Buddy Kofoid won Tuesday's prelim at the Chili Bowl (Michael Fry Photo) (Video Highlights from FloRacing.com)
Bryan Hulbert – TULSA, Okla. (January 11, 2022) Counting it down from his first preliminary A-Feature appearance in 2020, California's Michael "Buddy" Kofoid was third the first time, second the last time, and the winner this time in the Keith Kunz Motorsports-Curb-Agajanian No. 67.
Breaking a four-year streak of Larson prelim night wins, Kofoid earned the win during Tuesday's Warren CAT Qualifying Night.
Delivering Keith Kunz win No. 31 at the Tulsa Expo Raceway, the fight for the victory was nearly nonstop as Buddy chased defending Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals Champion Kyle Larson through the opening 24 revolutions.
A few early race cautions, Larson held the No. 67 at bay on each restart. Changing up lines in pursuit of the FloRacing.com No. 01, Larson found traffic on Lap 14. Able to pull in on Kyle a couple of times, the chance to use slower traffic to his advantage never presented itself.
"I was trying to stay close to him in traffic. All the lappers were running their own race side by side, so you kind of had to pick through and be able to be there," stated Kofoid of the chase through traffic. "The opportunity never really came in traffic like I thought, and the top side started getting really treacherous in three and four."
Caution on Lap 20, Kofoid dove low on the restart but was unable to advance before caution lights came on again working Lap 23. Back to Lap 22, the pair traded lines at both ends of the Tulsa Expo Raceway only to have the caution halt the action once more.
Taking the bottom for the final run, Kofoid railed the cushion to the lead off the second turn. Coming after the No. 67, Larson threw a barrage of slide jobs at Buddy. Clearing the nose of the No. 67 a few times, each time Kofoid was able to turn and run. Slamming off the turn-two cushion on Lap 28, that gave Kofoid the room he needed to secure the win.
Victorious by 1.738-seconds, the race for second saw Windom taking it on the white, but Larson retaking it at the checkered flag. Chris Windom settled for third, with Jake Swanson moving up seven spots to fourth. Racing from 13th, Thomas Meseraull completed the top five. Muskogee's Kaylee Bryson was sixth, followed by Jake Bubak. Eighth went to Jonathan Beason, with Kyle Hones ninth. Hard Charger from 23rd, Tim McCreadie completed the top ten.
Tuesday added 73 more drivers to the 2022 event for 142 checking in so far. The World Wide Technology Raceway Flip Count made it to 18 with everyone able to walk away.
Racing continues Wednesday, January 12, 2022, with Hard Rock Hotel Casino Qualifying Night. The SageNet Center opens at 9:00 A.M. Hot Laps are at 4:00 P.M. with racing at 5:00 P.M. Reserved Seats for Pit Passes are sold at the event and never sell out.
Live coverage can be found on http://www.floracing.com.
For continued updates on the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire, follow the event on Social Media (@cbnationals) and at http://www.chilibowl.com.
Results:
Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire
Tulsa Expo Raceway - Tulsa, Okla.
Tuesday, January 11, 2022
Warren CAT Qualifying Night
Car Count: 73
Event Count: 142
OERB Heat Races: Top 40 in passing points advance to Qualifiers.
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1K-Brayton Lynch[1]; 2. 41X-Howard Moore[3]; 3. 96-Cody Brewer[4]; 4. 3N-Jake Neuman[6]; 5. 8J-Jonathan Beason[9]; 6. 7TX-Anthony Pope[5]; 7. 2T-Tanner Allen[8]; 8. 22J-Taylor Kuehl[2]; 9. 4G-Paxton Gregory[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 67-Michael Kofoid[4]; 2. 92-Derek Hagar[2]; 3. 4R-Nick Barger[3]; 4. 3-Roy Larkin[5]; 5. 2ND-Jeb Sessums[7]; 6. 17R-Chris Crowder[8]; 7. 251-Johnny Brown Jr[1]; 8. 11H-Jori Hughes[6]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 89-Chris Windom[1]; 2. 01-Kyle Larson[6]; 3. 71-Steven Snyder Jr[5]; 4. 6A-AJ Bender[4]; 5. 27-Briggs Danner[2]; 6. 71T-Zac Taylor[7]; 7. 21M-Michelle Parson[3]; 8. (DNS) 7W-Brendon Wiseley
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[1]; 2. 7X-Thomas Meseraull[6]; 3. 40-Colton Hardy[5]; 4. 57W-Kaidon Brown[8]; 5. 54-Matt Westfall[3]; 6. 97A-Will Armitage[2]; 7. 11K-David Gasper[7]; 8. 3L-Jesse Little[4]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 73H-Hunter Schuerenberg[4]; 2. 27B-Jake Bubak[7]; 3. 11T-Tyler Baran[3]; 4. 22W-Curtis Jones[5]; 5. 10-Kort Morgan[8]; 6. 11M-Jeff Schindler[2]; 7. 84S-Shaun Shapel[1]; 8. (DNF) 5B-Bobby Brewer[6]
Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 7U-Kyle Jones[1]; 2. 55A-Jake Swanson[5]; 3. 47-Zach Daum[3]; 4. 21G-Casey Tillman[4]; 5. 68B-Jason Martin[6]; 6. 21B-Travis Braden[2]; 7. 4S-AJ Gilbert[8]; 8. 17C-Devin Camfield[7]
Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 71K-Kaylee Bryson[3]; 2. 7MF-Chance Morton[6]; 3. 22B-Troy Betts[1]; 4. 75A-Bryan Stanfill[4]; 5. 2MD-Gray Leadbetter[5]; 6. 17K-Michael Koontz[8]; 7. 34C-Cameron Willhite[7]; 8. 4J-Josh Hodge[2]
Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 19B-Alex Bright[2]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz[1]; 3. 19K-Riley Kreisel[4]; 4. 9T-Tim McCreadie[5]; 5. 29S-Hank Davis[8]; 6. 3W-Brandon Waelti[7]; 7. 5X-Kevin Douglas[6]; 8. 7DK-Darren Kauffman[3]
Heat 9 (8 Laps): 1. 7T-TJ Smith[1]; 2. 45X-Roger Crockett[4]; 3. 8W-Kaleb Montgomery[7]; 4. 91A-Chris Andrews[2]; 5. 4X-Carson Sousa[6]; 6. 06-Rylan Gray[5]; 7. 68S-Corby Scherb[8]; 8. 14H-Mike Hess[3]
C-Features: Top 4 advance to corresponding B-Feature.
C Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 4X-Carson Sousa[1]; 2. 27-Briggs Danner[5]; 3. 97A-Will Armitage[8]; 4. 21M-Michelle Parson[11]; 5. 06-Rylan Gray[6]; 6. 14H-Mike Hess[15]; 7. 251-Johnny Brown Jr[12]; 8. 4S-AJ Gilbert[7]; 9. 21B-Travis Braden[9]; 10. 3L-Jesse Little[14]; 11. 34C-Cameron Willhite[10]; 12. (DNF) 4J-Josh Hodge[16]; 13. (DNF) 11H-Jori Hughes[13]; 14. (DNF) 3W-Brandon Waelti[4]; 15. (DNF) 17R-Chris Crowder[2]; 16. (DNF) 2MD-Gray Leadbetter[3]
C Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 71T-Zac Taylor[3]; 2. 54-Matt Westfall[4]; 3. 91A-Chris Andrews[1]; 4. 68S-Corby Scherb[7]; 5. 11K-David Gasper[9]; 6. 2T-Tanner Allen[6]; 7. 7TX-Anthony Pope[5]; 8. 4G-Paxton Gregory[16]; 9. 17C-Devin Camfield[11]; 10. 5X-Kevin Douglas[10]; 11. 84S-Shaun Shapel[12]; 12. 11M-Jeff Schindler[8]; 13. 22J-Taylor Kuehl[15]; 14. 7DK-Darren Kauffman[14]; 15. (DNF) 17K-Michael Koontz[2]; 16. (DNF) 5B-Bobby Brewer[13]
Team Toyota Qualifiers: Top 16 in combined passing points advance to the A-Feature.
Qualifier 1 (10 Laps): 1. 89-Chris Windom[3]; 2. 57W-Kaidon Brown[2]; 3. 19K-Riley Kreisel[7]; 4. 27B-Jake Bubak[6]; 5. 7X-Thomas Meseraull[5]; 6. 92-Derek Hagar[1]; 7. 22W-Curtis Jones[9]; 8. 4R-Nick Barger[8]; 9. 8W-Kaleb Montgomery[4]; 10. 6A-AJ Bender[10]
Qualifier 2 (10 Laps): 1. 8J-Jonathan Beason[1]; 2. 67-Michael Kofoid[6]; 3. 19B-Alex Bright[4]; 4. 3N-Jake Neuman[7]; 5. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[3]; 6. 7MF-Chance Morton[5]; 7. 9T-Tim McCreadie[9]; 8. 41X-Howard Moore[2]; 9. 11T-Tyler Baran[8]; 10. 21G-Casey Tillman[10]
Qualifier 3 (10 Laps): 1. 7U-Kyle Jones[3]; 2. 71K-Kaylee Bryson[5]; 3. 15-Donny Schatz[1]; 4. 47-Zach Daum[8]; 5. 45X-Roger Crockett[4]; 6. 75A-Bryan Stanfill[10]; 7. 22B-Troy Betts[9]; 8. 10-Kort Morgan[7]; 9. 73H-Hunter Schuerenberg[6]; 10. (DNF) 71-Steven Snyder Jr[2]
Qualifier 4 (10 Laps): 1. 01-Kyle Larson[6]; 2. 96-Cody Brewer[1]; 3. 7T-TJ Smith[3]; 4. 55A-Jake Swanson[5]; 5. 29S-Hank Davis[7]; 6. 2ND-Jeb Sessums[9]; 7. 1K-Brayton Lynch[4]; 8. 40-Colton Hardy[2]; 9. 68B-Jason Martin[10]; 10. 3-Roy Larkin[8]
Dave.com B-Features: Top 4 advance to the A-Feature.
B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 29S-Hank Davis[3]; 2. 45X-Roger Crockett[2]; 3. 27-Briggs Danner[14]; 4. 9T-Tim McCreadie[6]; 5. 6A-AJ Bender[12]; 6. 92-Derek Hagar[7]; 7. 97A-Will Armitage[15]; 8. 41X-Howard Moore[8]; 9. 7MF-Chance Morton[1]; 10. 4R-Nick Barger[9]; 11. 1K-Brayton Lynch[5]; 12. 21M-Michelle Parson[16]; 13. (DNF) 11T-Tyler Baran[10]; 14. (DNF) 2ND-Jeb Sessums[4]; 15. (DNF) 4X-Carson Sousa[13]; 16. (DQ) 71-Steven Snyder Jr[11] **Snyder disqualified for rough driving.
B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 73H-Hunter Schuerenberg[4]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz[1]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[2]; 4. 40-Colton Hardy[8]; 5. 8W-Kaleb Montgomery[7]; 6. 22W-Curtis Jones[5]; 7. 21G-Casey Tillman[12]; 8. 54-Matt Westfall[14]; 9. 71T-Zac Taylor[13]; 10. 22B-Troy Betts[6]; 11. 10-Kort Morgan[9]; 12. 68S-Corby Scherb[16]; 13. 91A-Chris Andrews[15]; 14. 68B-Jason Martin[10]; 15. 75A-Bryan Stanfill[3]; 16. 3-Roy Larkin[11]
A-Feature: Top 2 advance to Saturday's A-Feature.
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 67-Michael Kofoid[2]; 2. 01-Kyle Larson[1]; 3. 89-Chris Windom[4]; 4. 55A-Jake Swanson[11]; 5. 7X-Thomas Meseraull[13]; 6. 71K-Kaylee Bryson[3]; 7. 27B-Jake Bubak[6]; 8. 8J-Jonathan Beason[10]; 9. 7U-Kyle Jones[5]; 10. 9T-Tim McCreadie[23]; 11. 45X-Roger Crockett[19]; 12. 73H-Hunter Schuerenberg[18]; 13. 19K-Riley Kreisel[7]; 14. 19B-Alex Bright[8]; 15. 15-Donny Schatz[20]; 16. 47-Zach Daum[14]; 17. 27-Briggs Danner[21]; 18. 29S-Hank Davis[17]; 19. 40-Colton Hardy[24]; 20. 7T-TJ Smith[12]; 21. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[22]; 22. 3N-Jake Neuman[15]; 23. 96-Cody Brewer[16]; 24. (DNF) 57W-Kaidon Brown[9]
Lap Leader(s): Kyle Larson 1-24; Michael "Buddy" Kofoid 25-30
Hard Charger: Tim McCreadie +13