Jeg Coughlin and his Elite Motorsports / JEGS Camaro have been the ones to beat in the Pro Stock class this weekend at the Thunder Valley NHRA Nationals.

And nothing changed Saturday, as he maintained his No. 1 qualifying position on the strength of Friday’s run, when he covered the Bristol Dragway quarter-mile in 6.694 seconds at 204.85 mph.

With his third No. 1 starting position this season in hand, Coughlin will begin pursuit of his first 2017 victory and 59th of his Pro Stock career with a bye run in the shortened ladder. The 16-car field is three entrants short this weekend.

“We’d certainly rather see the full field, without question,” Coughlin said, contending the sport is healthy and the class is strong, despite the shortage of cars at this race and several others recently. “Pro Stock has been one of those classes where the price of poker has just escalated pretty hard in the early 2000s, in the KB era. KB brought in such a great wealth of technology and horsepower and showed us for a couple of years. For us to compete, the price tag has gone up. Some of the teams kind of faltered away, knowing their teams’ chances of winning maybe had slimmed back a bit. I think Pro Stock’s going to make a good rebound.”

That’s his overall vision, but right now, he has on blinders, looking only at Sunday’s eliminations that start at 1 p.m. ET.

Coughlin, who has qualified in the top half of the field at all 11 races this year, wants to turn this qualifying performance into a victory. He lost in the final round earlier this spring to Bo Butner at Houston and Tanner Gray at Topeka. And he said Elite’s dogged labor and this latest effort should put him in a better-than-average position to last deep into race day.

"We've made four pretty good runs so far," he said. "In Q3 this morning, it spun the tire a little bit midway through low gear, but the other three sessions were all pretty nice runs. I think we've got a strong baseline going into Sunday.

“Our Elite team has been working so hard on both engine and track performance. Pro Stock is one of those classes, it's a never-rest situation. You can crawl your way to the top, but if you rest for even a week, you'll fall back a few spots. My hat's off to the entire Elite team. They've been thrashing extremely hard in the midst of seven races in eight weeks and that will tax any team. But our team is strong, prepared and they communicate well, which makes these stretches much nicer. They've been trying hard to match the horsepower, chassis and clutch and we've been kind of R&Ding a new set-up in both my car and Erica [teammate Enders] the past few weekends. It finally looks like both cars are happy. I'm No. 1 and she's No. 3, so it looks like all of the hard work is paying off."

His record this year includes four semifinal finishes along with the two runner-ups, and he said, "It's been a great season, such a relief after the struggles of 2016. It feels fantastic to be on the positive side of things this year. The team is much more at ease this year, and thankfully they're not having to work 24/7, week-in and week-out like last year. Plus, we've got fast cars on top of it all, so performance-wise we feel great. Our Camaro is a brand-new Rick Jones-built car this year, and it's a mean machine.

“Across four race teams, the Elite Motorsports crew is just so strong, and it's rewarding for me to see them smiling. Getting low qualifier is a feather in their caps, an indicator that all the hard work they're putting in is all worthwhile,” he said.

"No matter what happens tomorrow with me or my brother Troy, who already won his first-round race in Pro Mod and is on to the quarterfinals, as well as his son and my nephew T.J. (Troy Jr.) racing in Top Fuel, it'll be memorable Father's Day,” Coughlin said. “It's a special weekend for all fathers and as children ourselves it's a chance to be thankful to our fathers. It's a proud day as a parent and I would love nothing more than to bring home another big win on such a special day."