Defending champion Lucas hoping for another chance at Gainesville glory
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 16) - On the surface, qualifying No. 7 isn't that impressive for GEICO/Lucas Oil driver Morgan Lucas, especially because entered the NHRA Gatornationals at Auto-Plus Raceway as the defending event champion.
But Lucas knows his Top Fuel team is strong and capable, and he carries a lot of confidence into Sunday's eliminations. After all, he qualified 12th in Phoenix after making only two good qualifying passes and all he did at that event was reach the final round.
"My confidence is not battered by any means," said Lucas. "We just have to look at it tonight and fix it."
Lucas' best pass in Gainesville, a 3.832 at 320.28 mph, came in Friday's first qualifying session. He smoked the tires on the next two passes before getting down in Q4 with a 3.906 at 312.78 mph.
"We're definitely not dealing with the same racetrack we had last year here but it's still not bad," said Lucas. "We just got a little behind the eight ball with the second and third runs, and we just needed to go down the track on the last one."
Lucas won the Gatornationals in 2012 by blitzing the field with four terrific passes in eliminations that were run on Monday after the race was postponed a day because of rain. There's no rain in the forecast for race day this year but instead more warm, sunny conditions.
Lucas ran Q4 with Steve Torrence, who will be his first-round opponent Sunday. Torrence qualified No. 10 with a 3.842 at 319.75 mph.
"We've got to go up tomorrow and be on our 'A' game because Torrence's car can step up and he's a great driver, too," Lucas said. "We just have to earn it. I know we've got the car and the team to do it."
Eliminations begin at 11 a.m. ESPN2 will cover the event.
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 16) - On the surface, qualifying No. 7 isn't that impressive for GEICO/Lucas Oil driver Morgan Lucas, especially because entered the NHRA Gatornationals at Auto-Plus Raceway as the defending event champion.
But Lucas knows his Top Fuel team is strong and capable, and he carries a lot of confidence into Sunday's eliminations. After all, he qualified 12th in Phoenix after making only two good qualifying passes and all he did at that event was reach the final round.
"My confidence is not battered by any means," said Lucas. "We just have to look at it tonight and fix it."
Lucas' best pass in Gainesville, a 3.832 at 320.28 mph, came in Friday's first qualifying session. He smoked the tires on the next two passes before getting down in Q4 with a 3.906 at 312.78 mph.
"We're definitely not dealing with the same racetrack we had last year here but it's still not bad," said Lucas. "We just got a little behind the eight ball with the second and third runs, and we just needed to go down the track on the last one."
Lucas won the Gatornationals in 2012 by blitzing the field with four terrific passes in eliminations that were run on Monday after the race was postponed a day because of rain. There's no rain in the forecast for race day this year but instead more warm, sunny conditions.
Lucas ran Q4 with Steve Torrence, who will be his first-round opponent Sunday. Torrence qualified No. 10 with a 3.842 at 319.75 mph.
"We've got to go up tomorrow and be on our 'A' game because Torrence's car can step up and he's a great driver, too," Lucas said. "We just have to earn it. I know we've got the car and the team to do it."
Eliminations begin at 11 a.m. ESPN2 will cover the event.
More...
