Greg Anderson  (James Drew photo)

PRO STOCK

In Pro Stock, Greg Anderson raced to his 71st career victory and fifth at the Winternationals, by powering his Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac to a 6.549 at 210.87 to hold off Jeg Coughlin’s JEGS.com/Mopar Dodge Avenger, which trailed with a 6.586 at 209.62.

Anderson raced past Larry Morgan, Allen Johnson and teammate and defending world champ, Jason Line, to advance to the final.

“I wasn’t the quickest driver out here today, but I was very consistent,” Anderson said. “We managed to stop the big yellow Mopar [of Jeg Coughlin in the final]. He sure came out swinging. You’re always aware of how good Jeg is driving. I’ve never been very good at tuning that kind of stuff out, but it worked today. The crew made great decisions, and here we are back in the winner’s circle again.”

Mike Edwards turned on the red light against Coughlin in the semifinal.  (James Drew photo)

Coughlin, who was the No. 14 qualifier, beat Ronnie Humphrey, Vincent Nobile and Mike Edwards on his march to the finals against Anderson. It was his first race back following a year away from the pro ranks.

"Coming into the day, we feel like we had the performance to be a dark horse," Coughlin said. "We hadn't quite hit our stride through the first three rounds of qualifying, and when we came out with that 6.58 (second pass) with that first run, we weren't far off from the quickest guy. We felt like we could peck away it and put ourselves in position to go a few more rounds and maybe win a race today."

Coughlin opened the day with an upset, holeshot victory over No. 3 qualifier Ronnie Humphrey. Coughlin had a .021-second reaction time, which was a huge margin over Humphrey's .059. With that extra time in his pocket, Coughlin turned a 6.581 second pass at 210.47 mph into a winner despite Humphrey running a 6.569 at 211.99 mph.

That was followed by a tight victory over Nobile. Coughlin was second off the line there, but ran a 6.590 at 209.85 mph to hit the stripe ahead of Nobile, who crossed in 6.609 at 209.43 mph. Coughlin advanced to the finals after Edwards jumped the gun by .004 seconds and fouled out. Coughlin ran a 6.615 at 209.30 mph.

"We struggled in Round 2 and Round 3 for varying reasons, but still moved on," Coughlin said. "This is just a taste of what's coming for this team. Roy Simmons and Nick Ferri are going to continue to work hard on the tune-up and the horsepower.

"With the limited data we had going into this race, I'm so proud of what this group accomplished this weekend. I thank my Pop (Jeg Sr.) for being a ringleader this weekend.

"I'm about as fired up as I get at a race I didn't win."