Five-time NHRA Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. will round out the field of eight Pro Stock drivers at Saturday’s 32nd annual K&N Horsepower Challenge at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The fan votes closed last weekend with Coughlin being determined the winner, but it does mean he will have to be paired up against the No. 1 seed Greg Anderson in the first round of the event.
Erica Enders, Jason Line, Chris McGaha, Drew Skillman, Shane Gray and Allen Johnson will also be competing. Enders is the defending winner of the event. In fact, this year’s running features four past winners with a total of 11 challenge wins between them.
The K&N Horsepower Challenge rounds will take place between qualifying rounds for the DENSO Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals on Saturday, with the event being shown on FS1.
“This is very exciting to be voted the fan seed of the 2016 K&N Horsepower Challenge,” said Coughlin. “A big thanks goes out to all of our friends and fans that helped us reach this goal. I was actually seeded to race in the 2015 K&N Horsepower Challenge, but was not racing Pro Stock last season and even though I had a couple of teams offer cars to drive for the event I ended up opening my spot to another Pro Stock racer. So, it feels great to be back in action at this year’s event and would love nothing more than to add a fourth Horsepower Challenge trophy to our mantle.
“I was talking to Richard Freeman, and everyone at Elite Motorsports is ready for the event," Coughlin added, "we are returning to the event as winning the past two K&N Horsepower Challenge events with Erica Enders, and have three shots to claim the trophy this year with Erica, myself and teammate Drew Skillman; it will be exciting for sure.”
With $50,000 being awarded to the winner, a possible $100,000 will be on the line at Las Vegas, as $25,000 will be awarded if a driver doubles up and also wins the national event, and $25,000 will be on the table for winning the Pro Stock title at the event.
Fans can still get in on the action with the K&N Horsepower Challenge Sweepstakes. Eight fans who enter at http://tiny.cc/NHRAKNChallenge will be selected to win a trip for two to the K&N Horsepower Challenge. Each winner will be paired with one of the eight Pro Stock finalists. The fan paired with the 2016 K&N Horsepower Challenge champion will win a 2016 K&N Horsepower Challenge Edition Toyota Tacoma.
Qualifying will be shown at 11 p.m. ET Friday night on FS1 and 9 p.m. ET Saturday night on FS1. Racing action begins at 5 p.m. ET Sunday on FS1.
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