Driving his IDG Chevy Camaro, Smith put together an impressive 5.910 at 243.94 mph in his nitrous-injected Camaro to be at the top of the qualifying list for the first time this season.

The second straight victory also sent Smith into the points lead as he jumped defending world champion Troy Coughlin.

The roller-coaster season of JEGS.com driver Troy Coughlin continued when the defending series champion dropped a first-round race after a pedal-fest with lower seeded racer Chip King.

Coughlin had a big jump on King, leaving with an 0.044-second reaction time to King's 0.131. But Coughlin's Corvette broke the tires loose soon after the hit.

"It drove out there and spun the tires just a little bit, probably 100 feet out. It hooked back up and pulled the front end up. I pedaled it twice, and generally, there's no winning after that. Once it comes up and goes back down and you pedal it, it's usually a mess."

But King was having traction issues, too, so Coughlin kept trying.

"I could see he was not very far in front of me, so I thought, 'Whatever it takes,'" Coughlin said. "We just ran out of race track."