Jeg Coughlin preps for Saturday morning with two good pulls (NHRA/JEG'S)

NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
NHRA Toyo Tires  Nationals  
Maple Grove Raceway
Reading, PA
Sept.  16th 
Jeg Coughlin - JEG'S Mail Order / Mopar - Dodge  Stratus RT (Pro Stock)
Friday Qualifying Summary  
Coughlin preps for Saturday morning with  two good pulls

Two-time Reading champion Jeg Coughlin  placed his Jeg's Mail Order Dodge 
Stratus R/T 12th after Friday's first two  rounds of professional qualifying at 
the 21st annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals  at Maple Grove Raceway. Coughlin 
made two solid passes on the day. He opened  with a 6.790-second run at 203.25 
mph in the afternoon and managed to improve to  a 6.777 at 202.94 mph at dusk to 
secure his spot on the ladder.

"We had  two good runs today and when you combine our data with my teammate 
Richie  Stevens' two runs, which were both within a couple thousandths of a 
second of my  runs, we have four great runs to get data from," Coughlin said. "I 
think  tomorrow morning will be the one that sets the field because it'll be 
cool in  the morning and there's supposed to be a bit of a cooling trend so we 
need to be  ready.

"We want to run better than we've been running, no doubt. It's not  that 
we're not trying our best. It appears we have some room for improvement so  we 
should be able to pick up here. I think it's pretty important to get into the  
top eight for obvious reasons."

Coughlin has two visits to Maple Grove's  winner's circle to his credit. He 
won the Super Gas title here in 1996 and  returned in 1999 to win the Pro Stock 
trophy. He also set a national record of  6.750 seconds here in 2001.

"I've always loved this place," he said.  "It's a great racing surface and 
even when it gets hot like it was earlier today  it still holds times. It's a 
great track and I'd love to find a quick way down  it tomorrow morning. It's 
time for some good news to come out of our camp. We're  all ready for that."

Qualifying resumes Saturday with the final two  sessions scheduled to begin 
at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Eliminations are slated for  Sunday. 

Additional information found at: _www.teamjegs.com_ 
(http://www.teamjegs.com/)