Some people say that the “West Coast Is the Best Coast.” Cody Coughlin is indeed the case. While he isn’t necessarily visiting the coast, Coughlin is heading out west to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for his eighth NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race of 2016 with Kyle Busch Motorsports for the DC Solar 350 on Saturday, October 1.
The 20-year-old driver led his first laps in NCWTS competition and was up front for much ofSaturday‘s 175-lap race on the flat, one-mile oval of New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Coughlin is looking to build off of those positives in Vegas, but Saturday night’s race in Sin City will be completely different.
“Going from New Hampshire to Vegas will be a little bit of a transition,” explained Coughlin. “New Hampshire is so flat and you use a lot of brake while Vegas is a fast mile-and-a-half track and is all about momentum. I like faster tracks so I’m looking to getting out to Vegas. I think the strong run we had this past week will give us some positive momentum heading into that race.”
Coughlin’s positive momentum will give him a great chance of setting a new career-best finish. His current career-best finish of 12th came the last time he raced a 1.5-mile race track, in June at Texas Motor Speedway, a track similar to Las Vegas.
“I just like running fast race tracks,” Coughlin said. “It suits my style. Winchester Speedway is one of the fastest short tracks I go to and that’s one of my better race tracks. I think that’s why we’ve had some success on those intermediate tracks. I hope we continue to have that success and I continue to learn because we’re knocking on the door of our first top-10 finish together.
“Bono (crew chief, Kevin Manion) and the team, both at the shop and at the track have done so much to help me this year with my transition. I’m fortunate that Kyle and Samantha Busch give me this opportunity to drive their Toyota Tundras. It’s truly an amazing opportunity and I feel very blessed. I also have to thank God for keeping all of us safe and my parents (Di and John Coughlin) and sister (Kennedi) for standing with me through it all.”
The DC Solar 350 for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is a 146-lap/219-mile race onSaturday, October 1 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It is a one-day event, so Coughlin will practice, qualify and race his No. 51 JEGS.com Toyota Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports all in one day.
Practice will begin at 8:30 a.m. PT and will end at 11 a.m. PT. Qualifying will take place at 3:10 p.m. PT. The qualifying format will be single-truck runs. There will be two rounds of qualifying and both can be seen live on Fox Sports 2. The DC Solar 350 will see the green flag fly at 5:30 p.m. PT/8:30 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 1.
For more information on Cody Coughlin and Team JEGS, visit www.teamjegs.com and follow Cody on Twitter, @Cody_Coughlin. Follow Team JEGS on Twitter, @TeamJEGS, and “Like” JEGS Performance on Facebook. Also be sure to check out Cody’s new website,www.codycoughlin.com. Any other inquiries for Cody Coughlin can be sent to Bob Dillner via email at bd51sports@gmail.com.
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!