KENT, Wash. – The Seattle-area weather was picture-perfect for Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways, but it was an otherwise gloomy day for the Nitro Fish Racing team. Jeg Coughlin Jr., Clay Millican and Steve Chrisman lost in the first round and soon were packing to go home as the Western Swing ended. Coughlin, who began the event 10th in Full Throttle Series points, did his best to stay there. He put the JEGS.com Mopar Dodge Avenger into the early lead with a.039-second reaction to Jason Line’s .061. But the Avenger encountered problems and slowed to a 10.507-second time at 86.73 mph and Line took the win with a 6.601 at 209.56. At the end of the day, Coughlin was tied for 10th place with Ronnie Humphry at 550 points. There are two more races on the docket – at Brainerd, Minn. and Indianapolis – before the Countdown to the Championship begins at Charlotte. Millican, meanwhile, was disappointed when he didn’t move into the second round of eliminations. “We have to start qualifying better,” he said about his race against Antron Brown. Brown was tied for the Full Throttle Series Top Fuel points lead when the event began and Millican was doing his best to collect enough points to stay in the mix for a spot in the six-race Countdown finale. Brown had a slight advantage at the start and reached the finish line first in 3.859 seconds at 313.95 mph while Millican’s Parts Plus dragster had a 3.926 at 294.05. “For the second race in a row we were the quickest losing car . . . and that’s not helping us when it comes to earning points,” said a disappointed Millican, who is 11th with 629 points, four behind Bob Vandergriff. A look at other Nitro Fish Associate sponsored teams: Tony Pedregon and his Pedregon Racing Toyota Camry did his best, leaving the line first, but he couldn’t hold off Tim Wilkerson’s 4.138 at 298.67. Pedregon’s time was 4.358 at 234.13. Steve Chrisman, Nitro Fish Top Fuel dragster, was matched against Steve Torrence, one of the hottest drivers on the circuit, in the first round. Chrisman’s dragster had traction problems and slowed to a 6.880 at 84.31. Torrence’s car got loose and moved around the lane, but still got him to the line in 4.563 at 208.46.
