A bit of controversy in the pits - it seems that one of the spec fuels permitted in the Coyote Stock and Factory Stock classes does not meet the NMRA's specifications, and a couple of competitors, including Coyote Stock champ Joe Charles, were forced to find an alternative fuel for today's qualifying sessions. Here Joe's cleaning out the lines from all of the old fuel.

"Ticket Taker" Billy Driscoll rolled in late last evening with his turbocharged machine. He made a hit this morning in the second round of qualifying and clicked off an 8.15 shutdown pass. Look for him to improve drastically in the third round.

We caught up with Jason Hoots this morning in the pits. He's driving Paul Alfeo's Renegade car and still trying to sort it out. Yesterday he tossed the belt right off the line, and in the second round today he struggled off the line.

After years running at the top of the Real Street class, the last two seasons have been a challenge for Tim Matherly. He's currently qualified sixth in the class with an 8.75.

We had a conversation with AJ Wyce this morning - he was suffering from a migraine headache yesterday and had to skip the qualifying session. He has acquitted himself well so far today by jumping into the third spot in Renegade with a strong 8.57.

Filthy Phil Hines fixed the problem that kept him off the qualifying ladder yesterday - he rolled across the scales a couple of pounds light. Today he turned in an outstanding 7.344 at 195.18 from his ProCharged 2001 Mustang. Hines told us yesterday that he hasn't made any changes since last month's Lights Out race at SGMP other than changing the supercharger and adjusting the tune to compensate for the changes.

John Urist seems to be getting a handle on the turbo combination in his car - he's qualified second in Street Outlaw with a 7.45 at 191 MPH.

Scott Grove's Renegade car is perhaps the most docile 8-second car we've seen in a long time. It doesn't hike the tires or do anything violent - it just hooks and goes, and landed him at the top of the qualifying ladder heading into eliminations tomorrow.

Shane Stymiest clicked off a strong 10.57 at 123 MPH to lead the Coyote Stock field through qualifying, but a few of the competitors are being torn down this evening and the qualifying results are not finalized yet.

Charlie Cooper is the lone Cobra Jet owner to try his hand in heads-up competition this weekend. He's competing in the Renegade class and qualified fourth with an 8.61 entering eliminations.

JPC Racing customer Joe Marini has the only 2011-up Mustang currently competing in Coyote Stock. Marini didn't make a pass yesterday but acquitted himself well today with a strong 10.76 at 124 MPH.

This is Joe Guertin's second season racing in Coyote Stock. The Floridian had never raced heads-up prior to last season and is still getting his legs under him in competition.

As one of the few seasoned competitors in Coyote Stock, 2012 class champ HiPo Joe Charles has the advantage of having longtime NMRA competitor and former champion Tim Matherly in his corner. The pair spends countless hours testing different things on the dyno.

One of the neat things about Coyote Stock is that the NMRA is in control of the tune that each competitor runs - it's a canned tune from the wizards at Ford Racing Parts. NMRA tech official Randy Auwarter waits prior to the final round as the tune is uploaded to a competitor's car.

Louie Sylvester laid down the quickest pass in Factory Stock history in the final round of competition.The team credits chassis work and tuning from Dave Zimmerman at Team Z Motorsports as a big help in their program. The car spent time at Team Z in the offseason.

Aeromotive head honcho Steve Matusek continued testing his Pro Mod today. He's got Chuck Samuel here helping the team to get sorted out - they've made a bunch of changes recently and were basically starting from scratch. When we say this thing is LOUD...trust us..it's loud. Even up atop the tower with earplugs in, it was painful to listen to the popping and banging on the starting line.