Jeg Coughlin Jr. has been racing long enough to know Mother Nature is the biggest factor in drag racing. Sunday, the No. 1 Pro Stock qualifier at the NHRA Summit Nationals, figures she is going to have a hand in Sunday’s eliminations.

“Weather could really play a role in this race tomorrow,” Coughlin said. “We ran that 6.59 Friday night in what is usually the hero session, but this morning when we had that cloud cover we saw plenty of cars running good numbers. If we get that again tomorrow morning it could be really interesting.”

Ashley Force Hood learned on Saturday that you cannot change fate and for her this means a first round match against her 14-time Funny Car champion father John Force in Sunday’s final eliminations at the NHRA Summit Nationals.

Force Hood’s provisional pole survived a hot day of qualifying and two torrential downpours which brought an end to the incomplete final round.

“I was in my Mustang belted up and ready to go and then the rain just started pouring,” Force Hood explained. “It surprised all of us. I think the locals all knew because someone said the stands cleared out before it started raining really hard. We were going to try and make another really strong run. In the heat I don’t think we would have been trying to improve too much on our time.”

Force Hood’s Friday night time of 4.032 seconds held up as the top elapsed time.

The first time Steve Johnson qualified on the pole he could never have envisioned the scenario he would face the second time around fifteen years later.

Johnson, a three-time finalist thus far in 2010, fended off a flurry of challenges for his provisional pole spot to head into Sunday’s eliminations at the NHRA Summit Nationals as the No. 1 seed for the first time since the 1995 NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga.

The difference between then and now is this time he didn’t even fire his bike outside of his pits on Saturday. For Johnson, his survival from week to week is dependent on being conservative during qualifying. In this case, it was better to sit in the pits then it was to put two more runs on his bike.

Sunday's final results from the Fifth annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park. The race is the tenth of 22 in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series:

Final round-by-round results from the Fifth annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park, the tenth of 22 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series:

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following the Fifth annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park, the tenth of 22 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series -

For the fourth straight year, U.S. Army Top Fuel driver Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher has been nominated for the ESPY Best Driver Award.

The ESPY Awards, which are distributed for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly, was created by ESPN in 1993. Beginning today, fans can vote for Schumacher online at espn.com/espys or on the ESPN facebook page – facebook.com/espn.

The ESPYs will be hosted by Saturday Night Live “Weekend Update” anchor Seth Meyers on Wednesday, July 14, at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. The awards show will be televised live by ESPN at 9 p.m. ET.

Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Steve Johnson attributed one of his best pieces of advice to the late class champion Dave Schultz.

“He used to say enough pennies make a dollar,” said Johnson, as he faced the media following the first day of qualifications at the NHRA Summit Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio.

“We are trying to make sure we use every bit of this motorcycle. We are making the right calls on the bike, but the more we learn the more we find out what we need to work on. We are learning that and the pennies are adding up. When we started [this season] we only had 50 pennies, but now we are up to 100. When you have even 90 pennies, you have a fast bike because you have all of these details.”

Racing at his home track, host to this weekend's Summit Nationals has its advantages for Jeg Coughlin Jr.

The biggest advantage for the past Pro Stock champion is heading into the $50,000 K&N Horsepower Challenge as the top qualifier following Friday qualifying at the NHRA Summit Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio.

“When the sun went down and it started cooling off a bit with that full moon shining, I think the crew chiefs got real excited,” Coughlin said of the cooling night temperatures.