The engine dropped a cylinder when Capps hit the throttle and the car moved out of the groove. "I gave it a quick pedal and tried to get it going again," said Capps, but he couldn't catch Cannon.

The loss allowed Jerry Toliver to move into second place in the points chase, a mere four points (1,481 to 1,477) ahead of Capps.

Cannon succumbed to mechanical failure of his own in the semi's when his car developed an oil leak on his burnout. Toliver put his foot in it anyway and blistered the track with his best time of the weekend, a 4.955 at 306.60 mph.

PRO STOCK
Kurt Johnson extended his final-round record in 2000 to a perfect 5-0 with a victory at the O'Reilly Fall Nationals. Kurt took his 20th career victory with a final-round win over newly crowned champion Jeg Coughlin Jr.

Without any preliminary runs, Johnson and his AC Delco crew had to roll the dice on their car setup before the start of eliminations.

"I love this kind of racing," Kurt said. "It's like going to Las Vegas and gambling. We looked at the information we collected here last year and put together a package to get us down the track. We didn't really change anything all day long."

K.J. .dominated on race day, running the quickest e.t. in every round of eliminations and recording the fastest Pro Stock speed of the event at 198.55 mph. He ran 6.923 in the first round to defeat Larry Morgan and a 6.946 in the second round to take out Richie Stevens.

He defeated Jeg's brother Troy in the semi-finals with a 6.931 e.t. Kurt has now defeated Jeg in all three of the pair's final-round meetings.

Darrell alderman, driver of the Hemi-powered team Mopar Dodge R/T Pro Stock entry, lined up in the ninth qualifying position and fell in the second round to Jeg Coughlin. Alderman, who defeated Jim Yates in round one when Yates spun the car around after losing control, matched Coughlin's reaction time at .437-second, but went a slower time. Coughlin clicked off a 6.791-second e.t. at 196.76 mph, while Alderman managed a 7.050/195.76.

"We were just a little fat with the carburetor," said three-time Winston World Champion Alderman. "We lost a lot of horsepower when we did that. Unfortunately in our first run we were unable to get any information because I had to shut it off early when Yates spun. That really hurt us on that setup."

PRO STOCK TRUCK
Bob Panella Jr. clinched his second consecutive Winston Championship in the first round of Pro Stock Truck with a win against Scott Perin, but couldn't put icing on the cake with an event win.

Panella was taken out of the action at the O'Reilly Fall Nationals in the semi-final by Steve Johns who ran a 7.597/177.77 to Panella's 8.335/122.21.

Johns, with lane choice, put Randy Daniels in the less-desirable right lane for the final. His 7.566-second run at 178.05 mph easily outpaced Daniels' 8.054/136.40, earning his first win of the season, and the second of his Pro Stock Truck career.

Daniels did sew up second place in the championship points, as John Coughlin is an insurmountable 294 points behind in third, with only one race remaining.

- information furnished by Dave Densmore, David Harris, Joe Sherk, Judy Stropus, Rick Voegelin, and Jay Wells

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