Kyle Larson Opens 32nd Chili Bowl Nationals With Victory In Tuesday’s Qualifying Night

Story By: BRYAN HULBERT / TULSA, OK – In a car owned by his father, California’s Kyle Larson picked up his fourth career Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire preliminary victory to tie the driver of the iRacing No. 01 with the late Bryan Clauson for third on the all-time preliminary night win list.

“It’s great to get a win for my Dad. I haven’t been in a car he’s owned since I was in Karts,” said Larson who will take the green in his sixth Lucas Oil Chili Bowl championship event on Saturday night.

Giving chase to pole sitter, Zach Daum, at the start Larson was never lost hold of the Toyota No. 5d, taking several shots at the lead throughout the opening laps. Searching lines after a caution with three laps complete, Larson utilized a Lap 5 restart to jump to the cushion and build his run on Daum. With momentum off the fourth turn, the difference was 0.043 seconds at the line on the eighth round with Kyle securing the top-spot through the first and second turns.

On getting the lead, Larson stated, “I knew if I could get some momentum built up, I could get by [Zach] Daum on the top and I was just hoping he didn’t move up, but he left me a lane and I was able to get the lead. After that, I just ran a decent pace, but I knew I could run harder.”

With Larson putting distance on the field, focus turned to the race for the final two transfer spots into Saturday’s A-Feature as Zach Daum came under fire from Brad Sweet. Swapping lines and position numerous times through the race’s mid-point, the battle came to a close on Lap 20 as Daum hit the brakes to avoid the flipped No. 1b of Travis Rilat; forcing the engine to stall out in the second turn.

Moving Justin Grant into the mix, who had bounced about from third to fifth throughout the race, the NOS Energy Drink No. 7bc began an onslaught of attacks on Sweet for the second spot with each slide job met in kind. While both Sweet and Courtney were able to keep Larson in sight, with Sweet taking one last shot on Lap 22, neither was able to mount the charge as Kyle crossed the checkered flag 1.170 seconds ahead of the battle for second.

Able to hold off the challenges, Brad Sweet grabbed second. Punching a ticket to his fourth A-Feature, his 2018 attempt marks the end of a five-year A-Feature drought, with Tyler Courtney making his second consecutive appearance with his place on the final step of Tuesday’s podium.

Hard Charger on the night, England’s Tom Harris advanced nine spots to fourth in the Bob East No. 4 with Logan Seavey making up the top-five.

2018 Chili Bowl Rookie, Giovani Scelzi crossed sixth with Jake Neuman seventh. Brad Loyet made up six positions to eighth with Scott Evans advancing eight times to ninth. Racing around the top-five early on, Justin Peck ended up rounding out the top-ten.

Also on tap during Tuesday’s opener, the Vacuworx Invitational Race of Champions found its sixth different winner with Arizona’s Chad Boat picking up the victory. Drawing the pole in the 10th annual Vacuworx Invitational Race of Champions, Chad led every lap but was not without challenge as Kyle Larson laid on a charge in the closing laps that nearly saw the iRacing No. 01 steal away the win, but the smooth laps of the No. 84x secured the night’s $6.363.63 payday.

A field of 86 drivers made up Tuesday’s Warren CAT Qualifying Night to kick off the 32nd Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire. So far, the Fastenal Flip Count stands at 12 with two drivers making repeat appearances, but all were able to walk away. The driver who is the 25th to tumble will get a free HANS Device from Simpson Race Products.

The 32nd Lucas Oil Chili Bowl National presented by General Tire continues on Wednesday, January 10, 2018, with the night sponsored by Hard Rock Casino Tulsa. The River Spirit Expo Center opens at 9:00 A.M. with Hot Laps at 4:00 P.M. and racing at 5:00 P.M. (CT).

General Admission tickets, which double as a Pit Pass, are sold at the event and are $45 per weekday and $60 on Saturday. Purchasing consecutive days does save the buyer money. Fans unable to attend can find online PPV coverage at http://www.racinboys.com.

For continued updates on the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire, fans can follow along on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with @CBNationals. All official press, updates, and results on the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire can be found online at http://www.chilibowl.com.

Results:

32nd Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire
Tulsa Expo Raceway – Tulsa, Okla.
Tuesday, January 9, 2018
Warren CAT Qualifying Night

Car Count: 86

Heat Races: Top 40 in passing points advance to Qualifiers.

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 67-Logan Seavey, [3]; 2. 3N-Jake Neuman, [8]; 3. 97A-Austin Odell, [2]; 4. 57J-Jake Bubak, [6]; 5. 56V-Matt Veatch, [4]; 6. 71WG-Weston Gorham, [7]; 7. 44D-Evan Turner, [1]; 8. (DNF) 2W-Wyatt Burks, [5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 15J-Kyle Jones, [1]; 2. 01-Kyle Larson, [6]; 3. 4-Tom Harris, [2]; 4. 4A-Chad Boespflug, [4]; 5. 59-Austin Shores, [3]; 6. 5B-Bobby Brewer, [5]; 7. 84-Phil Shapel, [8]; 8. (DNF) 2BX-Brett Becker, [7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 99P-Dillon Welch, [5]; 2. 20D-Chris Dyson, [3]; 3. 44X-Wesley Smith, [2]; 4. 1C-Clayton Christensen, [1]; 5. 22C-Dan McCarron, [7]; 6. 7CH-Kelsey Ivy, [4]; 7. 22M-Chris Cochran, [6]; (DNS) 8JR-A.J. Johnson,

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 91K-Kevin Bayer, [1]; 2. 118-Scott Evans, [2]; 3. 17E-Blake Edwards, [3]; 4. 88W-Dustin Weland, [6]; 5. 7RS-Merril Lamb, [5]; 6. 2DG-Elliot Amdahl, [8]; 7. (DNF) 21R-Kaylee Bryson, [4]; 8. (DNF) 9$-Kyle Clark, [7]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 91A-Chris Andrews, [3]; 2. 9F-Zac Forster, [6]; 3. 73K-Kyle Hirst, [4]; 4. 9U-Doug McCune, [1]; 5. 87C-David Camfield, [7]; 6. 7W-Scott Walton, [2]; 7. 7Z-Roy Entze II, [8]; 8. 10T-Brandon Thomas, [5]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 05-Brad Loyet, [3]; 2. 51X-Austin Langenstein, [4]; 3. 74J-Bill Jackson, [2]; 4. 7SS-Wade Seiler, [6]; 5. 55T-Tony Everhart, [5]; 6. (DNF) 14JR-Holley Hollan, [7]; 7. (DNF) 00-Tristan Lee, [1]; (DNS) 19N-Nick O’Neal,

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 1B-Travis Rilat, [2]; 2. 51-R.J. Johnson, [1]; 3. 7K-Justin Peck, [3]; 4. 8J-Jonathan Beason, [4]; 5. 101-Chuck McGillivray, [5]; 6. 17D-Dakota Jackson, [6]; 7. 25P-Dylan Peterson, [8]; 8. (DNF) 4D-Robert Dalby, [7]

Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 5D-Zach Daum, [8]; 2. 82M-Steven Shebester, [1]; 3. 9JR-Derek Hagar, [4]; 4. 14W-Matt Westfall, [6]; 5. 6M-Ray Seach, [2]; 6. 33K-Kyle Offill, [3]; 7. 721-Brendon Wiseley, [7]; 8. 30T-Larry Bratti, [5]

Heat 9 (8 Laps): 1. 63D-Brad Sweet, [2]; 2. 57BC-Giovanni Scelzi, [1]; 3. 11J-Justin Melton, [6]; 4. 2S-Travis Scott, [4]; 5. 18-Tony Bruce Jr, [7]; 6. 5X-Stevie Sussex III, [8]; 7. 5M-Cory Klug, [3]; 8. (DNF) 68F-Tyler Seavey, [5]

Heat 10 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Alex Bright, [1]; 2. 7U-Joe B. Miller, [2]; 3. 7A-Justin Allgaier, [4]; 4. 7AUS-Mark Cooper, [3]; 5. 17G-Dustin Golobic, [6]; 6. 1PW-Paul White, [7]; 7. 1G-Holly Porter, [5]

Heat 11 (8 Laps): 1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, [3]; 2. 2A-Joe Stornetta, [6]; 3. 37T-Anton Hernandez, [4]; 4. 46-Kenney Johnson, [2]; 5. 22D-David Stephenson, [1]; 6. 31J-James Burke, [5]; 7. 5J-Jeff Crook, [7]

D-Features: Top 2 advance to corresponding C-Feature.

D Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 2W-Wyatt Burks, [5]; 2. 4D-Robert Dalby, [3]; 3. 5J-Jeff Crook, [2]; 4. 21R-Kaylee Bryson, [1]; 5. 8JR-A.J. Johnson, [7]; 6. 7Z-Roy Entze II, [6]; 7. 30T-Larry Bratti, [8]; 8. (DNF) 2BX-Brett Becker, [4]; (DNS) 22M-Chris Cochran,

D Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 9$-Kyle Clark, [4]; 2. 1G-Holly Porter, [2]; 3. 5M-Cory Klug, [3]; 4. 68F-Tyler Seavey, [8]; 5. 721-Brendon Wiseley, [1]; 6. 00-Tristan Lee, [6]; 7. 44D-Evan Turner, [5]; 8. 10T-Brandon Thomas, [7]; (DNS) 19N-Nick O’Neal,

C-Features: Top 4 advance to corresponding B-Feature.

C Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 8J-Jonathan Beason, [1]; 2. 1PW-Paul White, [9]; 3. 7AUS-Mark Cooper, [2]; 4. 17G-Dustin Golobic, [3]; 5. 4D-Robert Dalby, [14]; 6. 2W-Wyatt Burks, [15]; 7. 71WG-Weston Gorham, [8]; 8. 25P-Dylan Peterson, [13]; 9. 1C-Clayton Christensen, [5]; 10. 101-Chuck McGillivray, [7]; 11. 31J-James Burke, [10]; 12. 7RS-Merril Lamb, [6]; 13. 33K-Kyle Offill, [12]; 14. 2DG-Elliot Amdahl, [4]; 15. (DNF) 17D-Dakota Jackson, [11]; (DNS) 6M-Ray Seach,

C Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 2S-Travis Scott, [1]; 2. 22C-Dan McCarron, [2]; 3. 46-Kenney Johnson, [3]; 4. 5X-Stevie Sussex III, [4]; 5. 22D-David Stephenson, [10]; 6. 9$-Kyle Clark, [15]; 7. 1G-Holly Porter, [16]; 8. 59-Austin Shores, [9]; 9. 14JR-Holley Hollan, [8]; 10. 9U-Doug McCune, [5]; 11. 55T-Tony Everhart, [6]; 12. 5B-Bobby Brewer, [11]; 13. 84-Phil Shapel, [12]; 14. 7CH-Kelsey Ivy, [13]; 15. 7W-Scott Walton, [14]; 16. (DNF) 56V-Matt Veatch, [7]

Qualifiers: Top 16 in combined passing points advance to the A-Feature.

Qualifier 1 (10 Laps): 1. 51-R.J. Johnson, [1]; 2. 5D-Zach Daum, [6]; 3. 77-Alex Bright, [2]; 4. 05-Brad Loyet, [4]; 5. 51X-Austin Langenstein, [3]; 6. 9F-Zac Forster, [5]; 7. 9JR-Derek Hagar, [7]; 8. 17E-Blake Edwards, [9]; 9. 44X-Wesley Smith, [10]; 10. 88W-Dustin Weland, [8]

Qualifier 2 (10 Laps): 1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, [4]; 2. 11J-Justin Melton, [3]; 3. 7K-Justin Peck, [9]; 4. 2A-Joe Stornetta, [5]; 5. 3N-Jake Neuman, [6]; 6. 7A-Justin Allgaier, [7]; 7. 20D-Chris Dyson, [2]; 8. 82M-Steven Shebester, [1]; 9. 74J-Bill Jackson, [10]; 10. 7SS-Wade Seiler, [8]

Qualifier 3 (10 Laps): 1. 57BC-Giovanni Scelzi, [1]; 2. 67-Logan Seavey, [5]; 3. 118-Scott Evans, [2]; 4. 15J-Kyle Jones, [3]; 5. 99P-Dillon Welch, [6]; 6. 18-Tony Bruce Jr, [10]; 7. 37T-Anton Hernandez, [7]; 8. 14W-Matt Westfall, [8]; 9. 1B-Travis Rilat, [4]; 10. 97A-Austin Odell, [9]

Qualifier 4 (10 Laps): 1. 01-Kyle Larson, [6]; 2. 63D-Brad Sweet, [4]; 3. 4-Tom Harris, [7]; 4. 73K-Kyle Hirst, [1]; 5. 91A-Chris Andrews, [5]; 6. 7U-Joe B. Miller, [2]; 7. 87C-David Camfield, [8]; 8. 4A-Chad Boespflug, [9]; 9. (DNF) 91K-Kevin Bayer, [3]; (DNS) 57J-Jake Bubak,

B-Features: Top 4 advance to the A-Feature.

B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 118-Scott Evans, [1]; 2. 7A-Justin Allgaier, [4]; 3. 17G-Dustin Golobic, [16]; 4. 87C-David Camfield, [5]; 5. 1PW-Paul White, [14]; 6. 8J-Jonathan Beason, [13]; 7. 37T-Anton Hernandez, [6]; 8. 18-Tony Bruce Jr, [3]; 9. 14W-Matt Westfall, [8]; 10. 7AUS-Mark Cooper, [15]; 11. 74J-Bill Jackson, [10]; 12. 91K-Kevin Bayer, [9]; 13. 17E-Blake Edwards, [7]; 14. 97A-Austin Odell, [12]; 15. (DNF) 9F-Zac Forster, [2]; 16. (DNF) 88W-Dustin Weland, [11]

B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 73K-Kyle Hirst, [3]; 2. 15J-Kyle Jones, [1]; 3. 7U-Joe B. Miller, [4]; 4. 1B-Travis Rilat, [7]; 5. 5X-Stevie Sussex III, [15]; 6. 44X-Wesley Smith, [9]; 7. 51X-Austin Langenstein, [2]; 8. 9JR-Derek Hagar, [5]; 9. 22C-Dan McCarron, [14]; 10. 2S-Travis Scott, [12]; 11. 82M-Steven Shebester, [10]; 12. 4A-Chad Boespflug, [8]; 13. 20D-Chris Dyson, [6]; 14. 7SS-Wade Seiler, [11]; 15. (DNF) 46-Kenney Johnson, [13]; (DNS) 57J-Jake Bubak,

VIROC X

VIROC X (20 Laps): 1. 84X-Chad Boat, [1]; 2. 01-Kyle Larson, [8]; 3. 63-Tanner Thorson, [6]; 4. 24-Tracy Hines, [2]; 5. 63D-Brad Sweet, [5]; 6. 39-Michael Pickens, [12]; 7. 97K-Spencer Bayston, [7]; 8. 47X-Tim McCreadie, [3]; 9. 71G-Damion Gardner, [9]; 10. 97-Rico Abreu, [11]; 11. 71W-Christopher Bell, [18]; 12. 1R-Thomas Meseraull, [17]; 13. 47-Danny Stratton, [10]; 14. 67Z-Kasey Kahne, [13]; 15. 5-Jerry Coons Jr, [19]; 16. 05-Brad Loyet, [15]; 17. 21K-Cory Kruseman, [14]; 18. 1-Sammy Swindell, [16]; 19. (DNF) 2R-J.J. Yeley, [4]

A-Feature: Top 3 advance to Saturday’s A-Feature.

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 01-Kyle Larson, [2]; 2. 63D-Brad Sweet, [5]; 3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, [3]; 4. 4-Tom Harris, [13]; 5. 67-Logan Seavey, [4]; 6. 57BC-Giovanni Scelzi, [12]; 7. 3N-Jake Neuman, [7]; 8. 05-Brad Loyet, [14]; 9. 118-Scott Evans, [17]; 10. 7K-Justin Peck, [6]; 11. 77-Alex Bright, [15]; 12. 7A-Justin Allgaier, [19]; 13. 7U-Joe B. Miller, [22]; 14. 51-R.J. Johnson, [11]; 15. 11J-Justin Melton, [8]; 16. 5D-Zach Daum, [1]; 17. 15J-Kyle Jones, [20]; 18. 17G-Dustin Golobic, [21]; 19. 73K-Kyle Hirst, [18]; 20. (DNF) 87C-David Camfield, [23]; 21. (DNF) 1B-Travis Rilat, [24]; 22. (DNF) 2A-Joe Stornetta, [9]; 23. (DNF) 99P-Dillon Welch, [10]; 24. (DNF) 91A-Chris Andrews, [16]

Lap Leader(s): Zach Daum 1-7; Kyle Larson 8-25
Hard Charger: Tom Harris +9