Danny Rowe (near lane) and Rickie Smith during Friday qualifying.

Danny Rowe, the No. 1 qualifier, lost to No. 16 qualifier Jim Whiteley in the first round after crossing the center line.

Coughlin was the No. 7 qualifier and beat Mike Janis on Saturday. That put him against former Pro Mod champion Rickie Smith, but Smith's crew had to push his car off the starting line. Coughlin would have been hard to beat, as he made a pass of 5.846 seconds at 256.50 mph.

"The round we beat Rickie Smith was kinda cool," Coughlin said. "They had some type of malfunction in the car and it wouldn't start, which is very odd for Rickie. He's usually low qualifier, winning races. He doesn't make mistakes and is a pretty good racer."

Coughlin then stormed past No. 3 qualifier Steve Matusek in the semifinals, ripping off a .015-second reaction time to power to a pass of 5.875 seconds at 254.66 mph. Matusek had problems and slowed to a 10.012-second run at 87.36 mph.