When Funny Car qualifying ended Saturday afternoon at the 16th CarQuest Auto Parts Nationals at Pacific Raceways outside Seattle, Wash., two drivers very much involved in the fates and fortunes of each other's campaigns found themselves in the same boat.

And neither wanted to be there.

Points leader Tony Pedregon and his closest pursuer, Whit Bazemore, each suffered their worst qualifying positions of the season, 13th and ninth respectively, and now head into eliminations on Sunday without lane choice -- a factor that could prove costly at a facility where the right lane was clearly the preferred lane throughout qualifying.

For Tony, it compounds what was a disappointing weekend in Denver last week, the first stop of the current three-race Western Swing, when he qualified strongly, No. 2, but was upset by No. 15 qualifier Scotty Cannon in the first round.

Bazemore had only a slightly better race in Denver, qualifying third but losing to Pedregon's boss, John Force, in the second round. Whit's qualifying struggles in Seattle were highlighted by two successive runs in which his parachutes deployed due to mechanical problems. In the last session on Saturday, he smoked the tires, ending the team's strategy for matching up with the first round opponent they wanted most.

"Sure, we're disappointed with where we qualified," said Bazemore after managing a best of 5.03/303.50 on Friday. "We really were hoping to qualify fourth and face Tony in the first round. He's the guy we have to beat and the best way to gain ground on him is to beat him yourself." Whit will instead face No. 8 qualifier Dean Skuza in the opening round on Sunday.

For Tony, his best of 5.13/287.29 came in the final session and has him squaring off with No. 4 qualifier Del Worsham in Round 1, the winner two races ago in St. Louis. "No doubt about it, we struggled in qualifying this weekend but little by little we're working out the gremlins in the car. Not having lane choice is a concern but then again, Gary Scelzi qualified No. 1 with his 4.96 in the left lane so that proves you can get down there. We'll just have to be ready tomorrow."

Tony came into Seattle with a 124-point lead over Bazemore with 10 races remaining in the season. While Whit is focused primarily on catching Pedregon, he must also keep a wary eye on Force, who has now moved to within 10 rounds of racing behind him in the standings and is hoping to build on his Denver victory last week. An early exit by Bazemore on Sunday and strong showings by Force and/or Pedregon and Whit could lose valuable ground to both.

Regardless, both Pedregon and Bazemore will enter Sunday's eliminations at a distinct disadvantage, looking to survive the first round while watching each other's every move as the 2003 NHRA POWERade season grinds its way through the Western Swing and rounds the bend for the homestretch.

Bill Stephens covers the NHRA for ESPN and ESPN.com.