[coverattach=1]LAS VEGAS (Oct. 23) -- Reigning back-to-back Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. admits his chances for capturing three world titles in a row is all but over, but the 61-time national event winner can still post another "threepeat" at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway should he manage to win the upcoming Las Vegas NHRA Nationals.
Coughlin has driven his JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt to back-to-back victories in Vegas, winning last October's event and the one earlier this year in April. Overall, he has five national event wins at The Strip, making it one of his favorite stops on tour.
"Vegas has been exceptionally good to us, without question," the 39-year-old said. "I just feel relaxed there. It's a great track and the city is a lot of fun.
"We really need a rebound race so I'm glad we're heading to a track where we've had a lot of success in the past. We've had a rough Countdown. I feel as though we've made some uncharacteristic errors and they've cost us."
After posting seven national event victories and leading the regular season points for an NHRA-best 14 races with no first-round losses, Coughlin and crew have inexplicably fallen off since the Countdown to 1 playoff began. In three of the first four races, Coughlin has failed to race past Round 1, all but extinguishing his hopes for another title.
"We're out of running for first Full Throttle championship, which is disappointing, especially since this is the first year with Full Throttle as the series' sponsor," he said. "So now we'll just try to finish as high as we can and set the ball in motion for next year.
"We need to find the consistency we had earlier this year so we're going to use the days leading into Vegas to test the car over in Tucson. We need to take a step back and see what we can do to fix this thing.
"The exciting thing is we have all the pieces in place here to challenge for the 2010 title, and quite frankly for the trophies at these last two races. Nothing has changed on the team; we're still the same group of people that won the last two world titles. It just didn't go our way this season during a very crucial stretch of events. That's drag racing."
Coughlin has driven his JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt to back-to-back victories in Vegas, winning last October's event and the one earlier this year in April. Overall, he has five national event wins at The Strip, making it one of his favorite stops on tour.
"Vegas has been exceptionally good to us, without question," the 39-year-old said. "I just feel relaxed there. It's a great track and the city is a lot of fun.
"We really need a rebound race so I'm glad we're heading to a track where we've had a lot of success in the past. We've had a rough Countdown. I feel as though we've made some uncharacteristic errors and they've cost us."
After posting seven national event victories and leading the regular season points for an NHRA-best 14 races with no first-round losses, Coughlin and crew have inexplicably fallen off since the Countdown to 1 playoff began. In three of the first four races, Coughlin has failed to race past Round 1, all but extinguishing his hopes for another title.
"We're out of running for first Full Throttle championship, which is disappointing, especially since this is the first year with Full Throttle as the series' sponsor," he said. "So now we'll just try to finish as high as we can and set the ball in motion for next year.
"We need to find the consistency we had earlier this year so we're going to use the days leading into Vegas to test the car over in Tucson. We need to take a step back and see what we can do to fix this thing.
"The exciting thing is we have all the pieces in place here to challenge for the 2010 title, and quite frankly for the trophies at these last two races. Nothing has changed on the team; we're still the same group of people that won the last two world titles. It just didn't go our way this season during a very crucial stretch of events. That's drag racing."
