Talk about kicking off your retirement tour in style.

After announcing that the 2020 season would be his last in NHRA Pro Stock competition on Saturday, Jeg Coughlin proceeded to dominate the season opener with a weekend of perfection. Coughlin had low elapsed time in every qualifying session and then proceeded to do the same on Sunday, sweeping his way to a win at the 60th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

“It was quite a weekend. Rickie Jones and Richard Freeman and the whole Elite team just did a fantastic job over the winter,” Coughlin said. “We tested one time, made three runs and then turned the wheel over to Troy (Coughlin) Jr. who made 21 runs over the next four days. Today’s race was outstanding. I can’t recall in my 20+ years in Pro Stock where I was low for each and every one of the eight sessions and won the race. That is quite a testament to the team and hopefully it is something we can hold onto for a little bit.”

Coughlin kicked off the season - the 50th for the Pro Stock category - with a win over rival Jason Line. Line, who also announced that this season would be his last over the weekend, had a small starting line advantage, but Coughlin drove around him in the JEGS.com Chevrolet Camaro and powered his way to a 6.522-second pass at 210.80 mph to earn the Wally. Line followed him across the stripe with a 6.565 at 209.56 mph in the Summit Racing Equipment Chevy in the first final between the two drivers since 2014.

“I was the second pair in the semifinals and, naturally, I was rooting for Erica (Enders) to light the win light and I could tell from the crew in front of me that it didn’t work out well for us there,” Coughlin said. “Then I started to think how climactic it would be with Jason and I in the first final of the year and both of us announcing we were stepping away from behind the wheel.

“In the final round, when I let the clutch out the car accelerated, lifted the front end up and when I put it in second gear, I said to myself, ‘if this thing makes it to the other end, he better have a whole hell of a lot of horsepower because he ain’t coming around this one.’ Fortunately, that is the way it played out. The celebration started about 1,400 feet by the time the win light really hit me. I was already fired up when I got to the finish line because I knew it was a good run.”

Coughlin raced to his 64th career Pro Stock victory with wins over Joey Grose, Chris McGaha and Kenny Delco. In all three matchups Coughlin simply outran his competition with Elite Motorsports power, posting the quickest elapsed time in each session and never trailing with passes of 6.542, 6.546 and 6.535 to advance to his 112th Pro Stock final.

Line reached the final with wins over Alex Laughlin, Fernando Cuadra Jr. and Erica Enders.

“It was a very special weekend without question,” Coughlin said. “It is ironic how everything played out from Friday all the way through to today. We are definitely going to ingrain this in our memory bank. As racers fortunate to win a lot of rounds, win a lot of races, win a lot of championships, we are very guilty of not living in the moment. This one is going to stick for a while and bring some excitement and joy.”

Coughlin was especially reflective of making his final start at the famed Winternationals, celebrating the races 60th event during the same season that Pro Stock began its 50th season in NHRA competition.

“I think the history and the heritage here is unmatched,” Coughlin said. “With NHRA right down in Glendora, it is just neat for a kid growing up reading National Dragster every week and later in life racing down these NHRA tracks in many, many classes, it is pretty cool. Pomona has always been special. It feels like my second home.”

Now Coughlin shifts his focus to the rest of 2020 as he looks to add one final championship to his collection during his final full season in NHRA Pro Stock competition.

“We are looking to have a fun year, not only for the reason of Breaking Barriers Tour 2020. With this Elite team, if you are not having a good time, you missed one heck of a chance,” Coughlin said. “We are looking to have a great year. I have some awesome teammates and one of us is going to be making noise each and every week.”