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SONOMA, post-race: Jeff Arend’s first round struggles continued on Sunday at the 17th annual FRAM Autolite NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway. Arend lost a close opening round battle in the CMKXtreme Machine Funny Car to Eric Medlen and remained in the 16th spot in the 2004 NHRA POWERade national point’s standings.

Arend qualified for his 29th career NHRA national event in Funny Car with a 4.960 at 308.35 mph to grab the No. 10 position. It was the 10th time in 11 starts that Arend has qualified the CMKXtreme Machine this season and the eighth consecutive event that the Canadian native has been racing on Sunday.

Arend faced Eric Medlen in the first round of eliminations at the FRAM Autolite Nationals. It was the second time the pair has raced against each other this season. Medlen outran Arend in a close race in Chicago earlier this year and the driver of the CMKX Corvette was seeking revenge when the pair pulled to the starting line.

Medlen had a slight edge off the line but the CMKXtreme Machine was right along side him until the 1000-foot mark, when Arend fell behind. Medlen took the win with a 4.882 at 318.47 mph to Arend’s 4.933, his quickest run of the weekend, at 303.43 mph.

“That was a good run,” said Arend as he described the race. ”I didn’t see him until probably the 1000-foot mark and then he drove around me. That was our best run of the weekend so we were happy with that. We’re continuing to improve on the tune up and starting to run better and I think we’ve got the 85-percent nitro deal figured out. We’re starting to run with more consistency and that’s the key.”