Rico Abreu emerged triumphant in Wednesday's feature at the Chili Bowl (Joe Orth Photo) (Video Highlights from FloRacing.com)
Bryan Hulbert – TULSA, Okla. (January 11, 2023) Making the move for the lead through the final two turns, Rico Abreu, threw the Hoosiers on the cushion and shot past Mitchel Moles for his eighth career Chili Bowl preliminary victory.
Grabbing the win for Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian, the triumph is the 34th in Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire competition for Keith as a car owner and is the 12th consecutive event that his team has won a Chili Bowl A-Feature.
“Most important part is that the Torgerson family is in our prayers. It’s tough to be out there racing going through experiences like that, but we’re all racecar drivers here, and we’re all racing to win,” commented Rico in Victory Lane before talking about anything else pertaining to the race.
Battling with Blake Hahn and Brent Crews through much of the last half of the feature, a caution with six to go reset the deck with Rico moving to the cushion while Moles and Crews worked the bottom. Grabbing second with two to go, the James Hodge Auto Group No. 24 closed the gap to car lengths at the white flag. Pinning the cushion off the final turn, Rico pulled ahead by 0.223 seconds.
On the race-winning run, Rico said, “Towards the last half of the race, I could make up some time. After that last restart with six to go, I saw Chad (Boat) tell him to go down, so I just went up. I wasn’t going to follow him. It was just a pretty easy decision for me.”
Moles in second is his best career preliminary performance and locks him into his first career Saturday night feature event, while Brent Crews held on for third. Fourth went to Blake Hahn, with Kevin Thomas, Jr. completing the top five.
Wednesday’s field included 79 drivers, bringing the event count to 217 for the week.
The 2023 Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire, takes place January 9-14, 2023, atop the clay of the Tulsa Expo Raceway. The event is contested under the massive roof of the SageNet Center in Tulsa, Okla.
The offices of the Chili Bowl Nationals are open Monday-Friday from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. (CT). Pit Passes are sold at the event and can be purchased for single or consecutive nights.
Fans not able to attend the 37th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire will be able to watch every lap live on http://www.floracing.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:
Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire
Tulsa Expo Raceway - Tulsa, Okla.
Wednesday, January 11, 2023
Smiley's Racing Products Qualifying Night
Car Count: 79
Event Count: 217
OERB Heat Races: Top 40 in passing points advance to Qualifiers.
OERB Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Daniel Whitley[3]; 2. 4P-Kody Swanson[2]; 3. 4B-Chelby Hinton[7]; 4. 56-Mitchell Davis[5]; 5. 08G-Trey Gropp[9]; 6. 19N-Nathan Byrd[4]; 7. 99K-Robert Carson[6]; 8. 7L-Jarrad Warhurst[8]; 9. 57C-Adam Taylor[1]
OERB Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1I-Ashton Torgerson[3]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn[7]; 3. 16C-David Camfield Jr[1]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[2]; 5. 6A-Kalib Henry[4]; 6. 55C-Angelo Cornet[9]; 7. 37-Ashton Thompson[6]; 8. 11C-Mike Woodruff[5]; 9. 17D-Wyatt Rotz[8]
OERB Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 7X-Thomas Meseraull[2]; 2. 24-Rico Abreu[3]; 3. 51R-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 4. 31H-Carson Hocevar[4]; 5. 01C-Carson Sousa[9]; 6. 2B-Tanner Berryhill[8]; 7. 14U-Cole Schroeder[7]; 8. 10M-Kort Morgan[6]; 9. (DNF) 8K-Jake Neal[5]
OERB Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 54-Matt Westfall[2]; 2. 5T-Kevin Thomas Jr[3]; 3. 67K-Cade Lewis[4]; 4. 45X-Roger Crockett[8]; 5. 11T-Tyler Baran[5]; 6. 7S-Parker Price Miller[7]; 7. 22X-Steven Shebester[9]; 8. 81C-Colten Cottle[6]; 9. 70-Cade Cowles[1]
OERB Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 98C-Chad Boespflug[4]; 2. 25M-Jake Andreotti[6]; 3. 68-Ronnie Gardner[3]; 4. 07W-Corey Day[5]; 5. 60-Landon Britt[1]; 6. 3W-Brandon Waelti[8]; 7. 73T-Tony Gomes[7]; 8. 23T-Tristan Lee[9]; 9. 68C-Ryder Laplante[2]
OERB Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 55A-Jake Swanson[4]; 2. M1-Colby Stubblefield[2]; 3. 08K-Karsyn Elledge[6]; 4. 80A-Chris Schmelzle[5]; 5. 06-Rylan Gray[7]; 6. 9P-Kevin Cook[9]; 7. (DNF) 8AJ-AJ Johnson[8]; 8. (DNF) 25V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[1]; 9. (DNF) 0G-Glenn Styres[3]
OERB Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 71M-Brent Crews[4]; 2. 91X-Danny Wood[6]; 3. 56X-Mark Chisholm[1]; 4. 2X-Landon Brooks[8]; 5. 7J-Shawn Jackson[7]; 6. 7JR-JD Black[9]; 7. 72W-Tye Wilke[3]; 8. 5H-Casey Hicks[2]; 9. 77J-John Klabonde[5]
OERB Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 19Z-Hayden Reinbold[4]; 2. 17-Travis Berryhill[2]; 3. 80S-Kaden Honeycutt[3]; 4. 71L-Charlie Louden[5]; 5. 57H-Steve Hix[7]; 6. 00H-John Heitzman[1]; 7. 76X-Tom Savage[8]; 8. 42-Patrick Prescott[6]
OERB Heat 9 (8 Laps): 1. 89X-Mitchel Moles[2]; 2. 25K-Taylor Reimer[4]; 3. 1G-Justin Peck[8]; 4. 1-Sammy Swindell[3]; 5. 35-Tyler Robbins[6]; 6. 2Y-Dave Axton[5]; 7. (DNF) Z8-Max McLaughlin[7]; 8. (DNF) 2C-JR Ewing[1]
D-Features: Top 4 advance to corresponding C-Feature
D Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 23T-Tristan Lee[2]; 2. 77J-John Klabonde[8]; 3. 11C-Mike Woodruff[5]; 4. 68C-Ryder Laplante[9]; 5. 37-Ashton Thompson[1]; 6. 5H-Casey Hicks[6]; 7. 2C-JR Ewing[7]; 8. (DNF) 81C-Colten Cottle[4]; 9. (DNF) 7L-Jarrad Warhurst[3]; 10. (DNS) 70-Cade Cowles
D Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 25V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[6]; 2. 0G-Glenn Styres[8]; 3. 8K-Jake Neal[7]; 4. 17D-Wyatt Rotz[5]; 5. 10M-Kort Morgan[3]; 6. 42-Patrick Prescott[4]; 7. (DNF) 57C-Adam Taylor[9]; 8. (DNF) 72W-Tye Wilke[2]; 9. (DNF) Z8-Max McLaughlin[1]
C-Features: Top 4 advance to corresponding B-Feature.
C Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 31H-Carson Hocevar[1]; 2. 3W-Brandon Waelti[3]; 3. 7S-Parker Price Miller[5]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[2]; 5. 6A-Kalib Henry[4]; 6. 60-Landon Britt[6]; 7. 14U-Cole Schroeder[9]; 8. 19N-Nathan Byrd[8]; 9. 77J-John Klabonde[12]; 10. 23T-Tristan Lee[11]; 11. 00H-John Heitzman[10]; 12. (DNF) 8AJ-AJ Johnson[7]
C Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 1-Sammy Swindell[1]; 2. 2B-Tanner Berryhill[2]; 3. 22X-Steven Shebester[5]; 4. 11T-Tyler Baran[3]; 5. 73T-Tony Gomes[9]; 6. 25V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[11]; 7. 35-Tyler Robbins[4]; 8. 0G-Glenn Styres[12]; 9. 76X-Tom Savage[7]; 10. 99K-Robert Carson[10]; 11. 2Y-Dave Axton[6]; 12. 7JR-JD Black[8]
Team Toyota Qualifiers: Top 16 in combined passing points advance to the A-Feature.
Toyota Qualifier 1 (10 Laps): 1. 4P-Kody Swanson[1]; 2. 45X-Roger Crockett[2]; 3. 54-Matt Westfall[3]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn[6]; 5. 19Z-Hayden Reinbold[5]; 6. 01C-Carson Sousa[7]; 7. 57-Daniel Whitley[4]; 8. 7J-Shawn Jackson[10]; 9. 16C-David Camfield Jr[9]; 10. (DNF) 56-Mitchell Davis[8]
Toyota Qualifier 2 (10 Laps): 1. 89X-Mitchel Moles[3]; 2. 1I-Ashton Torgerson[4]; 3. 25M-Jake Andreotti[5]; 4. 07W-Corey Day[8]; 5. 51R-Ricky Thornton Jr[9]; 6. 67K-Cade Lewis[7]; 7. 98C-Chad Boespflug[6]; 8. 2X-Landon Brooks[2]; 9. M1-Colby Stubblefield[1]; 10. (DNS) 57H-Steve Hix
Toyota Qualifier 3 (10 Laps): 1. 24-Rico Abreu[2]; 2. 25K-Taylor Reimer[3]; 3. 4B-Chelby Hinton[4]; 4. 17-Travis Berryhill[1]; 5. 55A-Jake Swanson[6]; 6. 68-Ronnie Gardner[7]; 7. 91X-Danny Wood[5]; 8. 56X-Mark Chisholm[9]; 9. 80A-Chris Schmelzle[8]; 10. 55C-Angelo Cornet[10]
Toyota Qualifier 4 (10 Laps): 1. 5T-Kevin Thomas Jr[2]; 2. 08G-Trey Gropp[1]; 3. 7X-Thomas Meseraull[4]; 4. 71M-Brent Crews[6]; 5. 80S-Kaden Honeycutt[7]; 6. 1G-Justin Peck[5]; 7. 06-Rylan Gray[9]; 8. 08K-Karsyn Elledge[3]; 9. 9P-Kevin Cook[10]; 10. 71L-Charlie Louden[8]
Dave.com B-Features: Top 4 advance to the A-Feature.
Dave.com B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 07W-Corey Day[1]; 2. 17-Travis Berryhill[4]; 3. 68-Ronnie Gardner[6]; 4. 2X-Landon Brooks[8]; 5. 91X-Danny Wood[3]; 6. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[15]; 7. 01C-Carson Sousa[5]; 8. 80A-Chris Schmelzle[10]; 9. 08K-Karsyn Elledge[7]; 10. 31H-Carson Hocevar[11]; 11. 1G-Justin Peck[2]; 12. 7S-Parker Price Miller[13]; 13. 9P-Kevin Cook[9]; 14. 71L-Charlie Louden[12]; 15. (DNF) 3W-Brandon Waelti[14]; 16. (DNS) 57H-Steve Hix
Dave.com B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 67K-Cade Lewis[5]; 2. 80S-Kaden Honeycutt[3]; 3. 51R-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 4. 57-Daniel Whitley[4]; 5. 22X-Steven Shebester[15]; 6. 16C-David Camfield Jr[9]; 7. 56-Mitchell Davis[11]; 8. 56X-Mark Chisholm[8]; 9. 06-Rylan Gray[6]; 10. 1-Sammy Swindell[13]; 11. 2B-Tanner Berryhill[14]; 12. 7J-Shawn Jackson[7]; 13. 11T-Tyler Baran[16]; 14. 98C-Chad Boespflug[2]; 15. 55C-Angelo Cornet[12]; 16. (DNS) M1-Colby Stubblefield
A-Feature: Top 2 advance to Saturday's A-Feature.
Smileys Racing Products A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 24-Rico Abreu[6]; 2. 89X-Mitchel Moles[1]; 3. 71M-Brent Crews[5]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn[4]; 5. 5T-Kevin Thomas Jr[7]; 6. 51R-Ricky Thornton Jr[22]; 7. 25K-Taylor Reimer[8]; 8. 7X-Thomas Meseraull[10]; 9. 55A-Jake Swanson[13]; 10. 08G-Trey Gropp[16]; 11. 54-Matt Westfall[14]; 12. 57-Daniel Whitley[24]; 13. 4P-Kody Swanson[11]; 14. 80S-Kaden Honeycutt[20]; 15. 67K-Cade Lewis[18]; 16. 45X-Roger Crockett[12]; 17. 19Z-Hayden Reinbold[15]; 18. 2X-Landon Brooks[23]; 19. 4B-Chelby Hinton[9]; 20. 68-Ronnie Gardner[21]; 21. 25M-Jake Andreotti[3]; 22. (DNF) 07W-Corey Day[17]; 23. (DNF) 1I-Ashton Torgerson[2]; 24. (DNF) 17-Travis Berryhill[19]
Lap Leader(s): Mitchel Moles 1-29; Rico Abreu 30
Hard Charger: Ricky Thornton, Jr. +16