Back home again in Indiana, Top Fuel pro Lucas ready to impress home crowd

INDIANAPOLIS (Aug. 31) -- Native Hoosier Morgan Lucas lives only a few minutes from O'Reilly Raceway Park so competing at this weekend's 56th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil will be an easy commute. But the sport's youngest nitro professional knows that racing at home also ramps up the pressure whenever he slips into the cockpit of his 8,000-horsepower GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil dragster.

"This is a huge weekend for everyone on this team," the 26-year-old Lucas said. "We all live here, we all work here, and all of our friends and family will be at the races. My girlfriend Katie and her family are here. All the guys wives and kids come out. We want to do well for everyone. It's important for us to show everyone what we do so they can see why we're running around the country for half the year.

"Living here puts a premium on winning this trophy because everywhere you go in town the people always remember who won this race. Plus, it's the U.S. Nationals, the biggest race in the sport, it's the start of the playoffs, and our family business, Lucas Oil, is the presenting sponsor. There's a lot on the table."

After successfully qualifying for the six-race Countdown to the Championship, the NHRA's version of the playoffs, Lucas finds himself just 90 points off the Top Fuel lead. Now he and his veteran crew have the season's brief stretch run to show their stuff.

"The first goal of the season was to make sure both of our cars made the Countdown field," said Lucas, who also owns and operates the Lucas Oil/Speedco dragster driven by Shawn Langdon. "We managed to do that with room to spare, which was great. 

"The next goal is to contend for the championship. We have six races to make a mark and it starts right now. We'll make or break our season in the next two months, and that's exciting. We're all kind of starting over so maybe we can catch some lightning in a bottle and make a run at this thing."

The U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil feature five rounds of professional qualifying beginning at 7 p.m. Friday evening with the opening session, followed by two rounds on Saturday and two more on Sunday. Race Day takes place on Monday. The entire event will be televised by ESPN2. Check local listings for times.