For the second year in a row, Cannon McIntosh scored a preliminary night win close to home. It was the 30th feature win in this event for Keith Kunz. Cannon found his groove late in the 2020 season and drew from the lessons learned. For him, it is all about keeping one‘s composure. “The car got a lot better throughout the night,” he says. “We weren‘t the best earlier in the day in practice so we just made some adjustments. We all talked together and just went over what we thought would make the car better.
“These guys do a good job and it shows. It isn‘t easy to come out here and win anytime in this building; it takes a really good car and takes a driver who isn‘t losing his head. I think I was doing well with that tonight, just keeping a cool head and being patient. I saw him (Courtney) poke his nose a couple of times on the restart, and I just moved back to the bottom in three and four like I was earlier. You really had to slow down to hit it, but it was a more smooth and consistent line. I really didn‘t think I was going to be able to do it again, but you just gotta believe, and as the night was going on I believed more and more that I could do it. I just told myself to be consistent and be patient, and that‘s what it took.”
Sunshine was happy to be locked into Saturday night‘s main event, but was a bit frustrated with how his race went down. He admitted he had reacted a bit to what Blake Hahn was doing and, therefore, may have let another driver dictate his race. As for McIntosh, Courtney sees good days ahead for the emerging star. “Cannon has now won two in a row and he is an up and coming driver,” he said, “so congrats to him and Keith and the whole team. It is fun to race them all year and watch a kid like him grow up. That is pretty special. I know that is cool for him to come to Tulsa and win. They can take tonight and we‘ll take Saturday.”
For Hahn, there was obvious satisfaction given he had marched from the 12th position to a podium run. “Early on I was rolling the top because it seemed like the top was dominant after they did the track work,” he says. “And it started to build that ledge. It got kind of tricky up there so I started to go down to the bottom just because I really didn‘t want to be up on the lip that much. I felt a lot better down there. Then we had that late caution about halfway, and I think I was sitting 12th, so I hit the bottom really hard.”
It paid off. Given where he started, he observed with a laugh, “Being in a B-Main now is almost like winning the sucker.”
TUESDAY
The second night of action proved to be a bit of a marathon. On top of the normal activities, the traditional Race of Champions was also on the card. For fans it would be the first look at defending winner Kyle Larson who had the Midas touch all summer long. All Star standout Cory Eliason was on hand, local favorite Jonathan Beason (who suffered a heartache at the recent Tulsa Shootout) was looking for redemption, and many local fans have enjoyed Frank Flud‘s work in the micro ranks. With his unchained personality and go-for-it style, many relished a chance to see Thomas Meseraull back in the fray, while talented Shane Golobic was also set to go.
By definition, the Race of Champions was stacked, and when Christopher Bell outlasted Cannon McIntosh and Kyle Larson it seemed to be a significant outcome. Given the length of the night, some fans and pundits suggested that perhaps this race has run its course. However, for a driver like Brady Bacon, who was sorting out a new chassis, and Bell, who had not been in a full midget for a year, it was a welcome chance to gather data.
In heat racing action, T-Mezz made the most noise in the Rusty Kunz-prepared RMS entry, and when all the qualifiers were completed he would start the feature from the pole. There was no time to relax, for when he took a glance to his right he found Kyle Larson alongside. It was a race that had a predictable number of cautions, however each seemed to involve multiple cars.
Meseraull led early, but Larson motored to the front and sped away. Thomas did hold on to the second spot to lock into the feature for the second consecutive year, while former POWRi champ Zach Daum moved from his seventh starting spot to third.
Danny Stratton, who has enjoyed some memorable moments at the Chili Bowl, checked in one spot behind Daum, with Derek Hagar rounding out the top five. As for Larson, it was his fourth consecutive preliminary night win. It was a frustrating night for Shane Golobic, who was trying to find a way around Larson in the late stages when he tangled with a back-marker, turning a promising night into a sour one.
Zach Daum has won a preliminary feature in his Chili Bowl career and this would mark the sixth time he has posted a podium run on his qualifying night. In past years, a third-place run was enough to lock one in for Saturday, but those days are gone. “I wish a podium spot still locked you in,” he said. “It wasn‘t bad. It was a good night for us, we weren‘t very good but we got lucky and salvaged our night. I missed the setup, so I have to get it a little bit better and I have to drive it a bit better on Saturday. Meseraull couldn‘t make anything go on the top, and even in the Race of Champions we pushed the top so far up I knew they were going to have to do some extensive work. They had a lot of races on the track tonight, there was nothing they could do about it. They do a good job here every year, so we have to give them the benefit of the doubt.”
In one of the more interesting observations, Daum was asked if he thought that Meseraull would perhaps make a bonsai move to take the win, and thus create an opportunity for him to get one more precious spot. “Five years ago T-Mezz yes,” he said with a laugh. “He would have done something dumb and crashed either himself or both. But Thomas has matured a lot over the last couple of years. I knew he was going to try for the win and the best I could do was hope they made a little bit of contact and I could have snuck down there. Obviously, Kyle is the best race driver we have ever seen, so he wasn‘t going to mess up.” The always-exuberant T-Mezz was thrilled to be back in the show. “I‘m super stoked,” he said. “Second year in a row that we locked in. Saturday, the show is coming!”