— Keith Kunz Motorsports has had its worst Chili Bowl as a team in many years so far this week, with only Christopher Bell locked into Saturday’s finale feature for the team after his win on Wednesday night.
The rest of the team has a long way to climb, led by young rookie Ryan Robinson, who will start sixth in Saturday’s first B-Feature as he looks to make his first career Chili Bowl finale.
Tanner Thorson and Spencer Bayston will start fifth and 10th, respectively, in the second C-Feature.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series star Kyle Larson rolls off eighth in the first D-Feature, while rookie Holly Shelton is scheduled to lead the second D-Feature to green from the pole.
Rico Abreu, the two-time defending champion of the Chili Bowl, has to come all the way from 11th in the first F-Feature if he hopes to qualify via the ‘alphabet soup’, but can fall back on the defending champion’s provisional if needed.
Sheldon Haudenschild is the deepest of the Kunz stable, starting fifth in the first G-Feature.
— Bill Martin, who served as Tony Stewart’s crew chief at the Indianapolis 500 with Team Menard in 1997 and 1998, was in attendance at the Tulsa Expo Center on Friday as he took in the sights and sounds of the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals.
— 53-year-old Robert Bell scored an emotional victory during the night’s fifth Budweiser Heat Race on Friday, marking his first career heat-race win at the Chili Bowl.
Bell, nicknamed the “Colfax (Iowa) Comet”, won the Allstar Midget Series championship last year.
“Yeehaw!” Bell exclaimed as he climbed from his car, showing off a Bryan Clauson tribute shirt underneath his driver’s suit. “This feels like I just won the Chili Bowl.”
“I’m not sure what I want to do later tonight … but I’m not worried about that right now. Let me say … I heard every one of (the fans) through the helmet when I took the checkered flag. I talked to (Bryan Clauson) on the way down here … told him we were gonna do something this year … and we sure did!”
“To have Kyle Larson, Ricky Stenhouse … all of those guys come down and congratulate me … it was awesome.”
— Shane Weeks was fed a wheel and went for a tumble in the second B-Feature, flipping on lap eight and coming to rest against the outside wall.
The incident caused damage to the catchfence that took about five minutes to repair.
— Electrical issues sidelined Tucker Klaasmeyer from the A-Feature during pace laps for the night’s A-Feature, with a faulty battery knocking the No. 27 WCI Inc. Boss-Toyota from contention before ever turning a lap.
Klaasmeyer was scheduled to start 21st after transferring in from the first B-Feature. He will roll off 13th on Saturday night’s second D-Feature.
— The C-Features, B-Features and 55-lap championship A-Feature from the 31st annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals will be broadcast live Saturday night on MAVTV, beginning at 8:30 p.m. ET.
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.
Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.
The 22-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
Email Jacob at: editor@racechaseronline.com
Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77
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