Pro Stock's Jeg Coughlin might not have laid the foundation for winning the FRAM-Autolite Nationals in qualifying or in running low elapsed time and top speed in the first round, when all 16 qualifiers strive to shine their brightest.
 
His inspiration came from a heart-to-heart talk he had with his father, Jeg Coughlin Sr., in their mini-vacation at Lake Tahoe after the Seattle race.
 
“We both came up with how we would run the car. We put a good, solid game plan,” he said.
 
It paid off, for he used his 100th career final round to defeat Jason Line for the $25,000 victory, his third this year in four final rounds.
 
Coughlin drove the Victor Cagnazzi-owned JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt to a 6.590-second elapsed time at 209.52 mph on the Infineon Raceway quarter-mile. Line challenged in his Summit Racing Pontiac GXP with a 6.602-second effort at 209.39 mph.
 
Coughlin said his approach this weekend “was slightly more aggressive than we've been in past races. We'd usually become a little soft and by Q4, we're a gang of hell and ready to go on race day. We've had some queer luck, so this weekend, we just wanted to be a little more aggressive. That's probably the thing I'm most proud about.

 

Pro Stock's Jeg Coughlin might not have laid the foundation for winning the FRAM-Autolite Nationals in qualifying or in running low elapsed time and top speed in the first round, when all 16 qualifiers strive to shine their brightest.
 
His inspiration came from a heart-to-heart talk he had with his father, Jeg Coughlin Sr., in their mini-vacation at Lake Tahoe after the Seattle race.
 
“We both came up with how we would run the car. We put a good, solid game plan,” he said.
 
It paid off, for he used his 100th career final round to defeat Jason Line for the $25,000 victory, his third this year in four final rounds.
 
Coughlin drove the Victor Cagnazzi-owned JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt to a 6.590-second elapsed time at 209.52 mph on the Infineon Raceway quarter-mile. Line challenged in his Summit Racing Pontiac GXP with a 6.602-second effort at 209.39 mph.
 
Coughlin said his approach this weekend “was slightly more aggressive than we've been in past races. We'd usually become a little soft and by Q4, we're a gang of hell and ready to go on race day. We've had some queer luck, so this weekend, we just wanted to be a little more aggressive. That's probably the thing I'm most proud about.
 
“We made very few changes in the car throughout the whole weekend. That's what it's about: just taking what you've got and massaging it and making it better. We were able to be quickest in the couple of the sessions and the last man standing. So I guess we did good.”
 
He said the local conditions didn't dictate the change in attitude.

“It was just our own approach. We executed from Square One. We had the quickest car and were in the top two or three all day.
 
“We have as much data as you want to look at,” Coughlin said. “Sometimes you can make it awfully difficult. We just boil it down to a couple of variables we were going to look at and set the car up and go out and race have a good time, not make any mistakes in the pits. And that's what we did this weekend -- all eight runs.”
 
In denying Line a repeat victory here in California wine country, Coughlin said, “It was good race car, and that's what you need in Pro Stock. When you're separated by 10-thousandths of a second, there literally is no room for error. We've certainly had our races this year with errors.”
 
And Coughlin, the No. 3 qualifier, made no visible mistakes Sunday -- or all weekend.
 
He said that on race day he was supremely confident because “we had four clean runs to work with and we were able to get through some really, really tough competition.”
 
He outlasted Larry Morgan, Greg Anderson, Shane Gray, and finally Line to win for the second time at Sonoma.
 
“The KB cars are extremely tough, and Greg Anderson and Jason Line do an extremely efficient job at building horsepower and running the race operation,” he said. “Anytime you get by them is awesome, and to get by both of them in one day, that's a tough feat.” 
 
Coughlin said  he said he wasn't aware until after the race that he had hit that 100-final plateau.
 
“These Full Throttle races are prestigious to be part of, and we've had a great success at it,” he said.
 
But like any champion who never is satisfied with his level of performance, Coughlin couldn't help but think about his few shortcomings.
 
“I've had a couple of red-lights here lately, and that's a rare thing to do in Pro Stock,” he said. “I was a couple thousandths red last week in Seattle, and nothing more was my goal than to get here and focus on race day.
 
“When I got to the final round and let the clutch out, I thought to myself, 'Let's go!' It felt fantastic. It was the best the car felt. I could see the tree dropping from yellow to green, which means you're pretty good at the line,” Coughlin said. “When the win light went on, I was going nuts. And I don't get too excited that often. So it was a big win for us.”
 
While Coughlin can't go to Lake Tahoe to ponder strategy at every race, what he discovered there he expects to apply well beyond the Western Swing.