[coverattach=1]INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 5) -- Back-to-back Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. is still searching for the right combination for his JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt as professional qualifying at the 55th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil continues in Indianapolis. Through three of five time trials, Coughlin is just inside the No. 12 cutoff spot with an 11th-best 6.650 at 208.04 mph.
"The car is pretty consistent," Coughlin said. "It's just not where we want it to be in relation to the other cars in the field. I feel like we're just missing it by a hair.
"The braintrust (crew chief Roy Simmonds and advisor Jeg Coughlin Sr.) is in the hauler right now pouring over the data looking for ways to pick it up. I'm confident we'll figure it out before qualifying is done.
"Fortunately for us Indy has five qualifying sessions so we still have lots of time to work on the car and make it better. Tomorrow morning could very well produce the best numbers of the weekend so we need to be ready to roll. No matter what, it appears we're in the field and that we'll be racing for the trophy on Monday, which is always the first goal of every event."
Coughlin entered this event with a 65-point lead in the Full Throttle championship points. Should he manage to hold onto the No. 1 ranking through Monday's eliminations he will enter the Countdown to 1 playoffs with a 20-point bonus for finishing the regular season on top.
After this event, the regular season points gathered by the top 10 racers in the category will be reset and the drivers will be separated by 10 points each.
"It's pretty easy to see why finishing the regular season No. 1 is important because that 20-point bonus is worth a full round in eliminations," Coughlin said. "That could be large.
"First things first, we need to get this car running quicker."
"The car is pretty consistent," Coughlin said. "It's just not where we want it to be in relation to the other cars in the field. I feel like we're just missing it by a hair.
"The braintrust (crew chief Roy Simmonds and advisor Jeg Coughlin Sr.) is in the hauler right now pouring over the data looking for ways to pick it up. I'm confident we'll figure it out before qualifying is done.
"Fortunately for us Indy has five qualifying sessions so we still have lots of time to work on the car and make it better. Tomorrow morning could very well produce the best numbers of the weekend so we need to be ready to roll. No matter what, it appears we're in the field and that we'll be racing for the trophy on Monday, which is always the first goal of every event."
Coughlin entered this event with a 65-point lead in the Full Throttle championship points. Should he manage to hold onto the No. 1 ranking through Monday's eliminations he will enter the Countdown to 1 playoffs with a 20-point bonus for finishing the regular season on top.
After this event, the regular season points gathered by the top 10 racers in the category will be reset and the drivers will be separated by 10 points each.
"It's pretty easy to see why finishing the regular season No. 1 is important because that 20-point bonus is worth a full round in eliminations," Coughlin said. "That could be large.
"First things first, we need to get this car running quicker."
