Brainerd: Morgan Lucas Saturday summary

SIGNIFICANT FIRST ROUND FOR LUCAS BRAINERD, MN. (August 12) With most of the attention on the top runners in the NHRA POWERade Top Fuel chase, Morgan Lucas, driver of the Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster, is in a battle of his own and in the first ...

SIGNIFICANT FIRST ROUND FOR LUCAS

BRAINERD, MN. (August 12) With most of the attention on the top runners in the NHRA POWERade Top Fuel chase, Morgan Lucas, driver of the Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster, is in a battle of his own and in the first round of competition of the 25th annual Lucas Oil Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway, he races friend and formidable foe, Cory McClenathan.

What makes this particular round so significant is there are only 10 points separating eighth, Lucas (688) from 10th, McClenathan (678) in the POWERade Top Fuel points standings with Hillary Will (680) in between in ninth place trailing by only eight points, so the race strategy will be on making a competitive race in the first round.

Lucas' best run of the weekend came on Friday night when he covered the quarter-mile with an elapsed time of 4.643 seconds, 313.80 mph placing him in the No. 11 position on the 16-car Top Fuel ladder for Sunday.

"We have a big responsibility tomorrow," said Lucas. "We completely understand how all the different scenarios could play out, but the one sure thing is, if we win, we advance and that's what our plans are for Sunday."

His counterpart in the Funny Car ranks, Tony Bartone is experiencing a tough weekend as the Jim Dunn Lucas Oil Chevy flopper failed to make the show for the second time of the 2006 season. His best run of the weekend -- 4.949 seconds, 305.53 mph could only put him in the No. 18 spot missing the cut of 4.924 seconds.