TULSA, Okla. — While Christopher Bell claimed his second consecutive Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals victory, there were plenty of thrills during an entire day of racing through the alphabet, with racing beginning before lunch at the Tulsa Expo Raceway.
Mike Griffiths and Matt Juhl kicked off the day by winning the twin N-Features, while Anthony Nocella and Troy Betts split the spoils in the two M-Features.
Shane Stewart and Brandon Gray came out on top of time-shortened L-Features, with Stewart’s win kicking off a run through the alphabet that saw him advance 30 positions and get all the way up to the I-Feature before he fell short.
Nick Drake and Scottie McDonald each won K-Features before Holley Hollan and Danny Faria Jr. followed with Kevin Studley J-Feature victories, while Kody Swanson and Wyatt Burks each took home an I-Feature win to continue their days a little bit longer.
Paul Nienhiser and Dylan Westbrook went to victory lane in their respective H-Features, followed closely by Landon Simon and Korey Weyant, who both topped a G-Feature to lead their groups of transfers.
Winning F-Features were Tony Bruce Jr. and Derek Hagar, with Harli White and Josh Most taking home the E-Feature victories and C.J. Leary and Daryn Pittman dividing the twin D-Features between themselves.
That was only the start of Leary’s roll forward. He charged from 15th to sixth in 15 laps to garner the final transfer spot to his B-Feature, while Thorson wired the field up front and led every lap in his No. 63 Dooling-Hayward/RCR entry.
The most notable incident in the first C-Feature came on lap 10, when Holly Shelton flipped in turn one and collected Gage Walker and Parker Price-Miller in the process.
Meanwhile, David Gravel accomplished a similar feat to Thorson, leading every lap of the second C-Feature ahead of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Michael Pickens, while Pittman catapulted up to fourth to continue his charge even further.
D.J. Netto and Alex Bright completed the list of transfers out of the second C-Feature.
The first 20-lap B-Feature saw Sammy Swindell steal the lead from polesitter Tracy Hines with four laps to go, rolling on to the win as Thorson came from deep in the field to finish third and make the big dance.
Ryan Robinson, Logan Seavey and Ryan Bernal completed the top six in the first B-Feature.
The second B-Feature weathered a pair of cautions before a lap could be put in the books, including a wild flip in turn one by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. that ended his shot at making the finale for a second-straight year.
However, after that, the race ran uninterrupted as Caleb Armstrong led all 20 laps and beat Gio Scelzi to the checkered flag by 1.259 seconds.
Englishman Tom Harris, Chris Windom, Billy Pauch Jr. and Chad Boat completed the list of transfers into the A-Feature from the second last chance race.
By virtue of being the only first-year participant to make the A-Feature, Scelzi received the 2018 Chili Bowl Rookie of the Year Award.
The 33rd running of the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals will see the race expand to six nights of racing, backing up a week to Jan. 14-19, 2019.
