Coughlin to try luck with new team this season

Fans of Cody Coughlin might need a program to find him Friday night when he starts his second full season in the NASCAR trucks series in the opening race at Daytona. Then again, he might easily be spotted out front.

One of the big offseason changes for the 22-year-old from Delaware was his move to GMS Racing, which produced the winner of the past two seasonopening truck races at Daytona.

Coughlin also switched from a Toyota to a Chevrolet and, not to be discounted, changed car numbers from No. 13 last year to No. 2 this season.

“Yeah, 13 can either be lucky or unlucky, and last year it was unlucky,” said Coughlin, who also wound up 13th in the

“Yeah, 13 can either be lucky or unlucky, and last year it was unlucky. To have No. 2 is exciting, it’s a cool number … and hopefully we finish somewhere around there, too.”

—Cody Coughlin

season points standings. “To have No. 2 is exciting, it’s a cool number … and hopefully we finish somewhere around there, too.”

Drivers will make qualifying runs at midday Friday, then return for the race, the Nextera Energy Resources 250, at 7:30 p.m. on FS1.

Coughlin now drives for a team with 13 truckseries wins, including Johnny Sauter at Daytona in 2016 and Kaz Grala on the Daytona tri-oval last year. This year GMS will field Chevy Silverados for Coughlin as well as Sauter, Justin Haley and Dalton Sargeant.

Coughlin, matched with veteran crew chief Jerry Baxter, who guided Grala to victory last year, was eager to jump aboard.

“We wanted the best opportunity to compete this year,” said Coughlin, who will race for the fourth time overall at Daytona, the first coming in a 2015 ARCA car event in which he finished fourth. “We thought GMS had the most competitive equipment in the field (and) they have a lot depth with multiple drivers to draw information from. I think we are going to have a very good, competitive baseline to start with.”