spot atop the field with his 4.39 on Friday night, which will be hard to top in today’s steamy conditions.

Marty Stinnett was one of the few Radial Wars drivers to improve in the heat today, running 3.950 to solidify himself at second in the order. That, he feels, may preclude him from earning an early round competition bye that would help him greatly in his championship push. As it stands, Stinnett is sandwiched in between the psuedo-team cars of DeWayne Mills and Josh Klugger (both Pro Line-powered cars), who could potentially have a blocker scenario in mind.

Stinnett has been down the track every run in the heat this weekend, giving him confidence going into Sunday’s eliminations, which will be run in likewise hot, sunny, and greasy conditions. “We need to at least equal Josh to get the championship. At the end of the day, I don’t care if it’s my best friend in the other lane, I want to win, and I won’t kid you, I really want to win that championship,” he says.

Driving the Oldsmobile Cutlass borrowed from Don Baskin, Joe Bucaro powered his way to the top of the Nitrous Pro Street field last night, and despite transmission issues that kept him from backing up under his own power this morning, still improved with a 7.31 at 188 mph.

Chevrolet Performance Stock points leader Jesse Wilson is well on his way to the title, with the qualifying bonus points in his favor at present with his class-leading 10.250.

Westernport, Maryland’s Paul Roderick will lead the Factory Super Cars field into eliminations after coaxing a stellar 8.290 from his 2026 Ford Mustang Cobra Jet.

Nebraska’s Ted Hughes has been giving the crowd a show all weekend long with long, picturesque wheelstands from his Patterson-Elite powered COPO Camaro. Hughes has carded a best of 8.39 thus far in qualifying.

Wisconsin racer Jeff Frees has waited nearly an entire year to debut his beautiful 1968 Plymouth Barracuda, and he’d tell you it’s been worth the wait. Frees, who finished fifth in Nostalgia Super Stock points a year ago with his ’64 Belvedere, purchased the ‘Cuda from Michael Sanders (it previously sported a flame paint scheme and the namesake “Hustlin’ Hoosier”).

The car sports a Todd Goodwin-built 572-inch Wedge, which propels it to 9.50’s in the 1/4-mile in the B/FX category. Frees will be transplanting a new 598-inch Wedge next season to step it up the 8.50 index class next season. “Next year’s going to be great. We’re all set…the engine is just about done, Todd is going to dyno it, so it should actually run better than 8.50.”

“We worked long and hard all winter to get it done, and then I had a neck surgery and so I couldn’t race it all year. I’ve had it done pretty much all year, and asked my son to drive it, but we haven’t had it out. It was tough, because I had a neck brace on all summer. But it turned out great and I’m really happy with how it turned out. A guy that works for me stripped it and re-painted it, and we added a swing-out bar and re-painted the cage and all the bars up front.” The car is set off by sleek RC Components wheels.

Ryan Milliken made his best-ever run in his Cummins–powered Street Outlaw machine in the final qualifier — despite lifting after the car hiked the front wheels — going 4.81. Looking over the data, Milliken says the ECU cut power for three-tenths of a second early in the run, leading him to believe the car would have run around a 4.65. Stout!

Nitrous Pro Street points leader Don Baskin graciously offered his Oldsmobile Cutlass to fellow competitor Joe Bucaro to close out the season….and, depending on how you look at it, gave himself a blocker in the championship contest with Jeff Rudolf. “I hurt my motor in Chicago and a week later Don called me and said, ‘are you fixing that thing?’ And I said, ‘well, I’m trying.’ He said, ‘well don’t I’m putting an LS small-block together and I want you to drive it and shake it down and try to get it right for me. I come from a small-block world, everything I’ve ever owned is a small-block, so he wanted me to tune it and get it right. It [the Cutlass] may look old, but it works well.”