Toyota driver Christopher Bell led the first 22 laps, then gave up the lead on lap 23 of 25, only to retake the lead on lap 24 on the way to winning Thursday night’s John Christner Trucking Qualifying Night feature at the 33rd annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals at the Tulsa Expo Raceway. With the win, Bell advances directly to Saturday night’s A Main feature event.
The triumph is the fourth consecutive preliminary night feature victory for Bell and is his 52nd national midget car victory – all coming with Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) and Toyota. He is one of just four drivers ever to win five preliminary night features.
In a race marred by caution flags, Bell took the lead from the inside on the green flag and would consistently pull away from the field, only to see a yellow flag fly. Following a re-start, Shane Golobic was able to use a slider to get past the two-time defending champ into turn three on lap 23, with Bell countering a lap later when he was able to go back under and win a drag race going into turn one and go on to the victory.
“Shane definitely made a race out of it and I hope the last four laps was a good show,” said Bell, a Norman, Oklahoma native. “It was a lot of fun because I won, but it wouldn’t have been much fun if I had lost. I think running later in the week was a benefit with what we were able to learn from my teammates, but it seemed like I had the hardest time winning among my teammates – Kyle (Larson), Rico (Abreu) and Logan (Seavey). They all seemed to make it look easy, but that definitely wasn’t the case tonight. I had a lot of competition all night. I’m going to do my best to try to figure out why I didn’t feel as good as I normally do and why I didn’t run as good a race as I normally do. Going into Saturday, I’m in a really good spot, but these guys are all hungry for a Driller.”
Jerry Coons Jr. also advanced to Thursday’s A Main where he ran in the top two early with Bell before slipping back and was eventually caught up in a mid-race incident that ended his night early with a 17th-place finish.
This year’s Chili Bowl features more than 360 entries – each fighting for one of the 24 openings in Saturday night’s A Main feature event. Qualifying concludes on Friday night with seven Toyota-powered drivers expected to attempt to qualify including 2018 POWRi champion Tucker Klaasmeyer and 2017 USAC champ Spencer Bayston. Through the first four nights of qualifying, seven Toyota-powered have clinched a berth in Saturday’s A Main.
Toyota Thursday Results |
Finished |
|
Remaining Qualifiers |
71W Christopher Bell |
A Main – 1st |
|
Friday |
25 Jerry Coons |
A Main – 17th |
|
1S Flick |
72K Sam Johnson |
B Main – 6th |
|
2G Buckwalter |
5R Ryan Foster |
B Main – 8th |
|
5S J. Elledge |
56X Mark Chisholm |
B Main – 10th |
|
27 Klaasmeyer |
83 Karsyn Elledge |
B Main – 11th |
|
94X Boat |
71x McKenzie Haase |
B Main – 12th |
|
97K Bayston |
Toyota Powered Drivers Saturday Qualifying Positions
Car # |
Driver |
Hometown |
|
01 |
Kyle Larson |
Elk Grove, CA |
A Main |
1L |
Landon Simon |
Brownsburg, IN |
F Main |
2J |
J.J. Yeley |
Charlotte, NC |
O Main |
5D |
Zach Daum |
Pocahontas, IL |
A Main |
5P |
Kyle Craker |
Lewisberry, PA |
E Main |
5R |
Ryan Foster |
Anderson, CA |
F Main |
5T |
Presley Truedson |
Kennedy, MN |
M Main |
08 |
Cannon McIntosh |
Broken Arrow, OK |
B Main |
9X |
Paul Nienhiser |
Chapin, IL |
C Main |
13M |
Dennis Gile |
Glendale, AZ |
I Main |
15M |
Jason McDougal |
Broken Arrow, OK |
E Main |
25 |
Jerry Coons Jr. |
Tucson, AZ |
D Main |
27Z |
Zane Hendricks |
Stillwater, OK |
O Main |
35 |
Sterling Cling |
Tempe, AZ |
H Main |
52 |
Blake Hahn |
Sapulpa, OK |
C Main |
56X |
Mark Chisholm |
Cheyenne, WY |
G Main |
67 |
Logan Seavey |
Sutter, CA |
A Main |
67K |
Holley Hollan |
Tulsa, OK |
D Main |
71 |
Jesse Colwell |
Cottonwood, CA |
B Main |
71K |
Tanner Carrick |
Lincoln, CA |
D Main |
71W |
Christopher Bell |
Norman, OK |
A Main |
71X |
McKenna Haase |
Des Moines, IA |
H Main |
72K |
Sam Johnson |
St. Peters, MO |
F Main |
76G |
David Gravel |
Watertown, CT |
A Main |
76M |
Brady Bacon |
Broken Arrow, OK |
A Main |
83 |
Karsyn Elledge |
Mooresville, NC |
H Main |
87 |
Colby Copeland |
Roseville, CA |
B Main |
89 |
Tanner Berryhill |
Bixby, OK |
C Main |
91A |
Chris Andrews |
Sandusky, OH |
I Main |
91T |
Tyler Thomas |
Collinsville, OK |
E Main |
91W |
Hayden Williams |
Auckland, NZ |
E Main |
97 |
Rico Abreu |
Rutherford, CA |
A Main |
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