Arana leads the way for Lucas Oil in Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 5) – Hector Arana will begin the defense of his NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series racing out of the No. 4 spot at the 56th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil.

Arana is one of three drivers flying Lucas Oil colors during Monday's eliminations at O'Reilly Raceway Park. Shawn Langdon qualified 12th in Top Fuel and Bruce Litton qualified 16th in the Lucas Slick Mist Top Fuel rail.

Arana's best qualifying pass on the Lucas Oil Buell was in 6.874 seconds at 192.91 mph. He goes up against Redell Harris in the first round. Harris had a pass of 6.999 seconds at 191.67 mph to land No. 13th on the ladder.

"I can’t worry about the numbers other guys are putting up," Arana said. "I've just got to worry about my bike and what I can do.

"We had a good hit early on, so we played around a little bit and didn't do so well a couple of times. The track was tricky and hard to read. We caught on and did well the last run, so we'll be ready for tomorrow."

Eliminations for the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals begin at 11 a.m. EDT on Monday. ESPN2 will pick up its coverage of the event starting at 1 p.m. EDT.