Lucas starting fifth at season-opening Winternationals

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 13) -- On the strength of solid Friday run in the GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster, Morgan Lucas will start Sunday's eliminations at the 50th annual Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals from the fifth spot.

Friday's run of 3.823 seconds at 316.90 mph was by far Lucas' best run of the weekend. He will face Troy Buff, whose best qualifying pass was a 3.950 at 294.05 mph, in Sunday's first elimination round.

"I called the area around this track home for much of my life, so it's nice to be able to perform well in Southern California," Lucas said. "Lucas Oil has a lot of employees and supporters in just down the road in Corona. It's been great to see them at the track and I hope there are good results for them tomorrow."

In order to get those results, Lucas said the team is going to have to overcome some mechanical gremlins that have been popping up at times during the weekend.

"Our data has been coming back saying that the new automatic shutoff system has been turning the engine off before it's supposed to," Lucas said. "It's slowed the engine and caused the burst panels to pop.

"But I've got a great crew chief and a great crew. We'll get it straightened out and hopefully make some rounds on Sunday."

Lucas' two runs in the GEICO Powersports rail during Saturday's runs were a 5.749 at 90.19 mph and a final pass of 3.830 at 309.91 mph.

Despite the engine issues, Lucas said you can't ask for more than starting in the top half of the ladder in the season-opening event.

"There are some great dragsters out here, and knowing we're up there running with them is exciting," Lucas said. "All we have to do is take care of business with the GEICO dragster on race day and hopefully bring that trophy home with us."