TULSA, Okla. – After having to sit and watch last year’s Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals finale as a spectator, there was a heavy sigh of relief from Zach Daum on Tuesday night upon finishing second to Kyle Larson.
The mission was simple – come home inside the top two and lock into the 55-lap finale on Saturday – and that’s exactly what Daum did.
The three-time POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League champion from Pocahontas, Ill., found his way back into the big show after a one-year absence with an impressive performance. He was the highest passing points-earner through heat races and qualifiers, giving him the pole for the 25-lap feature, and Daum led the first five circuits of Tuesday night’s main event before giving was to Larson out front.
From there, Daum went into defense and protected what he had, knowing he didn’t have to push any harder and risk giving up a golden ticket to Saturday night’s championship feature.
“That seemed like typical here the last couple of years,” Daum noted after the race. “I was high point guy and Kyle started second. I think we were probably good enough there to be set up for 55 laps instead of 25. We were a little tight there, and I got better and better as the race went on.
“I started catching Kyle before that last caution. The curb just got so treacherous there … you had to watch it, and I didn’t want to overstep my boundaries and give up what we had.”
There was a common theme among Daum’s on-track performances Tuesday night: he finished second all three times, coming home as the runner-up in his heat race, qualifier and in the main event.
“I guess we were just a second-place car tonight,” he said. “Second’s not where we want to be, but at the end of the day it does lock us into the biggest (midget) race in the world, and I’m not going to complain about that when there’s 350 other guys here who would trade spots with me.
“It’s nice to rebound from last year. I feel like we’ve been pretty good here for a while. We’ve been on the podium, we’ve won prelim nights in the past … we just have to figure out a way to win the big show,” Daum added. “It’s not easy when you come to this place.”
Despite having a fast car on Tuesday, Daum said he still knows who he’s likely to be chasing come Saturday night if he wants to have a shot at winning his first Golden Driller.
“Keith (Kunz, owner) and Kyle are the benchmark over here, so we’re going to work on it on Saturday and see if we can’t be on their level,” Daum said. “If (Larson) had messed up, I would have thrown something at him … I figured I might spook him, but Kyle Larson’s too good to spook. We’ll take it. We’re locked in, and that’s the main thing.
“We’ll do the pole shuffle or whatever we do on Friday and see where we can put it on Saturday.”
As far as what he needs to do in order to beat Larson? Daum had a quick answer for that, too.
“I probably need to become a better race car driver,” he said. “I think that’s about it.”
