Brad Sweet finally dispatched Daum for the runner-up spot on lap 16, while Daum’s night came to a rough end four circuits later, when Travis Rilat went for a tumble in turn two and Daum stalled his No. 5D trying to avoid the melee.
Daum was sent to the rear for stopping on-track, and he finished 16th in the final rundown.
Meanwhile, Sweet hung onto second to seal his place in the championship finale for the fourth time and first since 2013, ending a five-year dry spell inside the Tulsa Expo Center.
“We were good tonight,” Sweet said. “The track got slick and tricky, but Rusty gave me a great race car.”
“Kyle started struggling a little bit towards the end, I think, while we were able to just get rolling. I was searching around towards the end … sometimes you want to be in second and I think tonight, it was a little better (to be there) … so I just kind of moved around and found something late in the going.”
Sweet added that his team is “feeling good” about finally being back in the big dance.
“Hopefully we can come back Saturday and challenge for the win, but man, this is a nice start. Now, the rest of the week, we can sit back, relax, and watch the races. The stress comes off when you lock in … so maybe we can even have a couple beers too.”
Clauson-Marshall Racing’s Tyler Courtney completed the podium in third, locking into his second-straight finale after making his debut appearance in the 55-lapper last January.
“We were good all night tonight,” Courtney said. “Kyle was just a little bit better. That’s to be expected, though, because he’s good in pretty much anything he gets in.”
“I can’t complain at all. These Clauson-Marshall guys gave me a really good car tonight and we were able to do something with it. We’re in the big dance now; that’s the important thing. There’s a lot of weight lifted off our shoulders because of that.”
Englishman Tom Harris just missed the cut in fourth, followed by reigning POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League champion Logan Seavey.
Rookie Gio Scelzi, Jake Neuman, Brad Loyet, Scott Evans and Justin Peck completed the top 10.
NASCAR XFINITY Series star Justin Allgaier was 12th in Tuesday night’s A-Feature, transferring in through one of the twin B-Mains, while names like Derek Hagar and Chad Boespflug missed the cut in the last chance races.
The Chili Bowl Nationals continue Wednesday, with Hard Rock Casino Qualifying Night kicking off at 4 p.m. with hot laps and featuring both five-time Chili Bowl champion Sammy Swindell and two-time winner Rico Abreu among the entrants hoping to lock themselves in to Saturday night’s A-Main.
Full race results can be viewed on the next page…
