Solid Top Five Finish Keeps Morgan in the Championship Hunt

*Solid Top Five Finish Keeps Morgan in the Championship Hunt*





*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*



Concord, N.C. (September 5, 2009) – Eyes have been gravitating towards J.P.
Morgan and his Phil Morgan Pottery Chevrolet in recent weeks and a top five
finish in the first USARacing Pro Cup Championship Series event may gain him
more attention.  Morgan came back to his home track of Concord [N.C.]
Speedway for the BF Goodrich Tires 250 and finished fourth on Saturday
night.



“We wanted a better finish and I think we could have had a couple of spots
if it had stayed green.  Racing hard is one thing, but I’m not going to dump
anybody just to get more spots,” commented Morgan.  “It was a great points
night for us, obviously we wanted to win one here at our home track, but
we’ll take fourth and go to Iowa.”



Morgan started the race in the seventh position and was not too happy with
his car in the first half of the race.  Shortly after the halfway mark the
team elected to make changes, take tires, and the car soon came back to
life.



“The car was bad to begin with, we just couldn’t get it to hook up like we
wanted to,” said Morgan.  “After we came in for tires, the car really came
alive and we started picking off spots one by one.”



Once the car was to Morgan’s liking, he was really able to start making some
ground on the leaders.  With the level of competition in the Pro Cup Series,
he had to make some gutsy moves to get around some of his competitors,
including a dive to the apron of turn three in one instance.



“When I ran a late model here, that was a pass that I liked to do to people
a lot,” Morgan laughed.  “I hadn’t done it in a long time and only at that
part of the race did I feel comfortable doing it.  I saw the opening and I
thought ‘I’m gonna dive in there,’ and it stuck and I made the pass.”



It seemed as though Morgan really had a handle on his car and having a long
run was working to his advantage in the last segment of the race.  Between
the hard racing and several on track incidents that brought out not only
one, but two red flags, his run for a win would have to be put on hold for
another day.



“There was bumping, banging, and hard racing going on everywhere.  There
weren’t too many times when I wasn’t looking out the windshield and saw
someone sideways or two cars getting together.  It was like everyone was out
there running 50 lap shootouts.  I was surprised at how many cars were left
on the track at the end, I mean, there were people that were sideways all
night long and just never hit anything.  Actually, I might have been one of
those a few times.



“Our car was much better on long runs, so after the first red flag, I was
really thinking ‘gosh, I hope we don’t have any more red flags,’ but
sometimes it happens like that,” said Morgan.  “If you’re set up  to run
long green flag stints, you’re sitting there going, ‘oh no, not again’. “



Morgan’s solid finish has moved him up two spots in the standings; he now
sits fourth just 65 points behind the Point leader, Clay Rogers.  Morgan and
his team believe that finishes like this are just what they need to compete
for the championship.



“[The team] is really excited.  I can hear it in their voices and I’m
excited for the team too.  I wanted to gain a few more spots [this weekend],
but if we couldn’t, we had to stay in striking distance,” explained Morgan.
“I feel like Iowa and Rockingham will be our best races.  I’m really looking
forward to those and hopefully they will play in our favor.  I really want
to win those two races.  They are two tracks that I just love.



Morgan will have one weekend off before he and the rest of the Pro Cup
Series travel to Iowa Speedway for the Sept. 19 Iowa 200, the second event
in the four-race Championship Series. If you missed the action from the BF
Goodrich Tires 250, tune into your local FSN station on Oct. 25 at 11:30am.



Phil Morgan Pottery, is the proud sponsor of J&R Racing.  World Master
Potter Phil Morgan creates his famous crystalline glazed pottery using an
ancient and rare porcelain glazing technique. His pieces have been featured
in national publications, presidential collections and museums around the
world. Phil has appeared on ABC TV’s Good Morning America and on CTV's Good
Morning Canada.  For  more information, log onto: www.philmorganpottery.org



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