Langdon leads Lucas Oil race team into eliminations

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 13) -- Sophomore Top Fuel driver Shawn Langdon opened this weekend's 50th annual Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals Thursday with a competitive 3.847 at 309.98 mph in his Lucas Oil/Speedco dragster. He hasn't looked back since, wrapping up the No. 8 position in the competitive field heading into Sunday's eliminations.

"The first thing you need to do every weekend is make sure you get in the field," Langdon said. "We did that right out of the trailer so we've really been able to relax and try a bunch of different things for race day.

"The second thing you try to do is qualify in the top half of the field. Luckily, our run was good enough for that also so we're really pumped up for Sunday. The groove here is really narrow so lane choice will be something we'll try to maintain all weekend.

Considering how little time he had to test his new Lucas Oil Ford Mustang, Pro Stock driver Larry Morgan, Langdon's teammate under the Lucas Oil banner, was thrilled to make the 16-car field, which he did Saturday with a 6.645-second pass at 207.78 mph.

"I feel very fortunate to get the car in the show because everyone showed up with their guns loaded," said Morgan, who earned the No. 15 position on the grid. "We didn't get much time to test, but there's no excuses in drag racing because no one cares. You got to go out there and prove yourself every run.

"We're conservatively working on making the car faster. We were certainly better today than we were the first two days. I feel like we threw the first two runs away. I crept through the lights on the first one and shook like crazy in Round 2. But we got it together today for all our friends from Lucas Oil and we'll be ready to give it a go tomorrow.

"I will say this, we have a great racecar on our hands. We just need to figure out what she likes."

Morgan will open eliminations against Jeg Coughlin Jr., who qualified second with a 6.591 at 209.59 mph. Langdon will face David Grubnic on the Top Fuel grid. Grubnic had a best of 3.849 at 319.60 mph in qualifying ninth overall.

"It's a big weekend for Lucas Oil because their headquarters is right down the road in Corona," said Langdon, who grew up in Mira Loma, Calif. "Our pits have been packed all three days so far. It's awesome to have so much support. Hopefully we can show them a win tomorrow."

Eliminations begin at 11 a.m. PT.