After qualifying 13th on the 16-car grid, Lucas upset Dave Grubnic in Round 1 and caught and passed seven-time world champion Tony Schumacher in Round 2 before smoking his tires down-track and falling to Spencer Massey in Round 3.

“We finally broke our streak of Groundhog Day performances,” Lucas said. “We had seemed to not qualify well, then run great first round, but we’d run into the one guy that was better. And it’s funny, because it had to happen against somebody who is going through the same thing with Grubnic. We were just fortunate to end up in the position we did. We’re pretty relieved and happy.”

The race against Grubnic was a beauty as both men left the starting line with almost identical reaction times and stayed side-by-side for much of the contest. But as the finish line approached, Lucas slowly inched ahead, cross first by .015 seconds with a 3.882 at 315.42 mph to Grubnic’s 3.899 at 309.34 mph.

Incredibly, the tilt against Schumacher was even closer as Lucas had to make up ground on the quick-starting Schumacher before passing him just before the stripe. The final margin of victory was .003 seconds, with the GEICO dragster posting a 3.864 at 314.61 mph ahead of Schumacher’s 3.882 at 323.66 mph.

“It was a great race against Tony, three thousandths at the finish line,” Lucas said. “The two round wins we had today were determined today by a grand total of 18 thousandths of a second. That’s really not a lot.

“When you get into these hot races like this, a lot of it luck and a lot of it is performance. You have to do the best you can, but you also have to hope that the best you can is just a little bit better than the next guy. When you’re on good tracks, you can try to make your own destiny. When you’re on hot tracks, you really don’t know what you’re going to get all the time.”

Opposite Massey, the race was close early on but Lucas’ car soon overpowered the hot racing surface and was up in smoke. Massey may have been tough to beat anyway as he ran a 3.857 at 321.04 mph in the victory.

“The car ran really competitive today,” Lucas said. “We’ve still got some things to work out, some kinks we need to do, but it’s such a relief to go some rounds and get some points. We have to start worrying about solidifying yourself in the top 10, and if we keep losing first round, there’s enough good cars coming on right now that they’ll come up and bite you. We’ve just got to be on your toes.”

Lucas will be back in action soon as the inaugural Auto-Plus NHRA New England Nationals begins Friday at New England Dragway in Epping, N.H.

The 2006 Rookie of the Year got the jump on Force at the starting line and led the way down the 1,000-foot course until the eighth-mile marker when the engine of his racecar suddenly lost power, allowing Force to get by and win with a 3.872 at 318.09 mph. Todd’s final numbers showed a 3.947 at a fading 290.57 mph.

“We were driving away from her,” Todd said. “Obviously something broke in the engine, and you see the outcome. I never saw her. It was running fine, and then all of a sudden, it just let go, bang! Then I saw her drive off. I tell you, it’s a pretty eerie feeling when it blows up like that. You don’t know what’s happening behind you.

“Either way, I’m just happy to be standing on the gas again. I wish the outcome been a little different but that’s drag racing. The ProtectTheHarvest.com guys busted their butts all weekend and we gave it a good shot first round. It just didn’t happen for us today. We’ll get her fixed up, go to Epping and get ‘em there.”

Bernstein, who recently underwent back surgery to alleviate pain associated with a herniated disc, will miss at least one more national event as he recovers from the procedure. That means Todd will have another chance to redeem himself at next weekend’s inaugural Auto-Plus NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, N.H.

“At least we don’t have to sit and think about what could have been for a week or two,” Todd said. “It’d be nice to go to New Hampshire tomorrow and stand on the gas. Then we wouldn’t have any time to think about it. We’ll figure out what happened, fix the problem and go try to win a race for Brandon.”

Lucas qualified for this weekend’s Ford Thunder Valley Nationals in the No. 13 position with a 3.864 at 317.12 mph. Compared to the others on the final ladder, that performance is mediocre at best. But the fact Lucas posted that pass in the hottest session of the weekend, in a round when none of the other 18 dragsters managed to get down the track under power, speaks volumes about his team’s potential.

“That Q3 session today was an awesome run, especially considering we were the only car to go A to B,” Lucas said. “The craziest part about it was we ran it so early in the session. We kept waiting for somebody to go down the track to give us a barometer of how good our run was, and apparently, it was pretty darn good because no one else made it down. The GEICO guys did a great job there.

“A lot of people are struggling here, so we’ve got to make sure we go down the track tomorrow and give ourselves an opportunity to win. The conditions for Round 1 should be identical to what we saw in Q3 so we’re optimistic.”

By qualifying 13th, Lucas draws fourth-seeded racer “Aussie Dave” Grubnic, who ran a best of 3.792 at 321.12 mph, in the opening round of eliminations. The two friends have raced three times previously this year, with Lucas holding a 2-1 advantage.

“Grubnic’s a really tough competitor,” Lucas said. “He’s beat us this year, we’ve beaten him a few times. He’s a great driver and you’ve got to be on your game against him because he probably won’t make any mistakes.

“I’d sure hate to be the guy creating the odds in Las Vegas based on the qualifying numbers. Today is normal Bristol. Yesterday, we had a standout, good track, and we had a great couple of sessions. The fact you had to run a low 3.80 to get in the top half of the field here is very impressive for this track.”

Because of a nearby church, the first round of eliminations begin an hour later than normal at noon EST. All action will be shown on ESPN2.

Using the slightly cooler Friday evening session to make his mark, Todd posted a 3.835 at 318.47 mph to earn his mid-pack position on the elimination grid. Todd said his time with Morgan Lucas Racing a few years ago helped him quickly settle into the job at hand.

“Working with most of these guys before, that takes away all the uncomfortable things,” said Todd, who now drives part-time with Bob Vandergriff Racing. “As far as the car goes, it’s a good fit with my seat in Brandon’s car, so we didn’t’ have to make many adjustments. The car is fast and it drives nice and smooth.

“I feel like my driving is decent enough. Luckily, I drove in the Houston event in April so it wasn’t like I’ve been out of the seat for a long time. Last year, having the time off from 2009 to the races I did then, my nerves were shot just updating my license. Now, after just a few runs, I remember what to do. The routine is pretty similar between my regular car and this one so you just go out there and stand on the gas, keep the thing in the groove and do your job.”

For his efforts, Todd will open against upstart rookie driver Brittany Force, who was one rung higher on the ladder with a best of 3.828 at 319.98 mph.

“A rookie driver, you never know what to expect,” Todd said. “I think back to my rookie year. The first few races were more of a comfort thing to me where you’re learning about the car, and you really don’t know what’s going on. But once you start figuring it out and it slows down in your mind, you can start dialing in your driving.

“She is ahead of the game already just because she’s had so many test runs. Running the races she’s had this year, she’s definitely come around from the beginning of the season to now. It should be a tough matchup, for sure.

“We look forward to tomorrow, and hopefully we can go some rounds with this ProtectTheHarvest.com team. Who knows, maybe we can put it in the winner’s circle.”

Due to local noise ordinances, the first round of eliminations begin an hour later than normal at noon EST. All action will be shown on ESPN2.

Most of the faces on the ProtectTheHarvest.com crew are the same from when Todd drove for Morgan Lucas Racing a few years back.

“It should be pretty smooth going this weekend,” Todd said. “That will really help me on the driving part of the equation. It’s good to be working with (crew chief) Joe Barlam and those guys. They’re a lot of fun and make it pretty easygoing at the track.”

Todd is filling in for Bernstein, who will be sidelined for the next couple of races recovering from back surgery. Todd has made one start this year in Houston, but he thinks it will not take him very long to get back in the zone.

“That car is one of the top-running cars on the tour right now,” Todd said. “For Morgan and Brandon to call me to come drive it is a big honor. My expectations going into this weekend are pretty high.

“I know they are going to give me a good car, and I hope I’ll hold up my end behind the wheel and we’ll go some rounds.”

The team will be on its toes this weekend because the Tennessee heat can make for tricky driving and tuning conditions.

“It gets pretty warm there, but it has a habit of leveling out the playing field,” Todd said. “I’m probably going to have my work cut out for me. We’ll be looking to lay down a good run on Friday night to get in the show solidly, then really dial the car in on Saturday.

“Hopefully come Sunday we’ll have a car that can beat anybody. In the heat, a lot of those races come down to the skill of the driver, which means I’ll need to be on my game, too.”

Qualifying for the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals gets under way at 5:30 p.m. EDT on Friday evening. Two more qualifying sessions are scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday with eliminations beginning at noon on Sunday. ESPN2 will air the qualifying show starting at 7 p.m. EDT on Saturday and eliminations at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

The Thunder Valley Nationals is the first of four races in a row and seven races in eight weeks, which will go a long way toward shaping the GEICO dragster’s Countdown to the Championship destiny.

While looking at the whole picture can be daunting, paying attention to the little details will be important for Lucas.

“We’ve got a lot of areas we need to improve on right now,” Lucas said. “The biggest goal we have as a team is that we need to start qualifying better. If we start getting back into the top half of the ladder, that will help us tremendously during the summer.”

Heading into Bristol, Lucas sits in eighth place, four points behind sidelined teammate Brandon Bernstein and 26 points in front of Bob Vandergriff Jr.

“Year to year you want to improve over the previous season’s results,” Lucas said. “We struggled here last year and didn’t qualify, so making the field this season is the first step for us.”

Lucas is puzzled by why the track gave him and the team fits last year, especially since it’s a gem.

“This has always been one of my favorite places to race and one of the best on the tour,” Lucas said. “You come to one of Bruton Smith’s tracks, you know it’s going to be awesome. This one has one of the coolest settings and it really motivates me to shoot for a win this weekend.”

With Bernstein out for two races because of back surgery, J.R. Todd will take over the ProtectTheHarvest.com/MAVTV dragster. Lucas anticipates the transition to be seamless because Todd was once a part of the Morgan Lucas Racing operation.

“It stinks that Brandon is out, but J.R. is a great fit,” Lucas said. “He gets along with everybody, which is good for the team. J.R. is a good driver. His reaction times are always switched on, so he’ll do a good job in that car.”

Qualifying for the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals gets under way at 5:30 p.m. EDT on Friday evening. Two more qualifying sessions are scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday with eliminations beginning at noon on Sunday. ESPN2 will air the qualifying show starting at 7 p.m. EDT on Saturday and eliminations at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Bernstein, who will have a procedure later this week to repair a herniated disc in his back, fell in round one to No. 1 qualifier Clay Millican.

“It’s unfortunate because we are better than this,” Bernstein said. “I know this team is better than this. But this is just one of those races where you get behind the eight ball by losing the Friday night session, and in the Saturday sun and the heat you are just trying to get it to go down.

“You end up 16th and have to race the No. 1 qualifier on Sunday and it is just a tough break. It’s frustrating because we know we are better than this, but we will get it turned around.”

Bernstein hazed the tires of his Top Fuel dragster and slowed to a pass of 7.218 seconds at 90.57 mph while Millican sped to the second round with a less-than-stellar run of 4.021 seconds at 247.93 mph.

Bernstein and the team struggled with a tricky track all weekend, qualifying for the race in the final qualifying session. Q2, run on Friday night, proved to be the quickest all weekend, but Bernstein’s car developed a problem with the fuel system and the run was lost.

That forced Bernstein to try to qualify on a hotter track Saturday, and crew chief Joe Barlam was able to implement a tune-up in the car to get Bernstein into the field. Unfortunately Bernstein had to race the No. 1 qualifier.

“I think Joe was just thinking the high 3.80s, low .90s,” Bernstein said. “It’s just one of those deals. It got out there a little too quick and smoked the tires.”

Bernstein will now turn his attention to the procedure to repair the herniated disc, and he will miss the next two races recovering. J.R. Todd will drive the ProtectTheHarvest.com/MAVTV dragster in Bernstein’s absence.

“I will go get my surgery and J.R. will jump in, and hopefully they can do some good the next two races and get everything sorted out and be ready for when I come back,” Bernstein said. “And then we can go after the points again.”

Bernstein will stay at home instead of attending the next two races while he recovers.

“The doctor really wants me to do nothing, and that’s key to making it scar over and not have another herniated area,” Bernstein said. “I doubt I’ll be at either of the races. I will be on the phone with the guys and watching, but I don’t really want to travel. I will just lay low and get this fixed so I don’t have any other issues.”

Up next for the ProtectTheHarvest.com/MAVTV Top Fuel team is the June 14-16 Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tenn.

Lucas made a pass of 3.862 seconds at 314.39 mph that was the fifth-fastest of the first round of eliminations, but Massey’s 3.852 run at 317.64 mph edged him by .0164-second.

“I didn’t look at the sheet long enough to do the math, but we probably would’ve beaten a good chunk of the field,” Lucas said. “Qualifying is getting us every time right now.”

Lucas qualified No. 12 after not getting down the track in the coolest, fastest session of the weekend on Friday night. That matched him up against Massey, who qualified No. 5. The Top Fuel field is as competitive as ever these days, and racing a team qualified in the top half makes things extra difficult.

“We have clutch-wear inconsistencies that are kind of poking their head up,” Lucas said. “We can’t make any excuses, though. We’re just struggling in qualifying. I know we’re eventually going to get it all dialed in.”

Lucas remains in the top 10 in the points standings after nine races, and he has confidence in crew chief Aaron Brooks and the team being able to turn things around before the Countdown to the Championship, which begins in 10 races.

“We’re making good moves with the car,” Lucas said. “Hopefully it’ll give us some momentum to make a good late-season run and keep this dragster in the Countdown and keep chasing the championship.”

Some good luck wouldn’t hurt, either.

“The potential is evident by how we run on race day,” Lucas said. “It’s just a wrong place, wrong time scenario. It is what it is.”

Up next for Lucas and the GEICO/Lucas Oil Top Fuel team is the June 14-16 Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tenn.

Brooks, a Southern California native, successfully dialed in Lucas’ Top Fuel dragster in the 90-degree weather to make three solid passes. Lucas ultimately qualified No. 12 with a top pass of 3.881 seconds at 301.54 mph on Friday afternoon and then made two solid passes in Saturday’s heat.

“Aaron’s had more confidence in the heat this year than he’s had in the cool temperatures,” Lucas said. “That’s fine with me. Realistically, tomorrow we’re going to have a tough draw with Spencer (Massey) in the first round, but if we can get past that round and take advantage of what’s probably going to be the best track of the day, we’ll hopefully get some momentum going and turn it into some points and some improvement.”

Massey qualified No. 5 with a top pass of 3.816 seconds at 318.17 mph.

The Top Fuel class is as difficult as ever, as evidenced by three top drivers failing to qualify: Dave Grubnic, Leah Pruett, and Terry McMillen.

“It’s not easy,” Lucas said. “A lot of guys are out there struggling at times, and you saw what happened to Dave Grubnic. Like I said last year, you’ve got to ride the wave while you’re up. Right now we’re trying to get up on the wave.”

He’ll have to catch that wave in the heat Sunday, but if the rest of the weekend is any indication, Lucas could be primed for a deep run in eliminations.

His best pass was in Q1 on Friday when the sun was pelting the racetrack, and he made two more good passes in the heat Saturday (3.980 at 271.95 mph and 3.930 at 307.16 mph).

“We went down the track on three out of four runs, and the one run we didn’t it did the same thing we’ve been fighting on the nighttime runs,” Lucas said. “But Aaron made some considerable moves to try to see some improvements or differences in the car and make it more consistent. He’s doing a really good job and the team is doing a good job.”

Eliminations for the Toyota NHRA Summernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park will get under way at 11 a.m. EDT on Sunday. ESPN2 will broadcast the eliminations show at 4:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday.

Bernstein, racing this weekend before taking a two-event break to have a herniated disc in his back repaired, was on the outside looking in after three qualifying sessions, but crew chief Joe Barlam installed the right tune-up and Bernstein made a pass of 3.978 seconds at 300.33 mph to qualify for eliminations on Sunday.

“We’d like to not be in that position, but the ProtectTheHarvest.com team came through,” Bernstein said. “We got in the show. You’ve got to be in it to win it.”

Bernstein will face an uphill battle Sunday, squaring off with No. 1 qualifier Clay Millican in the first round of eliminations. Millican earned his first career No. 1 with a pass of 3.792 seconds at 321.27 mph, which he run in Friday’s faster, cooler night session.

“It’s going to be tough tomorrow, No. 16 going against the No. 1, so we’ll see,” Bernstein said. “It’s a difficult racetrack right now. With the heat and everything, it’s tough to get these cars to calm down and get down the track.”

With temperatures during the day topping 90 degrees on Friday and Saturday, the Friday night session was the quickest of the weekend, but Bernstein’s car had a mechanical problem at the hit and that qualifying pass was lost.

“We were unfortunate to have an issue with the fuel system on the night run, so that put us behind the eight ball,” Bernstein said. “Then we come out today and tried to get down a hot track and it was a little tougher. We’re OK, though. We’re in the game and we can race tomorrow.”

Win or lose Bernstein will head home to Indianapolis to prepare for a procedure on his back to repair the disc that has had him in pain for some time.

“I’ve been telling people I’ve never been so excited for a surgery in my life,” Bernstein said. “I just can’t wait for it. We’ll get through tomorrow and get back to Indy and hopefully get this thing worked on and we’ll be ready.”

Eliminations for the Toyota NHRA Summernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park will get under way at 11 a.m. EDT on Sunday. ESPN2 will broadcast the eliminations show at 4:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday.