Christopher Bell was victorious on Thursday night at the Chili Bowl (Dave Biro - DB3 Imaging)
Bryan Hulbert - TULSA, Okla. (January 16, 2020) Christopher Bell's fifth preliminary night victory in as many years, and sixth overall prelim triumph, the driver of the Tucker-Boat No. 84x was the class of the field in Thursday's John Christner Trucking Qualifying Night.
"Man, this race...I say it time, and time again, this race literally is what motorsports means to me. This is the pinnacle for me growing up in Oklahoma. I hope that this is the race I can run the rest of my life until I can come back here owning a racecar and have another Buddy Kofoid drive for me," commented Bell, who is locked into his seventh championship A-Feature in as many years.
Gridding the field sixth, Bell worked into the top three following a Lap 5 restart.
Led by Thomas Meseraull, the RMS entry took off with Logan Seavey, Buddy Kofoid, and Christopher Bell in tow. Three-wide for second, Kofoid worked past the pair on the bottom of turn four with Bell adjusting his line the following lap take the position away.
Running down the No. 7x in a matter of laps, Bell used high side momentum off the fourth turn on Lap 10; throwing the slide job deep into turn one to clear Meseraull for the point on Lap 11. Into traffic on Lap 17, Bell's run stalled for a moment with Meseraull closing while trying to fend off Buddy Kofoid. Picking through the backmarkers, Bell three-wide in traffic at times kept his advantage just over a second.
With the white flag waving, Bell's night nearly ended as contact with a slower car all but parked the No. 84x. Able to recover with the field bearing down, Bell was still able to capture the win by 1.114 seconds.
Asked how he balanced being patient while aggressive, Bell replied, "Lapped traffic was thick and they were just two by two, so honestly I just got to the point where I started riding behind them because I've taken myself out a lot here running over lapped cars and I still almost did it coming to the white flag."
Thomas Meseraull picked up the final transfer to Saturday's A-Feature with Buddy Kofoid third in his first career Chili Bowl appearance. Logan Seavey crossed fourth with Shane Golobic holding on to complete the top five.
With a field of 73 on hand for Thursday's John Christner Trucking Qualifying Night, the week's total car count stands at 273 with another 76 slated for Friday's Vacuworx Qualifying Night.
Split into nine OERB Heat Races, the wins went to CJ Leary, Shane Golobic, Thomas Meseraull, Cory Kruseman, Tanner Berryhill, Logan Seavey, Christopher Bell, Shane Cottle, and Chance Morton. C-Features went to Cale Conley and Michelle Decker with Dave.com B-Features topped by Shane Cottle and Kyle Cummins. Team Toyota Qualifiers number four with Jason McDougal, Buddy Kofoid, Shane Golobic, and Christopher Bell earning wins.
The Worldwide Technologies Raceway Flip Count jumped Thursday from 39 to 49 with all drivers able to walk away.
The 34th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire continues Friday, January 17, 2020, with Vacuworx 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.
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:
Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire
Tulsa Expo Raceway - Tulsa, Okla.
Wednesday, January 16, 2020
John Christner Trucking Qualifying Night
Car Count: 73
Event Count: 273
OERB Heat Races: Top 40 in passing points advance to Qualifiers.
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 55V-CJ Leary[5]; 2. 15D-Andrew Deal[8]; 3. 11A-Andrew Felker[4]; 4. 02-Andy Gage[1]; 5. 52C-Cody Karl[9]; 6. 7JR-JD Black[6]; 7. 41X-Howard Moore[3]; 8. 3B-Jessie Barber[2]; 9. 11P-Laydon Pearson[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 17W-Shane Golobic[3]; 2. 77U-Chris Urish[1]; 3. 2ND-Dave Darland[7]; 4. 117-Jack Dover[6]; 5. 87F-Johnny Kent[4]; 6. 39B-Cole Bodine[8]; 7. M1-Mark Smith[5]; 8. 0K-Don O'Keefe Jr[2]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 7X-Thomas Meseraull[5]; 2. 31B-Chance Crum[7]; 3. 49-Scott Kreutter[2]; 4. 78M-Merle Scherb[1]; 5. 51X-Joe Walker[3]; 6. 2C-Seth Carlson[8]; 7. Q23-Barrie Valentino[6]; 8. 21D-Justin Dickerson[4]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 21K-Cory Kruseman[2]; 2. 47X-Danny Stratton[1]; 3. 3N-Jake Neuman[6]; 4. 5G-Ben Worth[8]; 5. 57K-Kevin Studley[5]; 6. 84S-Shaun Shapel[4]; 7. 72-Eric Fenton[7]; 8. 46X-Jeffrey Champagne[3]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 91B-Tanner Berryhill[4]; 2. 17B-Ryan Bickett[3]; 3. 56D-Mitchell Davis[2]; 4. 11X-Donovan Peterson[1]; 5. 19B-Spencer Bayston[7]; 6. 7R-Austin Williams[8]; 7. 4M-Michelle Decker[5]; 8. 33J-James Davison[6]
Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 39-Logan Seavey[4]; 2. 25-Jerry Coons Jr[3]; 3. 23S-Kyle Simon[6]; 4. 67S-Ryan Smith[7]; 5. 32D-Casey Shuman[2]; 6. 6-Bill Rose[5]; 7. 68B-Blain Petersen[1]; 8. 1H-Rick Horn[8]
Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 84X-Christopher Bell[1]; 2. 35L-Cody Ledger[4]; 3. 17T-Stevie Sussex[3]; 4. 321-Chad Winfrey[2]; 5. 10C-Dalton Camfield[8]; 6. 715-Robert Bell[5]; 7. 24F-Hunter Fischer[7]; 8. 00D-Daniel Sanchez[6]
Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 9P-Shane Cottle[2]; 2. 76M-Jason McDougal[3]; 3. 67-Michael Kofoid[7]; 4. 2X-AJ Fike[1]; 5. 27D-Travis Berryhill[8]; 6. 11-Cale Conley[4]; 7. 72X-Jeff Wheeler[5]; 8. 926-Morgan Frewaldt[6]
Heat 9 (8 Laps): 1. 7MF-Chance Morton[1]; 2. 25B-Steve Buckwalter[5]; 3. 1G-Kyle Cummins[4]; 4. 08M-Joe B Miller[7]; 5. 00X-Jason Martin[2]; 6. 67K-Holley Hollan[6]; 7. 73-Dylan Ito[8]; 8. 17M-Kala Keliinoi[3]
C-Features: Top 4 advance to corresponding B-Feature.
C-Main 1 (12 Laps): 1. 11-Cale Conley[8]; 2. 6-Bill Rose[6]; 3. 87F-Johnny Kent[3]; 4. 78M-Merle Scherb[1]; 5. 32D-Casey Shuman[4]; 6. M1-Mark Smith[10]; 7. 11P-Laydon Pearson[16]; 8. 24F-Hunter Fischer[9]; 9. 72X-Jeff Wheeler[11]; 10. 33J-James Davison[13]; 11. 46X-Jeffrey Champagne[15]; 12. 926-Morgan Frewaldt[14]; 13. 1H-Rick Horn[12]; 14. 73-Dylan Ito[7]; 15. 7JR-JD Black[5]; 16. 2X-AJ Fike[2]; 17. (DNS) 3B-Jessie Barber
C-Main 2 (12 Laps): 1. 4M-Michelle Decker[10]; 2. 51X-Joe Walker[3]; 3. 00X-Jason Martin[4]; 4. 67K-Holley Hollan[5]; 5. 57K-Kevin Studley[2]; 6. 11X-Donovan Peterson[1]; 7. 68B-Blain Petersen[12]; 8. 21D-Justin Dickerson[14]; 9. Q23-Barrie Valentino[8]; 10. 41X-Howard Moore[9]; 11. 00D-Daniel Sanchez[11]; 12. 715-Robert Bell[6]; 13. 84S-Shaun Shapel[7]; 14. 17M-Kala Keliinoi[13]; 15. (DNS) 72-Eric Fenton; 16. (DNS) 0K-Don O'Keefe Jr
Team Toyota Qualifiers: Top 16 in combined passing points advance to the A-Feature.
Qualifier 1 (10 Laps): 1. 76M-Jason McDougal[1]; 2. 39B-Cole Bodine[10]; 3. 91B-Tanner Berryhill[5]; 4. 2ND-Dave Darland[4]; 5. 15D-Andrew Deal[6]; 6. 7MF-Chance Morton[2]; 7. 49-Scott Kreutter[9]; 8. 117-Jack Dover[8]; 9. 77U-Chris Urish[7]; 10. 35L-Cody Ledger[3]
Qualifier 2 (10 Laps): 1. 67-Michael Kofoid[4]; 2. 3N-Jake Neuman[3]; 3. 39-Logan Seavey[5]; 4. 67S-Ryan Smith[1]; 5. 55V-CJ Leary[6]; 6. 47X-Danny Stratton[7]; 7. 10C-Dalton Camfield[8]; 8. 2C-Seth Carlson[10]; 9. 56D-Mitchell Davis[9]; 10. 5G-Ben Worth[2]
Qualifier 3 (10 Laps): 1. 17W-Shane Golobic[5]; 2. 08M-Joe B Miller[1]; 3. 7X-Thomas Meseraull[6]; 4. 19B-Spencer Bayston[9]; 5. 11A-Andrew Felker[7]; 6. 27D-Travis Berryhill[8]; 7. 21K-Cory Kruseman[4]; 8. 23S-Kyle Simon[3]; 9. 7R-Austin Williams[10]; 10. 17B-Ryan Bickett[2]
Qualifier 4 (10 Laps): 1. 84X-Christopher Bell[3]; 2. 25-Jerry Coons Jr[2]; 3. 25B-Steve Buckwalter[5]; 4. 1G-Kyle Cummins[7]; 5. 31B-Chance Crum[6]; 6. 9P-Shane Cottle[4]; 7. 52C-Cody Karl[1]; 8. 321-Chad Winfrey[9]; 9. 02-Andy Gage[10]; 10. 17T-Stevie Sussex[8]
Dave.com B-Features: Top 4 advance to the A-Feature.
B-Main 1 (15 Laps): 1. 9P-Shane Cottle[3]; 2. 11A-Andrew Felker[2]; 3. 21K-Cory Kruseman[5]; 4. 2ND-Dave Darland[1]; 5. 47X-Danny Stratton[4]; 6. 17B-Ryan Bickett[10]; 7. 6-Bill Rose[14]; 8. 10C-Dalton Camfield[6]; 9. 87F-Johnny Kent[12]; 10. 321-Chad Winfrey[9]; 11. 2C-Seth Carlson[8]; 12. 78M-Merle Scherb[15]; 13. 7R-Austin Williams[11]; 14. 11-Cale Conley[13]; 15. 52C-Cody Karl[7]; 16. (DNS) 56D-Mitchell Davis
B-Main 2 (15 Laps): 1. 1G-Kyle Cummins[1]; 2. 67S-Ryan Smith[2]; 3. 117-Jack Dover[7]; 4. 27D-Travis Berryhill[3]; 5. 7MF-Chance Morton[4]; 6. 5G-Ben Worth[10]; 7. 35L-Cody Ledger[9]; 8. 49-Scott Kreutter[5]; 9. 23S-Kyle Simon[6]; 10. 77U-Chris Urish[8]; 11. 4M-Michelle Decker[13]; 12. 02-Andy Gage[11]; 13. 67K-Holley Hollan[14]; 14. 00X-Jason Martin[15]; 15. 51X-Joe Walker[12]; 16. (DNS) 17T-Stevie Sussex
A-Feature: Top 2 advance to Saturday's A-Feature.
A-Main (30 Laps): 1. 84X-Christopher Bell[6]; 2. 7X-Thomas Meseraull[3]; 3. 67-Michael Kofoid[2]; 4. 39-Logan Seavey[5]; 5. 17W-Shane Golobic[1]; 6. 19B-Spencer Bayston[15]; 7. 55V-CJ Leary[12]; 8. 76M-Jason McDougal[11]; 9. 25-Jerry Coons Jr[14]; 10. 25B-Steve Buckwalter[8]; 11. 91B-Tanner Berryhill[4]; 12. 3N-Jake Neuman[10]; 13. 08M-Joe B Miller[16]; 14. 9P-Shane Cottle[17]; 15. 67S-Ryan Smith[20]; 16. 2ND-Dave Darland[23]; 17. 31B-Chance Crum[13]; 18. 15D-Andrew Deal[9]; 19. 27D-Travis Berryhill[24]; 20. 1G-Kyle Cummins[18]; 21. 21K-Cory Kruseman[21]; 22. 39B-Cole Bodine[7]; 23. 117-Jack Dover[22]; 24. 11A-Andrew Felker[19]
Lap Leader(s): Shane Golobic 1-2; Thomas Meseraull 3--11; Christopher Bell 12-30
Hard Charger: Spencer Bayston +9