Runner-up finish lifts Jeg Coughlin to second place in points

HOUSTON (March 29) — Jeg Coughlin Jr. had the 43rd win of his career in hand after crushing final-round opponent Ron Krisher at the starting line with a massive .025 to .116-second reaction time advantage, but mechanical issues slowed his JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt just before halftrack, giving the win to his opponent instead.

The unfortunate ending was only a slight blemish on an otherwise great race day for the four-time world champion, who raced to within 26 points, or a little more than one round of action, of the Full Throttle points lead.

“Our heads are held high,” Coughlin said. “It’s pretty rare when you have a nine-hundredths of a second advantage going by the 60-foot timer and not go on to win the race but the tires wadded up early and just knocked the momentum out of it. I felt them paddling in low gear, grabbed second real quick and that didn’t help, so I shoved it into third as a last resort and it just didn’t respond.

“We really felt like we solved a lot of our problems today and I was fully expecting a 6.57 or 6.58 in the final. We danced all day on the edge of what we could get away with and obviously we were just a tad too aggressive there.”

Just as he did in Phoenix when he didn’t have the quickest car but still managed to win the race, Coughlin was exceptional behind the wheel, leaving well ahead of all four of his opponents.

He needed a great light in Round 1 as it took a holeshot to beat David Beckley with a 6.614 at 209.85 mph to Beckley’s 6.602 at 209.62 mph. He then reeled off back-to-back 6.59-second passes to dismiss Steve Spiess and two-time champ Jim Yates before reaching the 70th final round of his professional career.

“I’m in a real good place with my driving right now,” Coughlin said. “I’m already looking forward to next weekend in Vegas, one of the best tracks in the country. After that I think we might try to test a bit and get this JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt perfect for the summer time.”

Coughlin won’t have long to wait to get back in his racecar as the tour heads to The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for next weekend’s national event.

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