NHRA (ATLANTA) - COUGHLIN OFF TO GOOD START...

Jeg Coughlin Jr. got off to a solid start at this weekend's 27th annual NHRA Southern Nationals with a quick 6.653-second pass at 206.80 mph Friday evening, which earned him the lofty No. 3 position in the Pro Stock field. The top qualifier at the last two national events, Coughlin's Slammers Ultimate Milk Chevrolet Cobalt remains one of the best cars in the class. The two-time class champion with two victories at this facility remains fourth in the national points.

"We're on a good roll, no doubt," Coughlin said. "If we're not the No. 1 car we like to be within striking distance so we're right where we want to be. We opened with a 6.70 at 205 mph so to make a big improvement like that in Round 2 is encouraging." Everyone in the Pro Stock category was able to take advantage of numerous delays in the schedule that pushed the second round back to nighttime conditions, which allowed them to run under much cooler conditions.

"It was exciting because I kept hearing the numbers the cars in front of us were running and it just kept getting quicker and quicker," Coughlin said. "It gets your blood pumping because you know this might be 'the session' of qualifying and you want to make absolutely sure you get the most out of your run. You can't make any mistakes. "Of course, I've got so much faith in my guys and I knew I'd have the car under me to make a good pass. Then it was just down to execution and I'm pleased with how it all came together. "Tomorrow we run during the day so the field is probably set at this point. We'll push this thing 100 percent each run and prepare our tune-up for race day."