Pomona, California (February 14, 2016) - Riverside native Morgan Lucas thrilled his hometown fans with an upset win over Dave Connolly to kick off his 2016 NHRA drag racing campaign, but his lucky streak ended there as the son of Lucas Oil founders Forest and Charlotte Lucas then fell in the quarterfinals to top qualifier Steve Torrence, who happens to run a race car built by Morgan Lucas Racing.

"It's always nice to at least get one round-win at the first race of the year," Lucas said. "Of course you want more, but it was extremely important to us, especially considering how we started last year, to come out right away and remind everyone that we're the team that won Indy, not the team that couldn't get out of our own way at this race one year ago."

Lucas used some expert driving to beat the higher-qualified Connolly in Round 1. He got the jump at the starting line, .045- to .055-second, and then did a nice pedal job mid-race to keep ahead of Connolly's dragster. Both cars lost traction at about the same spot, but Morgan gathered his together quickly and pulled away for the win, 4.366 at 182.33 mph to Connolly's 4.698 at 140.18 mph.

In the quarterfinals, Lucas once again got the jump at the light and was ahead at the 330-foot marker before his 10,000-horsepower Lucas Oil Racing TV dragster lost a cylinder. The resulting loss of power allowed Torrence by for a relatively easy 3.782-second, 324.98-mph win to Lucas' coasting 4.244 at 196.79 mph.

"I didn't see him for a while, but I could hear him next to me," Lucas said. "I was just starting to think we had a race on our hands, and then my car nosed over and wiggled around a little bit and I knew we had dropped a cylinder. It's disappointing but at the same time it's neat to see one of our chassis customers qualify on top and reach at least the semifinals.

"Steve's got my teammate Richie Crampton in the semifinals, so maybe Richie can get us some quick payback. That Lucas Oil car is running well also."

Lucas will be running a part-time schedule for the third year in a row in 2016, but no one takes him lightly when he does show up. That's because Lucas has managed to win three national events in 14 outings during the last two seasons, including last year's U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway, the sport's biggest and longest-running event.

Sunday's eliminations will air live from 2-5 p.m. PT on FOX Sports 1.