Ill-Handling Car Results in Coughlin’s Top-10 Streak Being Broken
Long Pond, PA — Joe Gibbs Racing Development driver Cody Coughlin has turned plenty of heads already in 2015. A front-row start at Daytona (FL) and a top-five finish; the pole at Talladega (AL) and a second place run; and then a top-10 result in his first start on a road course (New Jersey Motorsports Park) helped boost Coughlin’s confidence going into Saturday’s Pocono ARCA 200 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, PA. Unfortunately, an ill-handling race car resulted in a twelfth place finish.
Coughlin’s streak of six-straight top-10 finishes in ARCA (including four top-five finishes in that span) was snapped. The 19 year-old knows, just like in the biggest leagues of NASCAR, those results are part of the game on occasion.
“We just never got the car close to where it needed to be on Saturday,”said Coughlin, who qualified sixth for the race and finished just behind his teammate Frank Kimmel, a 10-time ARCA champ. “It was really loose and many of the changes just made it worse in other areas. But, it’s not from a lack of effort from anyone at Venturini Motorsports. The entire team worked so hard this weekend, I’m disappointed for them; we are so close to getting that win. This is just one of those week’s where we have to pick up the pieces and start concentrating on the next race.”
That next just happens to be next week when the ARCA Racing Series does battle at Michigan Int’l Speedway in Brooklyn, MI. The Corrigan Oil 200 will go green next Friday, June 12 at 5:45pm.
Just like this past weekend at Pocono, Coughlin will be joined by his Team JEGS crew members Kevin Hamlin (Team Manager), Scott Wimmer (Spotter) and Dave Holt (crew member).
His parents, John & Di, and his sister, Kennedi, will also be there with a large contingent of fans from their home-state of Ohio.
“We are looking forward to Michigan and having a bunch of people there to help support our team. My family means so much to me; we are blessed beyond measure to be able to do what we do have have such good people around us.”
For more information on Cody Coughlin and Team JEGS, visit www.teamjegs.com and follow Cody on Twitter, @cody_coughlin. You can also follow Team JEGS on Twitter, @TeamJEGS and “Like”JEGS Performance on Facebook.
Sources: Bob Dilner, 51 Sports/Cody Coughlin PR