LAS VEGAS (March 30) - Lucas Oil/MAVTV Pro Stock driver Larry Morgan was looking for an upset during eliminations Sunday at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and he almost got it.
The Lucas Oil/MAVTV Ford Mustang put up a charge against No. 3 qualifier Erica Enders-Stevens in the first round of eliminations, but his 6.693 at 206.80 mph wasn't quite enough compared to her 6.645 at 207.66 mph.
"Sunday was just a racing deal where I spun the tires real hard in low gear," Morgan said. "That mistake got me into trouble that was almost impossible to overcome. Besides that, we had too much clutch in the right. We didn't know where we were truly at after qualifying Saturday, but I figured I still had a good chance at pulling out the upset. It would have been a good first run. I could just feel it as I went down the track.
"We found a broken shock before eliminations Sunday and thought that that had to be the solution to our recent issues. I still think that was the problem, but unfortunately I couldn't pull out the win to prove it."
With unusual conditions at The Strip, Morgan and the rest of the Pro Stock field found themselves waiting late into the day for their chance to run due to extreme wind gusts.
"Today was just one of those weird days you get every so often," Morgan said. "The weather delay just kind of threw us for a loop mentally, but I think we weren't the only team that felt that way. Sitting around, repeatedly going through the process of a pass in your head, gets exhausting and can honestly lead to more mistakes. What else do you do though when you're in the staging lanes ready to go and then you have to sit around and wait to run for a couple of hours?
"Days like these just happen. We will go back to the shop, regroup, and get ready for the next race."
Morgan will now shift his focus to the following stop on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule, the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals April 11-13 in Charlotte, N.C.
