From there, the battle of the titans was set, with Bell getting away from Larson each restart before Larson would slowly start to inch his way back forward. The night’s third yellow flag flew on the 40th round, with Tucker Klaasmeyer, Brayton Lynch and Chad Boat tangling on the frontstretch to slow the pace again.
As time ticked away, Bell led the field back to the next green flag on lap 53, but had to fend off a hard charge from Larson, who actually edged in front to lead at the start-finish line before Bell came hauling back around the outside to reclaim his turf on the head of the scoreboard.
A quick caution on lap 58 for spins by Bacon and Spencer Bayston saw four more laps tick off under yellow before race pace picked back up, with Larson challenging Bell again on the restart but being unable to capitalize.
Meanwhile, back in the mid-pack, Tyler Courtney had quietly picked his way from 23rd to sixth after winning the 360 sprint car feature earlier in the night, with eyes on a $50,000 prize if he could find his way to the midget victory as well.
However, that quest came to an end with 29 laps to go, when Courtney spun and stalled in turn three to drop him to the tail of an 18-car lead lap train, while Bell prepared for a duel to the finish out in front with his teammate.
A lap 76 restart saw a third Kunz car, the No. 67 of Tanner Thorson, move into the fray with a huge slider on Shane Golobic for third before Larson traded his first set of sliders with Bell for the top spot on-track.
But though the No. 1 powered inside Bell’s No. 21 in turn one and in turn three, Bell hung on at the stripe to lead lap 80 and pull back away again.
Courtney rolled to a stop to unfurl the yellow with 15 to go, but it took one more restart for a slowing Chase Briscoe before the battle could heat up again.
Bell pulled the field by a half second on the green flag, appearing to be well on his way to victory, but the final incident between Shelton and Bacon forced him to sweat things out a little bit before he could complete the last four laps and roll into the winner’s circle to kiss the cowboy hat trophy.
Meanwhile, Larson was forced to settle for second after a fierce bid to become the third different three-time winner of the Turkey Night Grand Prix.
“Man, that was a fun race with Bell,” said Larson. “I knew the laps were winding down, and the restart before the last one, Tanner (Thorson) threw a slide job at me and got close to me … so I figured if I could stay with Bell down the frontstretch (on the final restart), I’m just gonna throw something at him.”
“I slid him a few times throughout the race, but I could just never get going down the straightaway. He’d either rip around me or cross back under me. I threw everything I had at him, but it wasn’t quite enough.”
Golobic completed the podium after stealing second from Larson in the last set of corners, only to see Larson steal it back on the outside coming to the finish line with his high side momentum.
Thorson and 15-year-old Zeb Wise, who earned Dan Basile Rookie of the Race honors, filled out the rest of the top five.
Carson Macedo crossed the line in sixth, ahead of Justin Grant, Ryan Robinson, Brad Sweet and Michael Faccinto.
Despite falling out with four laps to go, Spencer Bayston clinched his first USAC National Midget Series title simply by starting Thursday night’s feature.
Full race results can be viewed on the next page…
