Jeg Coughlin Jr. and the SCAG Power Equipment / Outlaw Light Beer Pro Stock car made their way to the semifinals on Sunday at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway.
Plagued by rain for most of the weekend, Jeg Jr. managed to run a 6.516-second pass at 212.16 mph on Friday to qualify No. 12 after Saturday was rained out. His efforts landed him a first-round matchup against new teammate Greg Stanfield. The race would be over at the starting line with G. Stanfield going -.077 seconds red. Jeg Jr. would cross the finish line officially in 9.193 seconds at 110.95 mph.
In the quarterfinals, Jeg Jr. would take on KB Racing rival Eric Latino. With a .025 second reaction time and 6.565-second pass at 208.97 mph, the SCAG hot rod got the victory on a holeshot to Latino’s .038 reaction time and 6.553 pass at 210.31. The semifinals were a legendary lineup with six-time world champion Jeg Jr. facing reigning and six-time Pro Stock world champion Greg Anderson.
The race was decided by three-thousandths of a second. Jeg Jr.’s killer .004 reaction time along with his 6.572-second pass at 209.23 mph came up just short to Anderson’s .032 reaction time and 6.541 pass at 210.54.
“The start of the season has been quite a marathon. We banged the wall at the SCAG PRO Superstar Shootout specialty race then there was a thrash to attend to the damage and we spent a week at Gainesville Raceway to test before race one of the NHRA Drag Racing Series season,” Jeg Jr. said. “All told we are very happy with the progress we made from Tuesday right up to the semifinal round we lost to Greg Anderson by .0035 seconds. Just a whisker. We’re looking forward to heading west to compete in Arizona, California and Nevada.”
Coming off a dominating win at the SCAG PRO Superstar Shootout, Troy Coughlin Jr., Jeg Jr.’s nephew, qualified No. 6 with a 6.494 second pass at 212.23 mph. Troy Jr. had a clean first round pass of 6.555 seconds and 210.18 mph while his first-round opponent, teammate Aaron Stanfield, had to pedal to a 7.237 at 153.51. In the second round, eventual race winner Dallas Glenn would have 6.571 pass at 209.65 mph to better Troy Jr.’s 6.591 at 209.36.
In his first race with Elite Motorsports, Greg Stanfield led the five-car team in qualifying with his 6.491-second run at 212.09 mph that put him fifth.
Elite Motorsports will return to competition March 21-23 at Firebird Motorsports Park for the NHRA Arizona Nationals.
This story was originally published on March 10, 2025. 
