The 32nd annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by
General Tire at Tulsa (Okla.) Expo Raceway continued Thursday night, January 11,
with the third of four preliminary/qualifying race nights heading into
Saturday’s big event, the 55-lap A-Main.
In parenthesis, following the name of the winning driver, is
the number corresponding to the number of heats/qualifiers/features they’ve won
during this event heading into Saturday’s A-Main.
Here is a quick recap of the third night of action in the
Chili Bowl.
Chili Bowl
Statistics, Night Three (Thursday)
- - Car Count: 87 (258 total through three nights
[86 Tuesday, 85 Wednesday])
- - Heats: 11 (each totaling 8 laps)
o
Heat Winners: Tracy Hines (1), Christopher Bell
(1), Paul Nienhiser (1), Chase Johnson (1), Matt Sherrell (1), Tyler Edwards
(1), Steve Buckwalter (1), Roger Crockett (1), Caleb Armstrong (1), C.J. Leary
(1), Shane Golobic (1)
- - D-Features: 2 (each totaling 10 laps)
o
D-Feature Winners: Tanner Thorson (1), Michael
Pickens (1)
- - C-Features: 2 (each totaling 12 laps)
o
C-Feature Winners: Tanner Thorson (2), Grady
Chandler (1)
- - Qualifiers: 4 (each totaling 10 laps)
o
Qualifier Winners: Christopher Bell (2), Tim
Crawley (1), Billy Pauch Jr. (1), Shane Golobic (2)
- - B-Features: 2 (each totaling 15 laps)
o
B-Feature Winners: Ryan Bernal (1), David Gravel
(1)
- - A-Feature: 1 (totaling 25 laps; top three
advance to Saturday’s A-Feature)
o
A-Feature Winner: Christopher Bell (3)
o
Laps Led: Christopher Bell (25)
o
Hard Charger: Tanner Thorson (+14)
- - Number of Races Held (all heats/features): 22
(67 through three nights)
- - Number of Laps Completed: 227 (701 through three
nights)
- - Number of Flips: 8 (42 through three nights [12
Tuesday, 22 Wednesday])
Notes of Interest
- - Christopher Bell, the Oklahoman and a local
favorite, put himself in position to defend his 2017 Chili Bowl Midget title
with the A-Main feature win Thursday. He is the only driver of the three
preliminary night A-Main winners to lead every lap of his feature race. In
winning, he will compete in Saturday’s A-Main for the fifth time, all in
succession.
- - In winning his fourth career preliminary night
feature, Bell also joins Kyle Larson and Bryan Clauson for third all-time in
preliminary night wins. Larson earned his fourth career prelim victory Tuesday
night.
- - Bell joins Larson and Rico Abreu as the three
drivers to win their preliminary features during the 2018 Chili Bowl Nationals.
Abreu and Bell account for the last three Saturday night A-Main wins, with
Abreu’s victories coming in 2015 and 2016.
- - Bell also won three times Thursday night. He won
his eight-lap heat as well as his 10-lap qualifier.
- - Thursday night’s runner-up, Shane Golobic, also
had a strong night, winning both his heat and his qualifier. In finishing
second, Golobic advances to Saturday’s A-Main, with a sixth career start and
third in succession. His best finish in five Saturday A-Mains was seventh in
2013.
- - Chase Johnson became the initial first-time
Saturday night A-Main starter with his third-place run in Thursday’s A-Main.
Johnson also won his heat, the first of his career in the Chili Bowl Nationals.
- - Tanner Thorson joined Bell and Golobic as a
multi-time winner Thursday. Thorson won his D- and C-Feature races and advanced
to the A-Main after finishing fourth in the B-Feature.
- - Steve Buckwalter landed his eighth career heat
victory, becoming the eighth driver in the event’s history with at least that
many heat wins. He is now tied for sixth all-time with Tony Stewart and Damion
Gardner. Tracy Hines, the 2005 Chili Bowl Nationals overall winner, became the
15th driver to earn a seventh heat win, and is now tied for ninth all-time with
six other drivers.
- - Other drivers adding to their heat victory
totals were Shane Golobic (5), Christopher Bell (3), Caleb Armstrong (3), C.J.
Leary (3), Matt Sherrell (2) and Tyler Edwards (2).
- - Three drivers – Paul Nienhauser, Chase Johnson, Roger
Crockett – earned their first career Chili Bowl heat wins. A total of 337
drivers have won at least one heat race in the history of the Chili Bowl
Nationals.
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