Lucas earns fifth top-half berth of season, while Stoffer continues upswing

NORWALK, Ohio (June 26) -- For the first time since mid-May, GEICO Powersports professionals Morgan Lucas and Karen Stoffer will both begin race day in the favored top half of the ladder in their respective classes. Lucas qualified his GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil dragster seventh in Top Fuel, while Stoffer earned the fifth spot in Pro Stock Motorcycle on her GEICO Powersports Suzuki.

Lucas was pleased with his team's effort throughout the weekend and points to his 3.893-second pass at 306.40 mph as a harbinger of good things to come.

"When the car's going down the track like this it gives you so much confidence," Lucas said, "and you need that to win these things. You can't be going up there worried about what's going to happen next and we've had some quirky things happen this year, for sure. Jimmy (Walsh), Rob (Wendlend), and the guys have been steadily working on this thing and we're getting better. Now we need to turn on some win lights on Sunday."

On the mind of every racer is the always changing Midwest weather, which makes tuning an 8,000-horsepower racecar a challenge.

"It's Ohio so you never really know what the weather is going to do," Lucas said as rain poured down Saturday evening. "It could be screamin' hot and sunny one minute and then the next thing you know cloud cover can roll in and it cools way off. You have to be ready for anything, and we will be."

The youngest racer in the nitro ranks at 26 years of age, Lucas will open elimaintions against part-time pro Pat Dakin, who posted a best of 3.908 at 309.20 mph.

Stoffer used her Friday evening pass of 6.973 at 192.82 mph to lock up the No. 6 position in the field. She'll open race day against Chicago winner LE Tonglet, who topped out at 7.013 at 190.11 mph.

"It feels great to finally be on the right side of this thing," crew chief Gary Stoffer said. "It's been a real challenge this year but we've figured out a lot and we're starting to reap the benefits of the bigger Suzuki motor.

"We tried some things today with the clutch, basically just some ideas I had. It actually showed some encouraging signs but for now we're going top put this thing back the way it was Friday night and go out there and race. If we all do our jobs we could have a good day."

Eliminations for the Summit Nationals begin at 11 a.m. EDT and will be shown in primetime on ESPN2.