TEAM REPORTS (LAS VEGAS) - Coughlin and team look to pick up pace tomorrow (NHRA/JEGS)

Coughlin and team look to pick up pace tomorrow The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is one of Jeg Coughlin Jr.'s favorite drag strips and the state-of-the-art facility helped him deliver two nearly identical runs Friday. Without the usual Friday night run, most of the cars in the Pro Stock class ran very similar numbers and Coughlin's JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt was no exception, posting a 6.796 at 203.52 in Round 1 and a slightly better 6.790 at 203.00 mph in Round 2.

At the midway point of qualifying, Coughlin is solidly in the Pro Stock field in 11th place. He'll look to improve on that spot in Saturday's final two qualifying sessions, scheduled for 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

"We made two decent runs but we can certainly pick up the pace," Coughlin said. "We weren't as efficient as we needed to be. The car was great down low but between 5o feet and probably 150 feet or so we lost something there and when you lose that momentum it's hard to catch back up."

Coughlin is one of four racers left alive in the Countdown to the Championship. The other three men -- Dave Connolly, Greg Anderson, and Allen Johnson -- also earned spots in the field on Friday. Connolly is second with a 6.754, Anderson is fifth with a 6.766, while Johnson is sixth with a 6.766.

"We have a lot of great data to tune from, mine and Dave's, so I fully expect for us to step it up tomorrow," Coughlin said. "Having four daytime sessions is what we've been asking for so we can take advantage of this format this weekend and peck away at what we've done so far."

After reshuffling the POWERade points for the second time this season, Coughlin entered this event one round, or 20 points, out of the lead.