By Scott Woodruff. Photo by Jeff Burk

Team Jeg's Pro Stock Truck Driver John Coughlin returns to the driver's seat after sitting out the NHRA Nationals in Joliet, IL. The eldest of the four Coughlin brothers elected not to run the September event in order to allow the team to focus their efforts on the new engine program and to spend some time with wife Diana and children Austin and Kennedi.

"Electing not to run in Joliet was a tough decision," said John. "It allowed the crew at Team Jeg's to focus more time and effort toward our engine program. It wasn't easy watching the race from home, but I feel it was the right thing to do. I enjoyed the weekend at home with my family, but now I'm ready to go to the Texas Motorplex and get back behind the wheel of my Jeg's Mail Order S-10. We had the engine freshened up over the break. That should help our goal of going rounds on Sunday, we'll just have to wait and see."

Mike Coughlin hopes that it will be business as usual when he returns to Ennis, Texas. Mike has set the Pro Stock Truck scene on fire as of late with three consecutive No. 1 qualifying positions and event wins at two of the three previous events. Mike also rolls into the O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals holding the national record for et. and speed for the class. Mike set the record at the NHRA Nationals in Joliet, IL. with an exceptional run of 7.379 seconds at 182.65 mph.

"It's hard for me not to get excited about the performance of my Jeg's Mail Order Chevy S-10," said Mike. "The engine has been spectacular, and the crew has been making some great tuning and chassis calls. It feels great to be so competitive. Hopefully we can continue to run well the remainder of the season."

Mike enters the O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals No. 7 in the Winston Points ranking. Mike is 15 points behind 6th place Taylor Lastor and trails 5th place Todd Patterson by 47 points. John and Mike met up for an all Jeg's quarter final at last year's event. They hope to make it an all Jeg's final at the Texas Motorplex this year.