Morgan Lucas Racing
Meet the Team
Subscribe to the Morgan Lucas Racing Press Feed!
Wed, Aug. 20th 2008
Cruel. Just plain cruel.
Is there a better word to describe what happened to Morgan on Sunday? OK, fine, there are a couple of other words that might be more on the money but someone’s kid might log onto this page and we wouldn’t want to get angry emails from parents.
In case you missed it, Morgan was having a great weekend in Maple Grove and it looked like he might have enough momentum to FINALLY get into the top ten and claim a spot in the Countdown to 1. He only needed a handful of points to make it.
After winning in the first round, he lost in the second round to Clay Millican. On a freaking holeshot!
That’s a hard hit. He had the quicker car but lost because Clay had a better reaction time. Losing on a holeshot sucks in any circumstance because a driver hates to have to admit his opponent cut a better light than he did. And a driver ALWAYS feels a sense of guilt and demoralization when he gets tagged at the starting line and loses because then, he can’t help but feel he really let his team down.
Here’s what Morgan had to say after the loss.
“The bottom line is you go up there and sometimes you just try too hard. That particular time I saw too much of the tree and took myself out of my game by wondering where he was in his staging. Sometimes you have to stop thinking and just start racing and put the points about as far away as you can. I just have to get that kind of stuff out of my head and I’ll be fine. The crew is working so hard and we felt we had a better car than him that time and it was my fault and we should have won.”
J.R. had another crummy weekend and he’s already had too many of them this year. A first round loss and now not much of a chance of making the Countdown to1. He didn’t have a lot to say after his Round 1 debacle.
“From this point on, all we’re concentrating on is winning races.”
That about sums it up. Are there any questions?
He and Morgan were both interviewed on ESPN2 during NHRA Raceday on Sunday and it was obvious they are very tight. It’s a tough deal to see them struggling this season because those two guys love to have fun and goof on each other, but when you’re not winning and you and your teammate are both in danger of missing the playoffs, you’re not in the mood for a lot of goofing around.
So, now what happens?
Well, Morgan is only six points out of 10th and 10 points out of 9th. He has one more race, the U.S. Nationals in Indy in two weeks to make it or break it. He has to win at least a couple of rounds in Indy to have any chance at all of getting into the post-season. He’s history if he loses in the first round and he may have to win a couple more to be sure he’ll get a spot. That’s pressure.
J.R…well, let’s not go there.
I’m going to be in Auburn, Indiana on Labor Day weekend shooting a new series of “Bidding Wars” shows for future airing but we’ll be finishing up on Sunday, which means I’m planning on making the drive to Indy for Monday’s eliminations and be on hand to celebrate with Morgan if he squeezes into the top ten as the buzzer sounds. If he misses, I’ll probably sneak out the back gate. There’s nothing I’ll be able to say to him that will make him feel better.
Maybe I’ll see you at the Big Go. Two weeks and counting.