Jeg Coughlin Jr.’s Chevrolet Cobalt shook the tires, and then turned sideways during final eliminations at the NHRA Gatornationals forcing him to abort his quarter-final match against Allen Johnson.

"We got what we needed at the tree and it could have been a close one at the other end but we didn't get it done today," Coughlin said. "We win as a team and we go down together. I know there are a lot of champions in this group so we'll get together and fix what we need to fix and get after it again in Houston. Jeg Coughlin Jr.’s Chevrolet Cobalt shook the tires, and then turned sideways during final eliminations at the NHRA Gatornationals forcing him to abort his quarter-final match against Allen Johnson.

"We got what we needed at the tree and it could have been a close one at the other end but we didn't get it done today," Coughlin said. "We win as a team and we go down together. I know there are a lot of champions in this group so we'll get together and fix what we need to fix and get after it again in Houston.

"I'm an optimistic person by nature but it's hard to avoid the fact that we struggled this weekend. We just didn't have a good car. The guys changed the engine out overnight but now we don't think that was the problem. We thought we knew what to give the car but it didn't like what we did."

Coughlin believes this weekend’s outcome warrants wholesale changes to their combination.

"We need to rework the recipe with the entire car and start fresh," said the 38-year-old from Delaware, Ohio. "We're seeing that the (lower elapsed time) numbers have been out there to get at each of the first three races but we've been just a click or two back. We just need to close that gap up a little and we'll be fine."