ELITE MOTORSPORTS LOOKING FOR CONTINUED SUCCESS AT NHRA WINTERNATIONALS

POMONA, Calif. (April 08, 2026) – Elite Motorsports, one of the most dynamic teams in NHRA Drag Racing, brings its seven-car camp to the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Drag Strip, race three of 20 on the 2026 Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series schedule.

After five years, Jeg Coughlin Jr., a six-time world champion and future Hall of Famer, is back in the familiar yellow and gold of JEGS, the company his family started, cultivated and still actively promote. With two races under his belt in the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season, Jeg Jr., the 69-time Pro Stock national event winner sits eighth in points after a semifinal finish at the sweltering NHRA Arizona Nationals.

“On to Pomona! I love Pomona and Southern California, and it looks like we’ll be treated with some cooler temperatures after the scorcher we had in Phoenix. Whatever the weather brings, we’ll be ready to make some laps,” Jeg Jr. said. “I’ve had a lot of success at Pomona. I think one of the headlines after, fortunately, one of my many wins there was ‘Jeggy’s Love Affair with Pomona.’ And really, it’s been just that.”

Jeg Jr. has taken home the Wally at Pomona Dragstrip in Pro Stock eight times, fourth most in the category and second most of any active Pro Stock drivers. He has wins at the NHRA Winternationals in 2020, 2000 and 1999. He also won the additional 50th Anniversary Nationals event contested in 2001.

“I’ve gotten the chance to be in the winners circle for the Winternationals and the fall Finals, I’ve won championships at Pomona and raced in the sportsman series. It’s just an exciting place to be,” Jeg Jr. said. “With LAX right up the road, we have fans from Australia, Hawaii and all over the United States. All there to cheer on NHRA Drag Racing. It feels like a reunion every time we come out to Pomona with all the fans I’ve met over the years. So, I’m excited to get back behind the wheel and see if we can make some more noise.”

In addition to regular competition in the NHRA Winternationals, Jeg Jr. and teammate Greg Stanfield, driver of the Janac Brothers Racing Pro Stock entry, will also compete in the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge during Saturday qualifying. For championship bonus points and a cash prize, each will have a rematch against their NHRA Arizona Nationals semifinal opponents in the first qualifying session of the day before a winner is crowned during the final qualifying session. Jeg Jr. will face nephew Cody Coughlin while G. Stanfield will race reigning world champion Dallas Glenn.

With his semifinal appearance in Arizona, G. Stanfield enters the weekend sixth in points as he looks for his third professional win at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip. His first victory came during the 2000 NHRA Finals in the no longer contested Pro Stock Truck category while his first Pro Stock victory came in the fall of 2011. Both years he was also runner-up at the Winternationals.

Six-time world champion and winningest female in motorsports history Erica Enders and her Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage / Melling Performance / R+L Carriers team lead Elite Motorsports in the Pro Stock points standings. After a semifinal finish and quarterfinal exit to start the season, the two-time In-N-Out Burger Pomona Drag Strip winner sits fifth, a vast improvement from the 12th-place the team was in this time last year. Enders most recently won the Winternationals in 2022.

In Top Fuel, motorsports icon Tony Stewart and the R+L Carriers team are holding their own sitting sixth in the points after two consistent weekends. In his first season under the Elite Motorsports banner, Stewart has qualified fifth and had quarterfinal exits at both the NHRA Gatornationals and Arizona Nationals. Stewart, who broke through for his first Top Fuel win in the spring of 2025, is looking to make it to the finals of the Winternationals for the second consecutive year. He came up short to Clay Millican last season.

Aaron Stanfield and his JHG / Melling / Janac Brothers team are no strangers to success at Pomona Dragstrip. A. Stanfield most recently picked up victory at the historical venue during the fall NHRA Finals in 2023. The versatile driver had a Winternationals victory at the venue in 2021 against six-time champion Greg Anderson and came up short to teammate Enders at the same event in 2022.

Troy Coughlin Jr. racing the reverse black and yellow midnight version of the JEGS Pro Stock car is looking for his first final round appearance at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip. While clear performance progress has been made, the five-time Pro Stock winner currently sits 14th in points after a pair of first round exits to start the season.

Also searching for not only his first taste of victory in Southern California but in the professional Pro Stock class is Stephen Bell in his 1320 LLC Pro Stock entry. Bell, who will race at least 10 events this season with Elite Motorsports, is 15th in points after qualifying 14th and exiting in the first round at the Gatornationals and Arizona Nationals.

Competition at the NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Pomona Drag Strip begins with four rounds of qualifying Friday at 1:30 and 4 p.m. and Saturday at 12:30 and 3 p.m. Eliminations are slated for Sunday at 11 a.m. Television coverage of the event will air on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) beginning Sunday with a qualifying show at 11:30 a.m. ET and a Finals show at 6:30 p.m. ET.