Coughlin out by .001 seconds in Brainerd (NHRA/JEGS)
Coughlin out by .001 seconds in Brainerd BRAINERD, Minn. (Aug. 16) -- Jeg Coughlin Jr. knew he needed a good reaction time in his quarterfinal race Sunday afternoon against Greg Anderson and he delivered by leaving the starting line in a spectacular .021 seconds, well ahead of Anderson's .042-second launch. But although he led at every incremental timer down the track, at the finish line Anderson was able to sneak by and win by one-thousandth of a second, the smallest margin of victory of the season. "We had a little too much real estate to cover," Coughlin said. "That was our best run all weekend in relation to the others but he still managed to nip us there by a thousandth. It's definitely disappointing but all you can do at this point is pick up the pieces and move on to next weekend's race in Reading." The entire weekend was a little off for Coughlin and his JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt teammates. They qualified in the bottom half of the field for the first time all year and then lost the final round of qualifying to rain. But as he's done all year, Coughlin rose to the occasion once eliminations started, handily beating the higher-qualified car of Vinnie Deceglie with a 6.707 at 205.856 mph to Deceglie's 6.878 at 175.16 mph in Round 1. He then moved on for his big race against Anderson but the final numbers favored his opponent, 6.658 at 206.80 mph to Coughlin's 6.680 at 206.32 mph. The photo finish showed Anderson ahead by a few inches. "We felt killer coming into this race," Coughlin said. "We tested last week in Charlotte and felt like the car was going to be very strong. We got here and were just a little off. We got better each round but in the end it wasn't enough. "We're trying to get back in game mode and get set for the playoffs. We gave one up today but there is plenty of chances left and as of right now we're still in the points lead so we're in good shape. We already know we've punched our ticket to the playoffs. The rest is just icing on the cake." --30-- Information regarding JEGS Mail Order can be found at _www.jegs.com_ (http://www.jegs.com/) and for media/fan resources checkout _www.teamjegs.com_ (http://www.teamjegs.com/) . Media Contact: Scott "Woody" Woodruff JEGS, Director of Media & Motorsports Office: 800.345.4545 (3.412) Mobile: 614.595.1820 Fax: 740.362.4385 Email: _jegspr@aol.com_ (mailto:jegspr@aol.com) -or- _scott.woodruff@jegs.com_ (mailto:scott.woodruff@jegs.com)