"It's just a frustrating loss. It's just part of racing," Bazemore said. "It shook itself out of the groove a little bit, and I just couldn't get it back. It wouldn't come back. It went down that way for awhile, and then around half-track, it just blew the tires off."

He said he had a parts failure that crew chief Lee Beard said he thought prevented Bazemore, perhaps, from recovering to take the round-win. "The car shut itself off, and I'm not so sure," the driver said, "because we were awfully close to the center line. It's entirely possible that we were going to tag a cone (and be disqualified). We were probably a little out of control there. Anyway, it's what happens.

"Things change so quickly in this sport," he said. "We went from wishing the season was over yesterday to wishing today we had 10 or 20 more races to go."

Lee, a bit of a rebel even among the unconventional, rather enjoyed his role. "You know, it's like being the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the last weeks of the season, playing the first-place team. It feels like you're in the pennant race, too, and you can play a major part in who wins it by running well and taking some people out," he said. "That's just awesome that we got that win and played a part on what's going on at the top of the points sheet."

Lee, who just began subbing for Arnie Karp in the Worsham-owned Team Artisan Pontiac Firebird, fouled in the next round to teammate Burkart.

Burkhart had his own troubles.

He never got the chance to make it downtrack in his second career final-round appearance. Burkhart, who won the 1999 Columbus, Ohio, race, was driving the Checker-Schuck's-Kragen Firebird in which Johnny Gray had been runner-up at the U.S. Nationals earlier this month.

It didn't behave as well for Burkhart. It developed a small oil leak after he completed his burnout, and NHRA Chief Starter Rick Stewart ordered him to shut off the car at the starting line.

"This was one of the toughest things I've ever had to deal with," Burkhart said. "I mean, it's normal for the guys to be really down whenever we lose, but this was way different. This was a huge heartbreaker for every member of this team.

"We had a small leak in a hard line from the oil pump, and it chose that moment to crack. It was fine all day, it was fine in the warm-up, and it chose that moment to drip. It's hard to understand why it had to happen this way, but we have an enormous amount to be proud of. Honestly, based on what we did today, I think we had the best car here."

Coughlin, the defending Pro Stock series champion who's third in the standings, repeated his event victory to break Anderson's three-race winning streak. The $25,000 victory was his second of the season and second in the last five events. "We've narrowed this performance gap Greg has had on the whole pack all year. We've been a top-three car all year."

Coughlin ran a 6.749-second e.t. at 203.22 mph. Anderson wasted a 6.728/204.91.