NHRA: Troy Coughlin leads Team Jeg's into day two
Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
March 24, 2001Houston Raceway Park is a track that Team Jeg's has had plenty of success at. Jeg and Troy Coughlin come this year armed with new Chevy Cavaliers. The team knows that the new cars are better and everyone in yellow and black is looking forward to a strong weekend.
During the first qualifying session Troy ran a 6.907 at 200.11 mph. He landed in the No. 8 spot and will have three more opportunities to improve his qualifying position.
"It feels great to make a strong run like we did right out of the trailer," said Troy. "The Jeg's Chevy Cavalier hooked up the minute my foot came off of the clutch during the first session. The car made an initial move to the left and than it quickly straightened out and rocketed to the big end following the middle of the groove. This new Cavalier felt great going down the track, in fact it was one of the better runs that we have made since taking delivery of it. We still have more left in it and a cleaner run would have put us in the No. 1 spot and that's very encouraging when you are driving a new car."
Jeg watched his older brother Troy from the seat of his yellow and black Jeg's Mail Order Chevrolet Cavalier with a smile on his face after he saw the numbers come up on the board.
"After seeing the run that Troy made I got pretty pumped up," commented Jeg. "We were too aggressive on the set up in my Cavalier. The car made a move to the left when I put it in second. Then I put the Jeg's machine in third and it made another move. The car continued to move around and I was forced to press the clutch in and coast through the lights."
During the second qualifying session Jeg was the first of the two identical looking Jeg's Mail Order Chevrolet Cavaliers to take on the quartermile battlefield.
Jeg started the session on the outside looking in. He ran a 6.903 at 199.80 mph. The car made some moves down track from side-to-side, but Coughlin stayed in it to the big end. Jeg landed in the No. 14 position.
"I have to say, that run felt a lot better then what it looked like. I was surprised that we stayed in with the conditions getting better by the minute," said Jeg. "Now that we have a solid baseline to tune the Jeg's Chevy Cavalier from, I think that we will run much better tomorrow." Troy ran a 6.882 at 199.91 mph. He was getting closer and closer to the center line as he and his Jeg's machine approached the finish line. Troy moved into the No. 9 spot.
"It looks like we have found the sweet spot of this new Jeg's Chevy Cavalier," stated Troy with a smile. "We are learning more about what this new car wants with every run. Our entire team is smiling and ready to pick it up a notch tomorrow."
Text provided by Scott Woodruff
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