Roger Burgess (far lane) versus Troy Coughlin. (Debbie Gastelu photo)

After beating championship contender Leah Pruett on a holeshot Saturday night, Coughlin got a free pass to the semis after his quarterfinals opponent, Mike Janis, wasn't able to answer the call to race. Then the JEGS car beat Kenny Lang in the semis to set up the showdown with Rowe.

"We had a nice break in the second round," Coughlin said. "I don’t know what happened to Mike's car, but it was nice to get that break. Our car still isn't 100 percent happy, and everybody knows we've got a long way to go.”

Pete Farber (Ron Lewis photo)

In order to get to the final round, Rowe defeated Jay Payne’s supercharged Camaro, Steve Matusek’s turbocharged Mustang and the nitrous-injected Camaro of top qualifier Mike Castellana. It was Rowe’s third career victory and his second win in a row at the historic New Jersey track.

On his side of the ladder, Castellana beat Kevin McCurdy and Rickie Smith on his way to the final round meeting with Rowe.