Lucas Oil's Morgan facing crucial first round race at Northwest Nationals

Larry Morgan will have his own postseason fate in his hands on Sunday morning at the O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Northwest Nationals and he wouldn't have it any other way.

Morgan and the Lucas Oil Ford Mustang are part of a pitched battle among a handful of cars trying to crack the Countdown in Pro Stock. Morgan is tied with V Gaines for 11th place, one point out of 10th place with Morgan and Gaines paired up in Sunday's first round at Pacific Raceways.

Larry Morgan

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

"I can help myself for sure or I'll help him if I lose," Morgan said. "I think I'll choose to help myself tomorrow. Everyone is trying to make a big deal about it, but really I can only do the best I can and see what happens."

Morgan's best pass was in 6.606 seconds at 209.65 mph, which was good enough for the No. 10 spot on the ladder.

"We did pretty good all weekend until that last run where we spun the tires in low gear, which we kind of figured it would do," Morgan said. "We didn't get enough clutch off of it. For the most part we're happy.

"We've got a strut we need to look in to, but we're feeling good about the car."

Gaines qualified No. 7 with a best pass of 6.599 seconds at 210.70 mph. Morgan is 1-2 against Gaines this season, but that one win came last week in Sonoma.

"We were paired up in that last qualifier," Morgan said. "We would have run the exact same time had I not spun the tires in low gear. The guy who gets off the line better and gets to the 60-foot mark first will probably win our race tomorrow."

Eliminations at the O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Northwest Nationals get under way at 11 a.m. PDT from Pacific Raceways.

Source: Geiger Media