Jeg Coughlin Jr. ended the 2007 season with a perfect day of drag racing in his JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt, clinching his fourth world title en route to his 51st career victory.
Starting the day as an underdog, Coughlin took advantage of former points leader Greg Anderson’s untimely first-round loss to steal away the Pro Stock championship with a second-round victory over Richie Stevens. He then punctuated the day with convincing wins over Mike Edwards and Justin Humphreys to secure the trophy of the 43rd annual Auto Club NHRA Finals.
“Sunday morning last weekend in Las Vegas I told myself that if we were gonna make a charge at this championship we needed to get started, ” Coughlin said. “Then we went out there and raced to the final but lost to Greg and we were still a round and a half back with one race left.
“I tried to have a talk with myself this morning but I don’t know if I convinced myself completely. Then we get up there for the first round and I realize Greg and Dave Connolly, who was less than a round behind us, both lost and it was real clear that we had it all right in front of us.
“It came down to that race against Richie and I knew I wanted to be perfect. I’m really happy with my driving at these last two events and I was able to get another good light there and take the win and the championship. It was quite a feeling. “
Amid the hoopla, Coughlin had little time to refocus on the race at hand but he responded well, beating Mike Edwards and Humphreys to win the race.
“It was really like a 200-pound weight was off my shoulders after clinching the championship, ” Coughlin said. “From that point forward we were able to just relax and have some fun.
“I’m so happy for Victor and Brita Cagnazzi, our team owners, because they wanted this so bad. They’re excited and he’s already told me we have several more ahead of us, which sounds good to me.
“It’s a great day for JEGS.com and all of our employees. It was a special to have my pops with us for the second half of the year and he’s a big part of all this. All the crew guys, here and back at the shop, they all deserve one of these trophies. We’re going to have many celebrations for this one. It’s special. ”
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