Morgan moves up Pro Stock ladder with round win in Charlotte

CHARLOTTE (Sept. 16) - Larry Morgan took the Lucas Oil Ford Mustang on a couple of wild rides on Sunday at the O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals.

Rain caused a four-hour delay in the start of racing on Sunday. When racing started, air and track conditions weren't exactly agreeable to the Pro Stock cars.

Larry Morgan

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

"Oh my goodness it was loose down there," Morgan said. "We're just lucky we were able to make it as far as we did. Everybody on the team worked real hard to get us down the track and it helped us move up a little in the points."

Morgan beat Ron Krisher in the first round before falling to Jason Line in what proved to be a wild Round 2 for the Pro Stockers. He also moved up to eighth in the standings and is one point out of seventh.

Against Krisher, Morgan got a slight advantage off the starting line, but also had superior horsepower in going to the finish line in 6.639 seconds at 207.08 mph. Krisher ran a 6.641 at 208.29 mph.

Things got edgy in the second round. While Morgan and Line were in the staging lanes, Shane Gray's car got out of shape then rolled and flipped. Gray emerged from the crash unhurt, but Morgan said it made him think twice about the tune-up he'd put in the car.

"It was looser that second run, than any all weekend," Morgan said. "The starting line was good, and we could have had a little more clutch in it. But, we were a little nervous after Shane crashed and we were soft.

"We were trying to be safe. We put a bunch of wing the car and tried to overcorrect and Jason got us."

Line ran a 6.567 at 210.97 mph to Morgan's 6.643 at 206.67 mph.

"I'm happy we hung in there and got some points," Morgan said. "I can't wait to get to Dallas and do it all again."

Up next is the AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals at Texas Motorplex starting on Friday and running through Sunday.

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