TULSA, Okla. — Opening the 39th annual Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy Drink with a fight to the finish, Kyle Larson prevailed over Shane Golobic for this eighth career preliminary night win during Monday’s 2nd Opinion Auto Center Qualifying Night.
“It was a great race, but I need to be a whole lot better. It was a lot of work to get back to the front, so we’ll work harder and hopefully hit something for Saturday,” explained Larson of the run.
Gridding fourth, Larson fell to seventh through the opening lap as Shane Golobic took the lead, with Tanner Carrick and Briggs Danner chasing.
Moving quickly into contention, Danner railed the cushion, with the slide for the lead on Golobic coming on Lap 7. However, a little too hard into the cushion sent the Alex Bowman Racing No. 55i flipping violently through the fourth turn.
Up next to contend for the point, Cannon McIntosh swung into the lead on Lap 9 and held point until Lap 23 when Golobic slipped by to lead by 0.056 seconds.
Going slide for slide, the caution brought the field to an idle and a five-lap dash to the finish.
With Larson back up to third, the chase was on, with the FloRacing.com No. 1k taking second on the restart from McIntosh.
One last caution to set up a green, white, checkered showdown, the slide jobs came quickly as Larson shot by for the lead, coming to the white flag.
Holding off the last charge of Golobic, the win for Larson was by 0.278 seconds. Golobic, in second, will lock into Saturday’s show with Larson. Cannon McIntosh completed Monday’s podium.
Finishing fourth, Brent Crews got there the hard after a flip in his Heat Race put the No. 71m starting third in the first C Feature. Charing 13th to first in the opening Ferguson Supply B-Feature, Crews capped off the night with a run from 17th to fourth. Ashton Torgerson completed the top five.
Monday’s 2nd Opinion Auto Center Qualifying Night saw 66 drivers draw in for competition.
The night included the O’Reilly Auto Parts Invitational Race of Champions, where Christopher Bell captured his third career win.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 1K-Kyle Larson[4]; 2. 17W-Shane Golobic[1]; 3. 71K-Cannon McIntosh[7]; 4. 71M-Brent Crews[17]; 5. 67K-Ashton Torgerson[5]; 6. 85-Jerry Coons Jr[10]; 7. 51B-Joe B Miller[13]; 8. 5P-Justin Peck[9]; 9. 32T-Trey Marcham[8]; 10. 60X-Dillon Welch[22]; 11. 98-Tanner Carrick[2]; 12. 8-Alex Sewell[15]; 13. 45J-Roger Crockett[21]; 14. 25H-Cap Henry[12]; 15. 44A-Reese Nowotarski[16]; 16. 7D-Michelle Decker[24]; 17. 55T-Trevor Cline[23]; 18. 75-Mario Clouser[20]; 19. 7E-Carson Bolden[18]; 20. (DNF) 71T-Kyler Johnson[14]; 21. (DNF) 32-Gary Taylor[11]; 22. (DNF) 89-Zach Wigal[6]; 23. (DNF) 2W-Luke Storer[19]; 24. (DNF) 55I-Briggs Danner[3]
