FireAde driver Larry Morgan didn't make many fans happy at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals on Sunday at Bristol Dragway, but he snapped out of a mini-slump with a first-round victory over Allen Johnson.

Morgan won on a holeshot over local favorite Johnson before losing on a holeshot to Gray Motorsports teammate Shane Gray in the second round.

But the win over Johnson, who lives about an hour away from Bristol Dragway, was an important one for Morgan. Johnson had gotten the better of Morgan in the first round of the last two races, but Morgan ripped off a .006-second reaction time to pull off the victory.

"I got out of that first-round crap, thank God," Morgan said. "That was good to beat a guy who's been beating up on me for two races."

Allen Johnson did not have a happy Father's Day.

And even though Morgan lost to Gray in the next round, Morgan was still smiling.

"That guy (Johnson) is as tough as they get," Morgan said. "It's his home track, and I hated it for him, but I wanted to make sure he took care of his family and friends. I didn't want them to be disappointed that he couldn't spend time with them."

Morgan's pass of 6.708 seconds at 206.92 mph was more than enough to hold off Johnson's 6.692-second run at 206.42 mph.

"We ran good that round," Morgan said. "I just blew the tires off second round. Had I listened to what Jeff Perley said, I probably would've been in good shape. We slipped the clutch so much in the first run, but it got through there. Had we taken gear ratio out, we probably would've done better."