Jeg Coughlin starts strong at Bandimere Speedway

DENVER (July 13) – Friday the 13th didn’t slow hard-charging Pro Stock racer Jeg Coughlin Jr. or his JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt as the 37-year-old driver from Delaware, Ohio, shot to the top of the qualifying sheet in Round 1 before settling for sixth-place overall after the cooler night session.

Coughlin handled the heat the best in the afternoon run, posting a 7.071-second pass at 195.36 mph to lead the way in the oxygen-starved environment of Bandimere Speedway. He then improved to a 7.058 at 195.59 mph, but was fractionally passed by five other racers to drop to the No. 6 position.

“Well, we liked Round 1 better than Round 2, but we’re in the top half of the field and the JEGS.com Cobalt is running strong once again,” said Coughlin, who is coming off his second win of the season last Sunday in Bristol, Tenn. “We stuttered a little bit down low in Q2 and that cost us on the big end but we’re still very happy.

“Friday night always seems to be the time to post those big numbers and some guys went out and did exactly that. My hat’s off to them. I’m pleased that we ran really well in the heat of the day because by all indications we’ll be racing under very similar conditions come Sunday.”

Coughlin appeared in the sports section of USA Today newspaper Friday, where writer Gary Graves pointed out that Coughlin has outscored Greg Anderson by four rounds over the last nine races.

“It’s a real honor to get any kind of recognition for our team owner Victor Cagnazzi and the rest of the guys on the crew,” Coughlin said. “My success is just the end result of all of their hard work. It’s a thrill to pick up the largest newspaper in the country and see a nice story on your race team. Hopefully, we can keep the headlines coming our way.”

Qualifying resumes at 1:30 p.m. Saturday with a final session scheduled for 4 p.m.