Rico Abreu Is Now 5-For-5 On Qualifying Nights At Chili Bowl; Wins Wednesday; McCreadie & BillyV Look Good

Story By: BRYAN HULBERT / CHILI BOWL – TULSA, OK – Chasing early, then having to hold off numerous charges over the course of late-race restarts, California’s Rico Abreu captured his fifth consecutive Hard Rock Casino Tulsa preliminary night victory during the Wednesday portion of the 34th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire.

Asked about winning his preliminary night for the fifth time, Rico replied, “It’s pretty impressive. I’ve always come here really prepared and my team has brought really prepared race cars, but it all starts with our Heat Race; getting through that and then getting through your Qualifier.”

Trailing Brad Sweet early, the California drivers ran varying lines around the Tulsa Expo Raceway with Sweet low as Abreu stepped to the top. Working through early cautions, Sweet was able to fend off the Safelite AutoGlass No. 97, but as the neared the half-way point, Rico got the better of the battle and bolted into the lead on Lap 15 with a slide job off the second turn.

Caution on Lap 17, the restart began a wild scramble for the runner-up spot with second through sixth trading hands in nearly every corner with Sweet getting shuffled as far down as sixth, Hahn advancing to fourth, Copeland taking second, Gravel knocked out of the top five, and all the while Rico steadily pulled away before caution lights shown again on Lap 21.

Red on Lap 24 with a five-car pileup in the first two turns, all drivers escaped uninjured.

Keeping Abreu in sight, Copeland worked the low side of the speedway in a bid for the lead as Blake Hahn and Brad Sweet trade sliders for the show position. Working top to bottom at either end of the track, the battle came to a head on Lap 26 as the pair collided in the fourth turn with Sweet helicoptering off the wall. Able to keep rolling, Hahn restarted third.

Getting a run on the restart, Copeland pulled alongside Rico, but could not advance to the point. To the final lap, Rico kept the right rear humming on the cushion with the checkered flag dropping on a 1.104-second advantage.

Letting the car drift off the bottom exiting the final turn, Colby Copeland held off Hahn by 0.141 seconds for the automatic transfer into Saturday A-Feature. Settling for third, Hahn was trailed by Chase Johnson with Sammy Swindell navigating the hub from 13th to complete the top five.

With a field of 66 bringing the weekend to 200 competitors taking to the Tulsa Expo Raceway, the night’s lineup was split into eight OERB Heat Races with wins going to Daniel Robinson, David Camfield, Chase Johnson, Jesse Colwell, Sammy Swindell, Rico Abreu, and Clinton Boyles.

C-Features were topped by Robert Dalby and Mike Griffiths with Team Toyota Qualifiers won by Blake Hahn, Brad Sweet, Colby Copeland, and Jake Swanson. A pair of Dave.com B-Features went to Jesse Colwell and Tyler Thomas.

The Worldwide Technologies Raceway Flip Count grew only slightly on Wednesday from 32 to 39 with all drivers able to walk away.

The 34th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire continues Thursday, January 16, 2020, with John Christner Trucking Qualifying Night. Hot Laps getting underway at 4:00 P.M. with racing at 5:00 P.M. (CT). General Admission Pit Passes never sell out and is sold at the event. Weekdays are $45 per day. Saturday is $60.

Results:

Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire
Tulsa Expo Raceway – Tulsa, Okla.
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Hard Rock Casino Tulsa Qualifying Night

Car Count: 66
Event Count: 200

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

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 57D-Daniel Robinson[3]; 2. 50-Daniel Adler[4]; 3. 2M-Colby Stubblefield[2]; 4. 15F-Kinzer Edwards[9]; 5. 0-Billy VanInwegen Jr[7]; 6. 7J-Shawn Jackson[5]; 7. 51G-Garet Williamson[1]; 8. 37-Eddie Tafoya Jr[6]; 9. 4F-Chad Frewaldt[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 16C-David Camfield Jr[1]; 2. 15A-Harley Hollan[2]; 3. 9-Tim McCreadie[6]; 4. 88N-DJ Netto[3]; 5. 08K-Karsyn Elledge[4]; 6. 1P-Holly Porter[5]; 7. 101-Chuck McGillivray[8]; 8. 17K-Michael Koontz[7]; 9. (DNS) 68S-Scott Scherb

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 25C-Chase Johnson[2]; 2. 1R-Brad Sweet[7]; 3. 45X-Parker Price Miller[1]; 4. 67J-Chase Jones[5]; 5. 75X-Mike Griffiths[3]; 6. 85-Matt Moore[8]; 7. 22C-Charlie Crumpton[4]; 8. 80-Joe Spillman[6]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 14-Jesse Colwell[1]; 2. 27W-Colby Copeland[3]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn[5]; 4. 22X-Steven Shebester[4]; 5. 14E-Jake Neal[2]; 6. 2T-Keith Martin[8]; 7. 2D-Matt Sherrell[7]; 8. 99R-Brad Bowden[6]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Sammy Swindell[1]; 2. 73T-Jake Swanson[3]; 3. 84-Giovanni Scelzi[8]; 4. 2G-JJ Yeley[4]; 5. 35X-Tyler Robbins[5]; 6. 3W-Brandon Waelti[7]; 7. 13B-Johnny Brown Jr[6]; 8. 18S-Santino Ferrucci[2]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 97-Rico Abreu[7]; 2. 97K-Tom Harris[4]; 3. 91T-Tyler Thomas[6]; 4. 54-Matt Westfall[2]; 5. 71R-Robby Josett[5]; 6. 91-Jeff Stasa[3]; 7. 54G-Trey Gropp[8]; 8. 8B-Colin Deming[1]

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 14S-Clinton Boyles[2]; 2. 40-Eric Wilkins[6]; 3. 6N-Ryan Newman[7]; 4. 8W-Mark Lowrey[8]; 5. 130-Larry Bratti[1]; 6. 99K-Robert Carson[3]; 7. 2L-Landon Simon[4]; 8. 11E-Cory Elliott[5]

Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 68-Ronnie Gardner[3]; 2. 76G-David Gravel[4]; 3. 97X-Austin Odell[1]; 4. 11G-Mike Goodman[5]; 5. 14J-Matt Streeter[6]; 6. 4D-Robert Dalby[7]; 7. 18K-Tony Gualda Jr[2]; 8. 77J-John Klabonde[8]

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

C-Main 1 (12 Laps): 1. 4D-Robert Dalby[1]; 2. 2D-Matt Sherrell[6]; 3. 7J-Shawn Jackson[3]; 4. 14E-Jake Neal[2]; 5. 4F-Chad Frewaldt[12]; 6. 37-Eddie Tafoya Jr[10]; 7. 91-Jeff Stasa[5]; 8. 77J-John Klabonde[8]; 9. 101-Chuck McGillivray[4]; 10. 17K-Michael Koontz[9]; 11. 22C-Charlie Crumpton[7]; 12. 8B-Colin Deming[13]; 13. 99R-Brad Bowden[11]

C-Main 2 (12 Laps): 1. 75X-Mike Griffiths; 2. 130-Larry Bratti; 3. 1P-Holly Porter; 4. 54G-Trey Gropp; 5. 99K-Robert Carson; 6. 13B-Johnny Brown Jr; 7. 2L-Landon Simon; 8. 18K-Tony Gualda Jr; 9. 51G-Garet Williamson; 10. 80-Joe Spillman; 11. 18S-Santino Ferrucci; (DNS) 11E-Cory Elliott; (DNS) 68S-Scott Scherb

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

Qualifier 1 (10 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn[1]; 2. 14S-Clinton Boyles[4]; 3. 1-Sammy Swindell[2]; 4. 97-Rico Abreu[6]; 5. 9-Tim McCreadie[3]; 6. 67J-Chase Jones[7]; 7. 57D-Daniel Robinson[5]; 8. 54-Matt Westfall[9]; 9. 22X-Steven Shebester[8]; 10. 35X-Tyler Robbins[10]

Qualifier 2 (10 Laps): 1. 1R-Brad Sweet[6]; 2. 68-Ronnie Gardner[5]; 3. 15F-Kinzer Edwards[1]; 4. 71R-Robby Josett[10]; 5. 91T-Tyler Thomas[3]; 6. 11G-Mike Goodman[7]; 7. 8W-Mark Lowrey[2]; 8. 50-Daniel Adler[4]; 9. 2G-JJ Yeley[8]; 10. 85-Matt Moore[9]

Qualifier 3 (10 Laps): 1. 27W-Colby Copeland[2]; 2. 97K-Tom Harris[4]; 3. 88N-DJ Netto[8]; 4. 16C-David Camfield Jr[3]; 5. 6N-Ryan Newman[5]; 6. 45X-Parker Price Miller[7]; 7. 15A-Harley Hollan[1]; 8. 08K-Karsyn Elledge[10]; 9. 40-Eric Wilkins[6]; 10. 2T-Keith Martin[9]

Qualifier 4 (10 Laps): 1. 73T-Jake Swanson[2]; 2. 76G-David Gravel[4]; 3. 25C-Chase Johnson[5]; 4. 14-Jesse Colwell[3]; 5. 84-Giovanni Scelzi[6]; 6. 97X-Austin Odell[7]; 7. 2M-Colby Stubblefield[1]; 8. 0-Billy VanInwegen Jr[9]; 9. 14J-Matt Streeter[8]; 10. 3W-Brandon Waelti[10]

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

B-Main 1 (15 Laps): 1. 14-Jesse Colwell[1]; 2. 9-Tim McCreadie[2]; 3. 57D-Daniel Robinson[3]; 4. 2G-JJ Yeley[10]; 5. 0-Billy VanInwegen Jr[9]; 6. 2D-Matt Sherrell[14]; 7. 85-Matt Moore[11]; 8. 15A-Harley Hollan[7]; 9. 4D-Robert Dalby[13]; 10. 54-Matt Westfall[8]; 11. 7J-Shawn Jackson[15]; 12. 14E-Jake Neal[16]; 13. 8W-Mark Lowrey[6]; 14. 97X-Austin Odell[5]; 15. 11G-Mike Goodman[4]; 16. 35X-Tyler Robbins[12]

B-Main 2 (15 Laps): 1. 91T-Tyler Thomas[2]; 2. 45X-Parker Price Miller[4]; 3. 08K-Karsyn Elledge[8]; 4. 67J-Chase Jones[3]; 5. 22X-Steven Shebester[9]; 6. 18K-Tony Gualda Jr[16]; 7. 54G-Trey Gropp[13]; 8. 15F-Kinzer Edwards[1]; 9. 14J-Matt Streeter[10]; 10. 1P-Holly Porter[15]; 11. 2M-Colby Stubblefield[7]; 12. 3W-Brandon Waelti[12]; 13. 2T-Keith Martin[11]; 14. 50-Daniel Adler[6]; 15. 2L-Landon Simon[14]; 16. 40-Eric Wilkins[5]

A-Feature

A-Main (30 Laps): 1. 97-Rico Abreu[2]; 2. 27W-Colby Copeland[7]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn[10]; 4. 25C-Chase Johnson[9]; 5. 1-Sammy Swindell[13]; 6. 91T-Tyler Thomas[18]; 7. 76G-David Gravel[6]; 8. 9-Tim McCreadie[19]; 9. 73T-Jake Swanson[8]; 10. 84-Giovanni Scelzi[12]; 11. 2G-JJ Yeley[23]; 12. 67J-Chase Jones[24]; 13. 97K-Tom Harris[5]; 14. 57D-Daniel Robinson[21]; 15. 14-Jesse Colwell[17]; 16. 14S-Clinton Boyles[4]; 17. 71R-Robby Josett[14]; 18. 16C-David Camfield Jr[16]; 19. 1R-Brad Sweet[1]; 20. 45X-Parker Price Miller[20]; 21. 6N-Ryan Newman[15]; 22. 08K-Karsyn Elledge[22]; 23. 88N-DJ Netto[11]; 24. 68-Ronnie Gardner[3]

Lap Leader(s): Brad Sweet 1-14; Rico Abrue 15-30
Hard Charger: Tyler Thomas +12