Bernstein, meanwhile, had fans coming into Houston to watch him race. For their efforts, they saw him drive the Budweiser/Lucas Oil Dragster to his second victory this year and the fifth of his career that made him five-for-five in final rounds.

"We can't say enough about this team and the way the car is running," Dallas native Bernstein said as he celebrated in his homestate with father Kenny, grandfather Bert Bernstein, mother and step-dad Donna and Jerry Easom, and a host of college pals.

"When we're still racing and it's time to go into the finals, we don't have time to think about the statistics. But when you get a chance to digest it, it's pretty awesome to think we're five-for-five in the finals," he said. "That tells you the performance of this team and how strong they are. I don't think the win is going to sink in for a couple more days.

"It's great to win in Texas and have my grandfather here, who's fighting cancer, my mom, who has never been at the races when we've won, my stepfather Jerry, and a lot of my Texas A&M buddies."

Bernstein, who earned his first top qualifying spot of the season with a 4.516-second, 320.58-mph effort, used a 4.695-second run at 271.79 mph to beat tire-smoking Clay Millican (5.032/238.81) for the $40,000 winner's share of the purse.

He won his opening-round test when John Smith had a red light foul start. Overcoming any concerns left over from his rookie-mistake move at Englishtown last year, he pedaled the Budweiser/Lucas Oil Dragster to a Round 2 victory over Cory McClenathan and advanced to the final by knocking off Scott Kalitta.

No one could overtake leader Tony Schumacher in the standings, but Bernstein pulled within 38 points. Larry Dixon eliminated Schumacher in Round 2 before losing to Millican in the semifinals and moved into fifth place.

With his 4.896-second elapsed time at 303.30 mph to Jerry Toliver's 5.081/277.03 in the Schick Quattro Toyota Celica, Wilkerson gave the Monte Carlo its second consecutive victory and himself the fourth of his career.

"The track was a little funky for us," said Wilkerson, the No. 2 qualifier who outran Bob Gilbertson, Eric Medlen and points leader Del Worsham en route to the $40,000 victory. "But it came around to us. It's wonderful."

Added the Springfield, Ill., native, "I just can't say enough about the guys, putting this car together. We go up and down the racetrack and had the same motor in the car all weekend, and I think that's a pretty good deal for a Funny Car. . . . Any time you beat the points leader it's a good day."

Gary Densham, second-quickest in the Funny Car field in his AAA-sponsored Ford Mustang, will go to the April 30-May 2 O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol (Tenn.) Dragway in second place, 85 points behind Worsham and just two ahead of Wilkerson. Densham's boss, John Force is fourth in the standings with 302 points, 103 off the pace.

Wilkerson was just too consistently strong for Toliver, who already had overcome an engine explosion in qualifying that ruined one Celica body and a parachute malfunction that landed him in the gravel pit and broke his brand-new back-up body after he beat Phil Burkart in the first round Sunday.