“I’m a little speechless right now,” said Schumacher afterwards amidst a noisy winner’s circle. “It’s a little tough to comprehend just what we’ve accomplished here today.”

On the way to his fourth consecutive victory at ORP, Schumacher wiped out the likes of T.J. Zizzo, Rod Fuller and Brandon Bernstein before leveling Dixon in front of an enthusiastic Labor Day crowd.

“We had a great car all day long,” added the six-time world champion. “Mike Green (his crew chief) and the team were just unbelievable. They functioned just like our Army Strong Soldiers do – with plenty of precision and perfection.”

Schumacher, who collected his fourth win of the year and the 60th of his career, will advance into the Countdown to1 playoffs in two weeks holding third-place in the standings, 40 points behind leader Antron Brown.

“With the playoffs coming up at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, we needed to get the ball rolling right here in Indy,” said Schumacher. “I’d say we did just fine. It’s going to be a real tough road to the title, but I truly believe we’re going to be a serious player throughout. I can’t wait for the bell to ring in two weeks.”

Clay Millican won the war Sunday when he clinched his first NHRA playoff position, but lost the battle Monday in the opening round of the U.S. Nationals at O’Reilly Raceway Park.

Millican’s Hope4Sudan/Motorvation Top Fuel dragster registered its quickest elapsed time of the weekend, 3.916 seconds at 311.27 mph, while Larry Dixon turned on the win light in 3.855 seconds at 313.66 mph

“Well, we ran better, but it just wasn’t quick enough,” said Millican.  “Obviously, it was one of those happy-sad things. We’re sad because we didn’t win some round in the U.S. Nationals, but we were extremely happy to make the Countdown to the Championship 

“We made wholesale tune-up changes Sunday night and it showed lots of promise. We’re going to continue working on the car. We’ll definitely be ready when we get to Charlotte for the first Countdown race.”

Millican secured 10th place overall in the regular season when Joe Hartley, who was only three points behind, didn’t qualify Sunday.