Jeg Coughlin Jr. claimed his 42nd career victory in NHRA Pro Stock Eliminator competition , defeating rival Kurt Johnson in the final round. Coughlin drove his JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt to a 6.643 at 208.01, while Johnson’s ACDelco Cobalt trailed with a 6.647 at 208.46. Coughlin moved to second in the point standings with the win, and now is virtually tied with points leader Jason Line who leads him by just two points going to Gainesville.

"I didn't realize Kurt had such a good record against us in the final, but I didn't take him lightly because he's always tough in the money round," said Coughlin, who beat Steve Spiess, Jason Line and Ron Krisher in earlier rounds. "We didn't have the best car today by any stretch, but we just kept crawling our way through them and keeping our head up. To see that win light come on in the final round with the crowd we had today and the points and the whole bit, it feels fantastic. The chips kind of fell the way they did for us to come home with the greatest achievement, and that's a race win here. You always go into race day wanting a win, but we kind of struggled with it. It seems like in my career in Pro Stock that I've very rarely had the feeling of being up front and not wanting to screw up. We just went up each time and raced hard for it."

Prior to this meeting at Firebird International Raceway, the two veteran racers had matched up 55 times in the past with Coughlin holding a 30-25 edge. But K.J. held a distinct 7-0 advantage with a trophy on the line. That jinx has finally been lifted.

Starting from the No. 4 qualifying position, Coughlin beat Steve Spiess with a 6.619, Pomona winner Jason Line with a 6.653, and Ron Krisher with a 6.651 to reach his 69th final round. His average reaction time on the day was .032 seconds and he had the quickest reaction time of the last three rounds.

This win moved the back-to-back and four-time series champion to second place in the Full Throttle points and leaves him just two markers behind first-place Line and 14 ahead of third-place Greg Anderson.