TULSA, Okla. — The buzz in the Chili Bowl pit area on Thursday night was hard to ignore, and the majority of it was centered around the No. 98k midget.
Piloted by Kyle Larson, the Keith Kunz Motorsports entry took quite the beating as both car and driver endured two violent flips during Victory Fuel Qualifying Night.
The final wreck, which occurred in the A feature, was all she wrote for Larson, who was scored 24th. He will not return to SageNet Center on Saturday to run the infamous alphabet soup, as he is committed to racing in the Wild West Shootout at New Mexico’s Vado Speedway Park.
Prior to his harsh luck on Thursday, the full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver was planning to attempt a “dirt double” by racing both a dirt late model at the Wild West Shootout and a midget at the Chili Bowl on Saturday.
However, as he did not lock straight into the A main with his finish on Thursday, time constraints will not permit Larson to compete in both events.
Instead, Larson has returned to New Mexico for races on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Ricky Thornton Jr. Shows A Wheel
The last time Ricky Thornton Jr. raced a midget was 365 days ago, at the 37th annual Chili Bowl Nationals. Thursday night’s prelim marked his third national midget start, but from the outside looking in, it was difficult to tell.
The dirt late model ace won his heat race, climbing fifth to first in the No. 19r Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports entry. He then continued to impress in the qualifier, finishing third after starting sixth.
“That was my first Chili Bowl win, for a heat race or anything,” Thornton Jr. said. “I don’t run a midget all that often — never tested, nothing. Just kind of hop in and go.”
He put on an entertaining battle with Tanner Thorson for second early on in the A main, but his night started to unravel after making a mistake.
“I could see some guys running the top, so I ended up moving out and it felt like I was fine, but then I kind of screwed up once we got to lapped traffic and I didn’t get back off the top,” Thornton Jr. explained. “Hit the curb once, stalled it and lost a few more spots.”
He finished seventh at the end of the 30-lapper and will start in a B main on Saturday.