Lucas guns for second consecutive victory from No. 3 qualifying spot at U.S. Nationals

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Lucas Oil/GEICO driver Morgan Lucas will be gunning for a second Top Fuel victory in a row at the biggest NHRA drag race of the season, the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, on Monday at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis.

Lucas, whose Morgan Lucas Racing team is based in nearby Brownsburg, Ind., won the most recent race in Brainerd, Minn., two weeks ago. Now, the part-time team goes for another win, this time at “the Big Go.”

“The coolest thing about winning this race is the fact that the majority of the guys, between the GEICO team and this Lucas team, are from this area or have family here,” Lucas said. “My wife Katie, my son Hunter, and my parents will be here. This is special for a lot of people because it’s the U.S. Nationals, but it’s special for me because of the family atmosphere that will come from it.”

Lucas qualified a solid No. 3 for Monday’s eliminations after a top pass of 3.757 seconds at 322.81 mph. In three prior races this season, Lucas has a win and two semifinal appearances.

“Our chances for two wins in a row are as good as they were for one in a row,” Lucas said. “It is what we make it. (Crew chief) Aaron (Brooks) has done a great job running both of these cars.”

Brooks has tuned both MLR cars this weekend, including the full-time GEICO/Lucas Oil entry for driver Richie Crampton.

While Crampton has made four terrific passes in qualifying, Lucas has struggled getting down the track.

“We’ve had a series of unfortunate mishaps; not by any of the crew, just weird stuff happen,” Lucas said. “We kind of did the same thing in Brainerd in qualifying and somehow it ended up well. Maybe we have to earn it.

“We’ve qualified well and the car hasn’t smoked the tires early in the run. It did down track on one of them, but other than that it’s other things that have happened that have caused the runs to be aborted.

“I feel like we have a good thing going on. We just need to zero in tomorrow and make sure everybody is on their A-game. There’s something special about race day that usually brings the best out of people. Hopefully, we can do that.”

Lucas squares off against Khalid alBalooshi in the first round Monday after alBalooshi qualified No. 14 with a pass of 3.810 seconds at 318.99 mph.