ST. LOUIS (Sept. 28) - Trying to prove a point, Pro Stock driver Larry Morgan showed during the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park that you can't count him out of contention.

Running against No. 1 qualifier Erica Enders-Stevens in the first round, Morgan made it a coin toss of a race from the start, pulling a .028 reaction time compared to her .014. Getting edged out in the end, the Lucas Oil Ford Mustang posted a competitive 6.651-second pass to Enders-Stevens' 6.514.

"We made a good pass in the first round," Morgan said. "It did shake pretty hard though at the start of the run. We tried a different clutch for this run, trying to see if it would make a difference. Honestly we probably shouldn't have, but now we know not to try that again.

"It is what it is though; this won't keep us down."

However, the numbers from the weekend tell a different story than how Morgan really feels. Usually fighting an uphill battle all throughout the event, a relieved Morgan had a particularly smooth weekend with no major concerns to worry about.

"I really can't complain about this weekend at all," Morgan said. "I made five good runs the entire weekend, something that isn't very common. We made it through the weekend without any major problems and were able to focus on the car setup."

Not letting a round-loss affect him, Morgan's brain is already at work to figure out the changes he needs to make before he gets to Reading, Pa., next weekend.

"No worries, we'll go home and regroup," Morgan said. "The next three days will be spent in the shop working hard to get ready to head for Reading. If this weekend is a sign of our luck turning, I'd count on us next weekend."

Morgan will regroup and get ready for the next race on the 2014 schedule, the NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, Oct. 2-5, in Reading.