TULSA, Okla. – Entering Wednesday’s Hard Rock Casino Qualifying Night at the 33rd annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals, event rookie Cannon McIntosh was a relatively unknown commodity racing against the likes of former winners Rico Abreu and Tim McCreadie.
By the end of the night, McIntosh was a topic of discussion in all corners of the Tulsa Expo Center who rewrote the record book with a standout performance.
The 16-year-old from nearby Bixby, Okla., made his Chili Bowl debut count in a big way, charging from seventh to third in his heat race and from fifth to third in his qualifier to earn a top-10 starting spot in the 25-lap preliminary feature.
McIntosh then held his own against some of the biggest names in the country, including Chris Windom, Tim McCreadie and fellow young gun Cole Bodine, scrapping two- and three-wide at times and rolling the bottom of the race track to make up ground against his competitors.
He actually made a last-lap pass of McCreadie to finish fifth on Wednesday, which will slot him in the middle of a B main on Saturday night and give him a shot at advancing into the Chili Bowl finale.
After climbing from his car and getting a huge hug from his father Dave, the young McIntosh was nearly at a loss for words to describe his night and the emotions he was feeling in the moment.
“Speechless,” he said, shaking his head and pacing for a moment in disbelief. “Did we just do that?”
McIntosh became the youngest driver in Chili Bowl history to score a top-five finish on their preliminary night, at 16 years and one month old. He eclipsed the previous record of 16 years and three-and-a-half months, set by Spencer Bayston in 2014.
His biggest focus prior to strapping in for the feature was making sure he kept his emotions in check and didn’t let the size of the stage get to him.
“You just have to look at these preliminary night mains as a regular race, because if you put that (extra) pressure on yourself to go out and lock in, you can make mistakes and dial yourself out,” McIntosh explained.
“I knew I had to be perfect every lap, and once I got around Sammy (Swindell) I figured we would be able to maintain that and finish in a solid spot … and that’s exactly what ended up happening.”
The teenager’s run was impressive given the fact that his No. 08 RL Hudson/Car & Fleet Toyota was carrying a brand-new silver and green livery onboard.
Green has long been perceived as an unlucky color in racing, but McIntosh disproved that theory after his solid showing.
“Everyone told me the superstitions about how green on race cars is supposed to be unlucky, and I just kind of shrugged it off because it doesn’t bother me,” McIntosh laughed. “My (Golden) Driller from the year I won in Junior Sprints came in a green car, so I don’t think it’s a big deal. You just have to make your own luck here, I feel like.”
McIntosh came into the week with two years of experience on his resume, as well as 2017 POWRi West Midget Rookie of the Year honors and POWRi West Midget feature wins at Missouri’s Springfield Raceway and at Oklahoma City’s I-44 Riverside Speedway.
However, he classified Wednesday night’s run as the biggest moment of his career so far.
“I would never have expected we’d get to finish off a run like this, especially in my first year here at the Chili Bowl,” McIntosh admitted. “It’s pretty crazy to look around and realize that we just did this. I’m so grateful for this opportunity, for my family’s hard work and support and that I’m able to be here this week.
“It’s awesome to get to run this car and get to run fifth. Now, hopefully, we can get out of the B on Saturday and make the show. That would be the ultimate ending to our week if we could pull it off.”
