Muscle Milk Team Qualifies First, Rockets to Top Ten Finish in Pomona

Pomona CA - A late-season performance surge opened the door to a top-ten season finish after the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals concluded this past weekend. Madison Payne finished ninth after a regional win last week in Las Vegas and a semi-final finish at the Pomona grand finale. The 2024 Finals was a memorable one with twists and turns in many categories and even a small plane crash near the finish line that delayed the race for over an hour.

Madison qualified in the number one position with a blistering 5.16 at 277 MPH to lead the quickest Top Alcohol Dragster field in NHRA history.

In round one, Madison raced Washington's Kim Parker. Parker got off the line quicker with a .073 to Madison's .081. Madison still was able to squeeze out the win with a fine 5.24 at 276 MPH to Parker's close 5.29 at 264 MPH.

In round two, Madison faced Jackie Fricke. Fricke got a slight lead off of the starting line with a .072 to Madison's .089 but it would be all Madison with another great run. Madison rang up a 5.19 at 278 MPH to Fricke's valiant 5.26 at 274 MPH to move on to the semi-finals.

In the Semis, Madison raced yet another female driver, World Champion, Julie Nataas. At the hit, it was Nataas out first with .077 which was a sizable advantage to Madison's .115. While Madison ran quicker with a 5.19 to Nataas' 5.22 it wasn't enough and Nataas took the hole shot win to move on to the final round.

While the Muscle Milk team would have wanted to end the season with a win, team owner Duane Shields was happy with the results. "Any time you qualify number one in the quickest field in history it's a good weekend and you have to be happy. The car ran very consistently on every pass. We win as a team and lose as a team and now we can reflect on the season" Duane said.

In addition to Madison's top ten finish, Duane's sportsman team driven by Mike Handras also finished in the top ten nationally in both Super Comp and Super Gas. Duane and Madison would like to Muscle Milk, GRP Rods, NGK Spark Plugs, Clean Boost, and Brad Anderson Enterprises for their very valued support in 2024.