Rain reduced Sunday's two scheduled rounds of professional eliminations to one final shootout
session where Morgan Lucas Racing teammates Morgan Lucas and Shawn Langdon managed to improve their
standing in the wild session.
Lucas was the quicker of the two drivers in qualifying his GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil dragster
with a 3.851-second lap at 313.15 mph, while Langdon coaxed a 3.888 at 312.71 mph out of his Lucas
Oil/Dixie Chopper dragster. The runs placed them fifth and ninth on the elimination grid,
respectively.
"The car has been showing a lot of promise," Lucas said after his last run. "It gives you a lot of
confidence going into race day, considering the one session in the heat we were one of the quickest
cars. I think tomorrow is going to be a really good day of racing and we're going to put on a good
show for the fans.
"I truly feel like our car is one of the best in the class right now. It's running strong and the
guys aren't making any mistakes. I feel like my driving has been decent. All the ingredients are
there to get another win."
Lucas will begin Monday's sudden-death eliminations against Terry Haddock, who qualified 12th with
a 3.914 at 300.60 mph. Langdon draws Pat Dakin, who earned the eighth spot with a 3.875 at 313.95
mph.
"Our dragster showed a lot of promising signs this weekend so I'm feeling pretty good about
Monday," Langdon said. "It would have been cool to make all the qualifying runs to get the data but
we did get down the track in both lanes and we feel like we can handle whatever they throw at us
tomorrow.
"This is a very important race for me and Morgan because all the top executives from Lucas Oil are
here. You always want to show off a little when the big bosses are around. It's fun to show them a
good time and there's nothing better than winning. I promise you, if me or Morgan win, it will be a
crazy scene with the group we have here."
Labor Day eliminations begin at 11 a.m., weather permitting.
