By NICK SCHWIEN

nschwien@dailynews.net

It's not that Danny Morrison Jr. is happy finishing second.

He'd rather win the feature race any day.

But the Minneapolis modified driver prefers to look at it from a different perspective.

"It's frustrating," he said. "But in order to run second, you have to run good -- and you're fast. It's just getting over the hump. If one guy was beating me every time, it would be tough. But Jason Schoenberger's the only one who beat me twice, and the other races there were three other drivers."

That's right, for the last five modified features at RPM Speedway in Hays, Morrison has piloted his No. 14M to a runner-up finish. Five nights, five second-place finishes.

That included Sunday night's A-main at RPM, when Morrison finished second to Kenny Sweet during the second day of the Ellis County Fair races.

Morrison, who missed one race this season at RPM but still remains in the top five in track points, said he is expecting to compete in the remaining races in Hays unless some unforeseen circumstance arrives.

And he's trying to experiment at bit with different things on his car in order to get better every night.

"It's been my focus out there all year -- to get faster," Morrison said. "I won the points out there two years ago, and it takes solid finishes and no DNFs. This year, I'm trying to throw everything at the car to see what I can do to get faster."

Getting faster is the key, especially when it comes to the fourth annual RPM Fall Nationals on Oct. 15 and 16. The winner of the feature in the modified class pockets $5,000 -- a prize that's went to Jeremy Zorn, Jerry Phillips and David Murray Jr. the first three years.

"My main focus is to run better for the big show," Morrison said about the fall nationals.

Morrison, in his sixth year of driving a modified, also has found success at Minneapolis Raceway, his hometown track. He finished second there as well Saturday night and is tied for second in track points. He also won his second "King of the Hill" championship at Minneapolis earlier this season.

"We're doing quite a bit of testing there as well," Morrison said.

The modified driver hopes all the testing proves successful in Hays -- eventually.

"I have a ton of confidence," Morrison said. "We're running good, and I know we're capable. I'm going to be starting a little farther back now, probably. When I was getting some of those second-place finishes (at Hays), I was starting toward the front. It's better to start up front. In three of the five second-place finishes, I started up front. But the biggest thing for as short as the races are, is you basically have to pass a car every two laps to get to the front."

Those farther-back starting spots aren't all that terrible, though. Morrison knows that's what's helped him improve his driving through the years.

"I think that's what's helped me the most," he said. "For the most part, I've started toward the back and had to pass everyone. That makes you a better racer."

* RPM Speedway will take two weeks off before returning to action Aug. 6. Races begin at 7:30 p.m., with hot laps at 6:30.

Classes competing will be the IMCA modifieds, stocks, hobby stocks, sport mods, sport compacts and figure-eight racers. The night is sponsored by Hertel Tank Service, which is celebrating 50 years of business, and Hess Services.