GEICO's Lucas has one last chance for 2011 success
POMONA, Calif. (Nov. 8) – A fruitful test at Las Vegas is what Morgan Lucas and the GEICO/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster team hope will be the key to turning the team's fortunes around at this weekend's NHRA Finals in Pomona.
After failing to qualify for their third race in four tries, Lucas and the team decided to stay in Las Vegas to test, and discovered, then fixed, a major issue that was impacting the GEICO rail's performance.
"We'd found a fuel system problem that has been hurting us for a while," Lucas said. "We're not trying to make excuses, but I think if we would have been on top of it, we would have been in the situation we've been in the last few races."
With the fuel system overhauled, Lucas, who will end the season on 10th place in the class standings, said the results of the test were promising.
"We made four good runs in a row," Lucas said. "Three of the four runs would have qualified us for the race. It's frustrating in hindsight because you want to qualify for every race you go to.
"From here forward, we feel like the car has a lot more tuneability with the fuel system ironed out. There's a lot more excitement heading into the last race. We feel like we can put the power down and have some success."
Lucas, who won the season opener in Pomona, said another successful weekend in Southern California will do wonders for everyone on the team heading into the long offseason.
"A solid end of the season would lift a lot of spirits going into the wintertime," Lucas said. "It's been a long season and there's nothing like ending it on a high note, and I think we can do that."
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