Jeg Coughlin quickly rebounds after early stumble (NHRA/JEG’S)

NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
NHRA CarQuest Northwest Nationals
Pacific Raceways
Seattle, WA
July 23rd

Jeg Coughlin – JEG’S Mail Order / Mopar – Dodge Stratus RT
Saturday Summary

Former Seattle winner Jeg Coughlin will start his quest for a repeat performance at Pacific Raceways out of the No. 12 position on the elimination grid. Coughlin’s powerful Hemi engine developed a severe miss in the weekend’s quickest time trail session Saturday morning and he had to fall back on his Friday night pass of 6.723 seconds at 204.79 mph to earn a spot in the field. A Saturday afternoon run of 6.729 seconds at 205.16 mph didn’t allow him to improve but it did provide some encouragement.

“We put a new motor in there after Q3 and we ended up being one of the quickest of the last session,” Coughlin said. “We definitely showed improvement. The car seemed to want to accelerate faster and it felt like it gained a lot more speed. It felt completely different from yesterday’s two runs.”

Coughlin won this event in 2002, his second of two championship Pro Stock campaigns. The 45-time national event winner and driver of the Jeg’s Mail Order Stratus R/T can also rely on the unparalleled experience of crew chief Bob Glidden, the 10-time series champion who won a record six times at this facility during his illustrious driving career.

As the No. 12 qualifier, Coughlin will open eliminations against fellow Dodge driver Larry Morgan, who qualified fifth overall with a 6.686 at 206.67 mph. The two men have not raced each other this season.

“I think we’ll have something for them tomorrow,” Coughlin said. ‘It’s never easy to win in this class but the way this car responded to the engine change has us encouraged. Once Bob tunes the car to this new power band we should be right there with the top cars. Hopefully, that will start tomorrow morning.”

The eliminations rounds of the 18th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals begin with Top Fuel and Funny Car at 11 a.m. Pro Stock should begin around noon.

NHRA on TV:

Saturday, July 23 ESPN2 will televise two-hours of qualifying at 8:00 p.m. (ET)
Sunday, July 24 ESPN2 will televise NHRA2Day, a 30-minute weekly news magazine style show at 11:30 a.m. (ET)
Sunday, July 24 ESPN2 will air final eliminations for three-hours beginning at 9:00 p.m. (ET)

Additional resources can be found at: www.teamjegs.com

Media Contact:

Scott ‘Woody’ Woodruff
Director of Media & Motorsports
Office: 800.345.4545 (3.412)
Mobile: 614.595.1820
Fax: 740.362.4385
Email: jegspr@aol.com -or- scott.woodruff@jegs.com
Web Site: www.teamjegs.com -or www.jegs.com