Lucas said while this version of GEICO Top Fuel team with new crew chief Aaron Brooks and co-crew chief Rod Centorbi is still in its early stages, there are already a lot of positives cropping up.

"Seeing how (crew chief) Aaron Brooks does things, I've been impressed," Lucas said. "He did a great job of tuning Funny Cars in the past, but seeing what he's doing now, it's amazing. We've got a good group of people put together who know their roles and Aaron can focus on tuning the car and not the mechanical side of it.

"I've never had a foundation like this in the past. I'm trying to be a little guarded because you can have three great rounds in a row and the racing gods will knock you down a peg or two. Right now, the great rounds are coming and I'm proud to drive this car."

Little did he know how prophetic his words would be as Lucas fell in the semifinals when a new rear-end broke in his dragster, halting what had been a stellar weekend.

Lucas beat Rod Fuller in the first round of eliminations Sunday before taking out former teammate and close friend Shawn Langdon on a holeshot in Round 2.

Facing Antron Brown in the semis, Lucas left first with a .037-second reaction time and was ahead when he suddenly slowed because of a rare broken rear end.

"There's nothing that bugs you more than when a practically brand-new part that should go 40 or 50 runs breaks," Lucas said. "It breaks my heart, to be honest with you, to know that we were out front, we were charging, we were running our career-best again and on our way to a 3.76. It's just a bummer."

Kahlid al Balooshi left his 2011 championship-winning Pro Mod to move into the Al-Anabi Top Fuel dragster seat vacated by Del Worsham. In his first round of competition, the Qatari driver turned in a 3.917 lap at 310.55, but it wasn’t enough to get the win over Clay Millican’s 3.818 at 318.92 mph.  (Jeff Burk photo)