Jeg Coughlin Jr. ready to perform at one of his favorite tracks: Englishtown

ENGLISHTOWN, NJ — Five-time Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. has raced at countless tracks across the country — and the world — during his long, stellar career, and famed Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, site of this weekend’s NHRA Summernationals, is on the list of his favorite racetracks.

“If I had to pick five home tracks, it would definitely be on that list,” Coughlin said. “I’ve got a lot of great memories of Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. It starts from my early years in Sportsman racing through to several key wins in Pro Stock. I’m looking forward to getting there.”

Coughlin should, as he has won three times in six final-round appearances in Englishtown. He won the race in 2014, 2009, and 2000 and raced to the final round in 2007, 2002, and 1998. In three of those seasons — 2007, 2002, and 2000 — Coughlin also won the Pro Stock championships.

But success in Englishtown is only one reason why Coughlin is such a fan.

“Englishtown is always an extremely fun race,” Coughlin said. “That core group of fans are drag race junkies. They really enjoy the racing, from sun up to sundown. We enjoy performing in front of them, without question.”

Coughlin would love to put on a good performance with the Magneti Marelli offered by Mopar/JEGS.com Dodge Dart this weekend, hoping to continue the development of the car by his Elite Motorsports team.

“We’re excited to see the fruits of our labor here,” Coughlin said. “We’re planning to do some testing before the event, and we come off the race in Epping (N.H.) with a little bit of momentum, but then we have a little flat taste. We just didn’t perform well on Monday. We performed OK on Saturday in the heat, but then we were sluggish come Monday on race day.”

Coughlin sits 10th in the Pro Stock points standings after nine of 24 races.

“We need to continue to peck away at this thing,” Coughlin said. “We need to get the morale and the confidence for the crew chiefs, the engineers, the drivers, and everyone in between. We’ve got a championship-quality team, and we’re stretching to get our performance there.”

Pro Stock qualifying sessions are scheduled for 3:45 and 6:15 p.m. ET, Friday, and 1:45 and 4:15 p.m., Saturday. Eliminations start at noon, Sunday. FOX Sports 1 will carry qualifying action from 9 to 11 a.m., Sunday. Eliminations will air from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m., Sunday.