This is Pedregon's fourth final round at VMP, making it to the final stanza in '96, '97 and '06 without turning on the win light. This is Beckman's first final round here; he didn't get past the second round in his previous two visits. If Beckman wins, he will close to within 31 points of Tim Wilkerson in the Countdown. If Pedregon wins, he will close to within 18 points of Beckman for second place in the Countdown. No matter who wins, it's still a tight five-way race for the championship.

Beckman lost traction early and Cruz nailed down his first "Wally" in more than two years. Pedregon is only 69 points behind Tim Wilkerson and the top five are within 92 points of each other.