COMMERCE, Ga. (May 5) – Swapping out engine might be just what Pro Stock veteran Larry Morgan needs to get a victory in Sunday's Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway. Morgan, driving his Lucas Oil Ford Mustang, qualified No. 12 by making a pass in 6.654 seconds at 206.86 mph Friday night, his only qualifying run not posted in the heat. "We ran good last night, but for the most part this place is a little tricky," said Morgan, whose best finish at Atlanta Dragway came in 1990 when he beat Warren Johnson in the finals. "It is like the track is real good and the air is real bad, and we are just not compensating for it. I am happy for everybody involved. Now we just need to go out there and do good tomorrow." Morgan has made consistent passes in qualifying this weekend – 6.679 at 206.86 mph in Q1 and 6.686 at 207.37 mph in Q2 – but he's looking for more out of his Ford. "We think we hurt the motor," Morgan said. "It doesn’t run very good. We qualified OK, but we feel we should run better. The run looks good, but it is just a little bit off. I don’t know why, so we will change engines. We have a couple of more engines, so let’s try another one." Morgan, one of the top engine builders in Pro Stock, had several engines available for Sunday. "The engines are all the same," Morgan said. "I'm happy with all of them. As a matter of fact, I am not sure that what I have under the bench isn't better. I shouldn’t say that, but I think I may have hurt this thing in Houston because we leaned on it real hard there. So, we need to fix it and we will." Morgan will battle Mike Edwards, who made his top qualifying run in 6.635 at 208.59 mph, in the first round of eliminations. Morgan has upset higher-qualified drivers four times in the first round this year, including beating No. 6 qualifier Erica Enders last weekend in Houston. "I've had good race days," Morgan said, "and I hope that continues tomorrow." Eliminations begin at 11 a.m. EDT and will be shown on ESPN2. From: Rob Geiger
