From there, cautions on laps 27 and 32 – for a spinning Tyler Courtney and David Gravel, respectively – negated Bell’s moves for second each time he would get around Seavey and give chase to Larson.

Finally, Bell wrested second from Seavey following a restart with 22 laps to go and began to give chase for the lead, but he could do nothing with Larson even as the laps wound down.

Larson led by nearly a second until five laps remained, when traffic started to enter the fray again.

Slowly but surely, Bell began to close in, and two mistakes by Larson made the difference.

Coming to the white flag, Larson missed the bottom and gave up a lot of ground to Bell, and entering turn one on the final lap he did the same thing yet again. That gave Bell an opening and the hometown favorite wasn’t about to squander it.

“I didn’t know if I was going to get there. I kept struggling and struggling … but I just committed myself to the bottom, because I didn’t have anything to lose,” noted Bell. “It was pretty slick down there, and Kyle tried to stick it on the last lap, but he hadn’t run any laps down there and I knew what I needed to do to get in the infield there and try to stick it and get off the corner [well].

“He (Larson) was half a car too high, and that was all I needed there.”

A hugely-dejected Larson was straight to the point in describing what went wrong after the race.

“I ran 53 and a half good laps,” Larson said ruefully. “I just didn’t close it out. I knew my pace would slow down, and I knew he was going to get close. I missed my marks just a couple of times throughout the race — unfortunately it was just when it counted most, and he was there to pounce.

“I hate that I gave that one away, but it’s good to race for a win like that,” he added. “You just have to try not to make mistakes because he obviously doesn’t make any.”

Justin Grant completed the podium in a very successful first Chili Bowl since moving from Clauson-Marshall Racing to RAMS Racing. He was followed by Brady Bacon and Zach Daum.

Courtney, after spinning midway through the feature, rallied through the field to finish sixth. He picked up the Hard Charger Award and Jason Leffler “Elbows Up” Award as a result, and was also the highest driver for Clauson-Marshall Racing at the checkered flag.

Brad Sweet and C.J. Leary were seventh and eighth, respectively, while Seavey faded to ninth ahead of Tanner Thorson.

Bell’s victory, which marked the fifth in a row for Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, was a surprise to the team’s namesake, who admitted he was shocked when Bell arrived to crash Larson’s party on the final lap.

“I didn’t see that coming,” Kunz said. “With about two laps to go, he (Bell) was about a second behind. No, I didn’t see that coming at all, but they’re two of the best and they’re so much fun to watch.

“I’m grateful to have them both driving for me and I’m glad they’re willing to keep coming back with us, because it’s a lot more fun to compete with them than against them.”

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