"They took this deal and ran with it, and next thing you know we have a great car that we have a lot of confidence in that seems like every run it takes what we put on it."

Lucas was stellar in the new car this weekend, grabbing the No. 1 qualifying position and then posting the lowest elapsed time in three of the four rounds of eliminations. He started with a 3.769 at 319.37 mph against No. 16 qualifier Terry McMillen in the first round, easily beating McMillen's run of 3.857 seconds at 322.04 mph.

That put Lucas up against teammate Brandon Bernstein in the second round, where Lucas caught a break.

"I don't know if it back-sided a piston or what happened, but it broke a piston at somewhere around 300 feet," Lucas said of his run of 3.886 seconds at 288.70 mph. "I could feel it, but I had to keep my foot in it and hope that everything panned out. It wasn't pretty and it was a lucky round."

Bernstein smoked the tires early and coasted across in 5.946 seconds at 103.86 mph. Lucas then took advantage in the semifinals against Doug Kalitta, leaving first and running 3.796 seconds at 310.13 mph to beat Kalitta's pass of 3.818 seconds at 325.61 mph.

Lucas faced points leader Spencer Massey in the final and got off the line first and made another quick pass of 3.788 seconds at 317.49 mph. That held off Massey's run of 3.816 seconds at 319.60 mph to secure his ninth career victory and his first in Charlotte.

Spencer Massey remains leading the Top Fuel points leaving Charlotte.

In the opening round of Sunday's eliminations against rookie Brittany Force, Massey's Battery Extender Powered by Schumacher dragster suffered a parts malfunction that led to a fireball out the back of the 10,000-horsepower dragster. But it turned on the win light with a 3.82-second pass to Force's 3.83-second lap.