<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/j_coughlin07_437561.jpg" alt="j_coughlin07_437561" align="right"borders="0"/>
Jeg Coughlin left the ACDelco Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway Sunday with new career elapsed time and speed bests. He also was the first-day Pro Stock qualifying leader.
He and the Slammers Ultimate Milk Chevy Cobalt team wanted more, however, and they almost got it. Coughlin lost a quarter-final decision to Greg Anderson by a mere six-thousandths of a second. Anderson, however, made up the two-hundredths of a second difference at the starting line by running 6.563 seconds at 211.49 mph - the category's fastest speed. Coughlin was a few ticks behind at 6.589 at 209.23 mph. Anderson was the eventual race winner.
In the opening round, Coughlin had to chase down Allen Johnson to get the win by eight-thousandths of a second, 6.582 seconds (now his career best) at 210.01 mph (his career fastest) to 6.618 at 208.65.
"Greg just outran us," Coughlin said. "There wasn't much else we could do. I thought the car ran extremely well. We had a good weekend but we barely missed out a something better. We broke a wheelie bar on the burnout for our last qualifying run Saturday and that put us behind.
"Mother Nature did what we thought she would Sunday, giving us ideal racing conditions. We just needed a hair more oomph there and I think we might've snuck by Greg and maybe had something for the others (drivers) the rest of the day.
"Victor (Cagnazzi, team owner), Roy (Simmons, crew chief) and Tommy (Utt, crew chief) and the whole group really did a heck of a job. It was great to have Roy Warren and all the great executives from Bravo! Brands and Slammers Ultimate Milk here with us this weekend."
Coughlin is seventh in POWERade points with 139.
Coughlin Comes Close vs. Anderson in Quarterfinals
Jeg Coughlin left the ACDelco Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway Sunday with new career elapsed time and speed bests. He also was the first-day Pro Stock qualifying leader.
He and the Slammers Ultimate Milk Chevy Cobalt team wanted more, however, and they almost got it. Coughlin lost a quarter-final decision to Greg Anderson by a mere six-thousandths of a second. Anderson, however, made up the two-hundredths of a second difference at the starting line by running 6.563 seconds at 211.49 mph - the category's fastest speed. Coughlin was a few ticks behind at 6.589 at 209.23 mph. Anderson was the eventual race winner.
In the opening round, Coughlin had to chase down Allen Johnson to get the win by eight-thousandths of a second, 6.582 seconds (now his career best) at 210.01 mph (his career fastest) to 6.618 at 208.65.
"Greg just outran us," Coughlin said. "There wasn't much else we could do. I thought the car ran extremely well. We had a good weekend but we barely missed out a something better. We broke a wheelie bar on the burnout for our last qualifying run Saturday and that put us behind.
"Mother Nature did what we thought she would Sunday, giving us ideal racing conditions. We just needed a hair more oomph there and I think we might've snuck by Greg and maybe had something for the others (drivers) the rest of the day.
"Victor (Cagnazzi, team owner), Roy (Simmons, crew chief) and Tommy (Utt, crew chief) and the whole group really did a heck of a job. It was great to have Roy Warren and all the great executives from Bravo! Brands and Slammers Ultimate Milk here with us this weekend."
Coughlin is seventh in POWERade points with 139.
