Bell Comes Out On Top In Late-Race Duel To Win Chili Bowl Thursday Night Feature

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

TRD PR