NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Entering the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK following his runner-up finish at the NHRA Southern Nationals has given Troy Coughlin Jr. a newfound confidence. Not that the racer from a long lineage of racing royalty ever lost it, but it's wild what going to a final round can do for one's morale.

“The final really does put you in a good mood and back into a race mood again,” Coughlin said. “When you struggle that long, I think you can get out of race mode really fast and really far. I also think it's mainly mental, you can get by a couple rounds and see a couple win and make a couple of laps on Sunday, with that, you kind of get, I'll call it, a jack factor.”

Coughlin explained that his team is always learning and has been making a few recent changes to his JEGS.com Camaro, including some suspension adjustments.

“Those guys obviously worked their tails off on the dyno, so we’re always getting new developments, but we’re also doing a lot of suspension, we'll call it testing, and just seeing what we can learn on what this car likes on this track, with this air, and just to build our army of notes up,” he explained.

Not only has his team been working hard in the shop, but the Ohio native has also been making minor changes to his racing game. However, when it comes to climbing into the car, Coughlin tries to be consistent and calm in his routine and tries to remember to enjoy each moment.

“You can struggle for a while, and you just have to make a small change,” Coughlin said. “Maybe it's the way I sit, maybe it's the way I hold the clutch pedal, and maybe it's the angle of my foot on the clutch pedal. It's a small thing, small changes… a new set of fire gloves, shoes, anything different. The six-inch playing fields in our minds are such a battlefield that when you can win that one, you can pretty much win anything and anything you do in life.”

Something that Coughlin tries not to let creep into the “six-inch” playing field of his mind is that it’s been two years since he’s collected a win. The last time he hoisted a Wally was in 2024 at the NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, New Hampshire.

“I'm just taking it one lap at a time. Every race is a new race, whether you win or lose, and I’m just learning, getting better,” Coughlin shared. “We don't lose, we learn over here, and we're going to learn more from our losses than we are victories, essentially, so we're just going to be as positive as we can.”

When asked if he still learns from his uncle, Jeg Coughlin Jr, he answered, “Every lunch and every breakfast. I get coffee at his motorhome for a reason. The countless times I've asked questions on the mental side of drag racing are such a challenge. He's made so many laps, and it's just a great, great juggernaut to learn from, and he's been right there. I'm the luckiest kid in the pits, I've always said that.”

One thing that continued to echo throughout Coughlin’s message was positivity, as he hopes to continue to capitalize on the momentum he and his Elite Motorsports team have built at Route 66 Raceway.

“We're running well, we're making really good runs,” Coughlin said with a smile. “We're learning a lot, again to echo that, but I think we're just taking it one run at a time, trying to live within the six inches in front of our face and just trying to be the best that we can be. The goal is to make two good laps today, and then we'll work on it tomorrow morning.”