Friday
Entering Friday night‘s action, Grant had won four of the past five Friday night preliminary features. But he‘d have some adversity to overcome before he could get win No. 5.
Prior to pushing off for his qualifier earlier in the program, Grant realized there was a problem with his car‘s ignition system. As the RMS Racing midget was rolling down the ramp, the team made repairs.
Then when it appeared Grant had the qualifier in the bag, he slowed and fell to second on the last lap. It turned out he had misread the flags.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was on the pole, alongside Sam Johnson. Johnson grabbed the early lead with Grant chasing.
Once in front, Grant ran the cushion to perfection, with Stenhouse still in contention. On a restart with six laps to go, Stenhouse grabbed the lead. However, the move was negated by a yellow flag. “If that yellow doesn‘t come out, Rickie wins the race,” Grant said.
Despite his late race drama, Grant held on with Stenhouse and Zeb Wise, who started 17th, rounding out the podium. The victory also ended KKM‘s four-race winning streak Grant was candid about one of the critical moments in the race.
“I got a big run off of two and got barely around his right front,” Grant said. “It was a pretty big chop down in three to hold him off. Rickie is a good friend of mine. If we could have just driven away from him, we would have.”
Reviewing all that had transpired Stenhouse said, “I got to second and then I felt like our car got a little bit better and the track started coming around to us. I made a few shock adjustments, and I could run three and four on the bottom and my plan kind of worked perfect until the caution came out. I felt like that was our chance to win.
Then when Justin started running the bottom, I wasn‘t good enough to run the top in three and four to make that pass. Then Justin started getting defensive the last few laps. I gave it all I had in three and four coming to the line, but I was a little bit too tight.”
Saturday
After the pole shuffle, which is used to assign the top-10 spots, Thursday-night combatants Christopher Bell and Tanner Thorson occupied the front row.
Before it was determined who would capture the Golden Driller there was one additional moment that fans will remember for a long time. In an era where only two drivers are locked in each evening, the final B mains are incredibly stacked with talent. Seven drivers transfer from each of the 20-lap races, so there is ample opportunity to secure one of the coveted 24 spots in the 55-lap finale.
In the final preliminary race of the week, Kaylee Bryson, who started outside of the fifth row, went to the high side early and dropped the hammer.
By the time she moved around Blake Hahn the crowd had been tracking her every move. When she crossed the line first the crowd erupted. She had become the first woman to qualify for the main event.
Taking advantage of his starting position, Bell led the first 36 circuits and seemed to be in total command. Looks can be deceiving. Lapped traffic made things got interesting.
“The beginning of the race was extremely stressful, “he said, “The track was really wet and we caught lapped traffic, Tanner got beside me four or five times. I didn‘t want to get off the bottom.”
Bell was momentarily stalled, but as he noted, there was a reason for that. “It‘s the Chili Bowl,” he added. “It‘s the 24 best midgets in the world and the guy in front of me was Chase Johnson, and he doesn‘t suck.”
A lap-17 caution produced a of respite for all. The track had become wider, but it was clear Thorson wasn‘t going away.
After his second-place run on Thursday, Thorson proclaimed that leading the race always puts one in a vulnerable position. While Bell and Thorson were sorting things out, it became obvious that Larson did not have the car to win. When Larson got alongside Grant, he couldn‘t make the pass stick.
When Grant turned his car on its side and the yellow lights came on, Thorson knew it was time to move.
“I just knew it was getting late in the race and I knew I had to break Bell‘s momentum,” Thorson said. “If not, it was going to be hard to beat him once we got going green.”
Summing up the night Bell said, “Tonight I think I lost the race because Tanner was in second and searched around a little bit better than I did. he track got slick just below the cushion and I really slowed down my corner speed between three and four.”