Day ends in Round 2 for Jeg Coughlin

NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
NHRA Carquest Auto Parts Nationals
Route 66 Raceway
Joliet, IL
Oct. 3rd

Jeg Coughlin – Pro Stock
JEG’S Mail Order Chevy Cavalier
Race Day Summary

Jeg Coughlin’s bid for a third straight title at the CARQUEST NHRA Nationals was extinguished in the quarterfinal round Sunday when the 45-time national event winner lost to Greg Anderson by eight-thousandths of a second.

“We had a mean hot rod today,” Coughlin said. “We just didn’t have the pieces lined up to advance past Greg and that group. They’ve done a great job this year, obviously, and deserve all the credit they’ve earned.”

Coughlin posted a 6.713 at a career-best top speed of 206.67 mph in his Jeg’s Mail Order Chevrolet Cavalier, but it wasn’t quite enough for the newly crowned back-to-back series champion, who hit the finish line in 6.704 seconds at 206.26 mph.

“We’re looking for these thousandths of a second wins to start coming back our way,” said Coughlin, four-time finalist at this facility. “We’ve had seven or eight races this year that went against us by less than a hundredth of a second. But we don’t hang our chins over here in the Jeg’s camp. We just get back to work.”

The day started with a mild upset when No. 9 qualifier Coughlin outran No. 8 qualifier Ken Koretsky, who was one-thousandth of a second quicker than Coughlin in time trails. Coughlin neared his career-best numbers once again during his opening pass, zipping to a 6.688-second pass at 206.48 mph. Koretsky nearly lost control of his car at the launch and quickly surrendered the run to Coughlin, eventually coasting past the finish line in 12.840 seconds at 66.75 mph.

Although he didn’t defend the race title, Coughlin was pleased with a weekend that featured his best elapsed time and top mph when he ran a 6.685-second E.T. in qualifying and a 206.67-mph top speed during Sunday’s quarterfinals.

“We really felt like we were sneaking up on this thing,” Coughlin said. “We found the electrical problem that was hampering us in qualifying and the Jeg’s Mail Order Chevy Cavalier pulled really strong all the way down the track in Round 1. We were really happy with our performance there.

“In the second round we just weren’t quite aggressive enough. We were slipping the clutch a little too much but we still had the best corrected back-half speed of the bunch. It’s hard to be too upset. It still would’ve been sweet to get another win here. We’ll just have to aim for Reading next weekend and try a little harder.”

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