Two-thirds of the way through the regular season the seat is starting to get awfully hot for a couple of drivers on the bubble, most notably Funny Car’s Robert Hight and Cruz Pedregon.

Hight, a perennial championship contender from the John Force Racing stable, has yet to get any semblance of traction this season and he finds himself 55 points off the playoff pace with six races to go.

Cruz Pedregon, the defending NHRA Full Throttle Series champion, got on a mini-run to get inside the Top 10, but with six races left he finds himself in a tie for 10th with rookie Matt Hagan.

Two drivers with championship aspirations at the Auto Club NHRA Finals last November are now, just six short months later, in the fight of their lives just to get in the playoffs.

Hight would like to follow the lead of teammate Mike Neff, who is coming off of a No. 1 qualifier at the Summit Racing NHRA Nationals and consecutive quarterfinals after a semifinal run at the United Association Route 66 NHRA Nationals to move all the way up to ninth place.

The situation is much less precarious for JFR teammate Ashley Force Hood, who took over first place with her semifinal finish at the Summit Racing NHRA Nationals.

In Top Fuel, Larry Dixon moved into second place with his third win in four races and Clay Millican maintained a two-round cushion over Joe Hartley for the 10th and final playoff berth in TF.

In Pro Stock, Jeg Coughlin became the first driver to clinch a playoff berth and Warren Johnson inched up to ninth place.

In PSM, Andrew Hines won for the first time in ’09 to move up to second place.