KENT, Wash. - Bob Tasca III's time in Sunday's first round at Pacific Raceways, was one of the best of the session. Unfortunately, Mike Neff posted a quicker reaction time, resulting in a Holeshot loss for the driver of the Motorcraft/Quick Lane/Custom Accessories Shelby Mustang, according to his publicist Alexis Kinch.

"There's no excuses," said Tasca of his Holeshot loss. "We had a car that could win, and I didn't do my job. It's beyond a reasonable doubt, the toughest loss that I've had in my driving career. Mike had a great light and his car ran well.

"At the end of the day, the team did a good job and Chris [Cunningham, crew chief] did a good job. The car ran exceptional all day Saturday and on that first run, I think we were third quickest of the session."

The rookie driver is down to four races before the top 10 drivers that will run for the championship are decided. Despite the first-round loss, Tasca remains 11th in the standings, 22 points outside of the top 10.

"We just haven't had anything go our way on Sunday," said the rookie. "I guess it's going to have to start to come around here quickly, because we're running out of races to make it into the top 10. We're still very optimistic with the way the car is running. As a driver, you're gonna have your losses on a Holeshot, you just hope that you have more than you lose. Unfortunately today I didn't do my job."

The Motorcraft/Quick Lane/Custom Accessories Shelby Mustang team will take a road trip down to Sonoma, Calif., for the third of three-in-a-row races at next weekend's NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway July 25-27.