The POWERade Drag Racing Series is entering an unprecedented, pressure-packed
stretch of two races that ultimately will decide all four NHRA champions. The
newly-implemented Countdown to the Championship has pared the field of eligible
racers to the top eight and then the top four, who will now race for the title
over the final two events of the season in Las Vegas and Pomona,
Calif.
With so much money and prestige on the line over consecutive
weekends, the feelings of stress and anxiety have never been higher in 56 years
of NHRA competition, which suits Pro Stock driver Jeg Coughlin just fine. In 18
years of drag racing, the 37-year-old Coughlin has won three world titles and 50
national events.
Over that time Coughlin has developed a well-deserved
reputation as one of the most unflappable racers in the history of straight-line
competition. That coolness should serve him well in the days to come.
"I
think it will all come down to who performs the best over these last eight
rounds of racing," Coughlin said. "The pressure is on the drivers. I look at the
four of us in this final group and between us we've won 19 of the first 21
races. That tells me our cars are pretty doggone similar and we're all making
about the same horsepower. The difference could come down to which one of us
performs flawlessly when the helmets go on."