Two-time JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour champion Cody Coughlin returned to victory lane for the second time in 2020 in the Pro Late Model, this time in more favorable post-race conditions. After an altercation with Jack Dossey III at the conclusion of the ARCA/CRA Super Series event at Anderson Speedway three weeks ago, nobody got close enough to challenge him for the lead.
“This one’s a more peaceful win,” Coughlin told Speed51. “The last one a couple weeks ago everyone wanted to fight me and now no fights, so that’s good.”
After scoring a top-five in the Super Late Model in the race prior, the Ohio driver quickly worked from his eighth starting spot and found himself in the lead by lap 30 while using a flurry of yellows to aid his charge to the front.
However, it was another string of yellows late that ultimately decided the race. With two-time ARCA/CRA Super Series champion Travis Braden and former Lebanon I-44 Speedway champion Cole Williams knocking on the door, Coughin ran his fastest laps of the race in the final laps.
“I was trying to take it easy on the tires when we got the early. I haven’t raced here a whole lot but I’ve noticed the tire wear can sneak up on you. I was just nervous there at the end with Braden and the No.46 (Cole Williams), they’re always fast. I was fortunate to hold them off.”
Coughlin now owns four wins in CRA competition this season, two with the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour and two with the ARCA/CRA Super Series. He is already locked into the Championship Four at Winchester Speedway with the All-Stars Tour by virtue of his regular season title, and is sitting comfortably in the Super Series points hunt with a chance to accomplish the same feat he did back in 2016 – win both series titles in one year.
“We’ve been really good in this series all year, so I feel confident about our chances. In the Super Series hopefully we can get a little bit better and contend for that one too and do what we did in 2016.”
At one point in the final 20 laps, Travis Braden was reeling Coughlin in at a clip of a tenth a lap. A yellow seemed to stall Braden’s speed late, losing ground to Coughlin on the final restarts before settling for a second-place run.
“We had a great car, Cody had a really awesome car as well. It was hard racing and we had to get up through there, it’s not easy,” Braden said. “We just didn’t have enough there at the end. It is what it is, it seems like we always have fast cars here, we just can’t win one of these things.”
Williams backed up his runner-up effort in May with a third Sunday night. Former ARCA/CRA Super Series champion Josh Brock finished fourth, while rookie Chase Burda earned a career-best fifth.
Click here to watch a replay of the CRA Labor Day Twin 100’s at Lebanon I-44 Speedway.
-Story by: Koty Geyer, Speed51 National Correspondent – Twitter: @kgeyer3
-Photo Credit: Speed51/Melissa Strahley
JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour – Lebanon I-44 Speedway Results:
- Cody Coughlin
- Travis Braden
- Cole Williams
- Josh Brock
- Chase Burda
- Mandy Chick
- Charlie Keeven
- James Krueger
- Dylan Bates
- Trever McCoy
- Justin Blake
- Joe Ross
- Joey Strode
- Brian Demland
- Tim Swearengin
- Richard Lewis
- Wes Griffith jr
- Zachary Tinkle
