Morgan leads Lucas Oil Racing group into four-wide eliminations

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (March 27) -- Considering that on Wednesday, Larry Morgan had no working engines for his Lucas Oil Ford Mustang Pro Stock car, making the field in the No. 14 spot at this weekend's inaugural 4-Wide Nationals was a victory in and of itself.

"I was so crippled going into this race I'm not sure how I got to where I'm at," a relieved Morgan said Saturday night. "I am so happy to get into the field after all the things that have been happening to me."

Morgan was part of a trio of Lucas Oil drivers to make Sunday's elimination fields. Shawn Langdon qualified 10th in Top Fuel and Hector Arana qualified fourth in Pro Stock Motorcycle on the Lucas Oil Buell.

A veteran of nearly 500 NHRA races, Morgan was testing in Rockingham, N.C., mid week when he terminally damaged both of his working engines. It was so bad John Nobile, who leases engines from Morgan, even volunteered to skip this race so Morgan would have engines to put in his car.

Instead, Morgan pulled an all-nighter and drove his rig back to Ohio, fixed his motors and drove back to Charlotte, N.C., just in time for Friday's first round of time trials. Morgan's stablemate Nobile also made it into the field.

"We've worked so hard in the last two weeks," Morgan said. "I don't know anybody who could or would have done what we did to make this race; that I can tell you. Most guys wouldn't have bothered to come. Getting John in the field was just icing on the cake."

Morgan had a best pass of 6.614 seconds at 209.17 mph. He will be racing in a quad with Jason Line, Allen Johnson, and Erica Enders. In the four-wide format, the two lowest elapsed times advance to the next round.

Langdon had a best pass of 3.892 seconds at 312.42 mph in the Lucas Oil/Speedco rail and will be grouped with Larry Dixon, Bobby Lagana, and Steve Torrence in the opening round.

"Our last run on Saturday was a good baseline to have," Langdon said. "We struggled a little bit, but we got back to what we know. We've got kind of a toss-up group. Our big thing is to not beat ourselves out there."

Arana had a best lap of 6.897 seconds at 192.52 mph. His first round grouping contains Karen Stoffer, Jim Underdahl, and David Hope.

Prerace ceremonies are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. ET Sunday with eliminations of the inaugural NHRA 4-Wide Nationals kicking off at noon.