Bell quickly got away from Stratton again on the top side, leaving Stratton to contend with USAC star C.J. Leary before one final caution came out, for Brady Bacon’s wounded race car with four laps left.
The incident was of no consequence to Bell, though, who cruised home with a 1.422 second advantage and will make his fourth-straight finale start on Saturday night.
Stratton hung on for second, but admitted he had nothing for Bell in the final laps.
“I feel like he got too much of an advantage there in the beginning and in the middle part of the race, and put some lapped cars behind him,” explained Stratton, set for his first finale start in three years. “I wasn’t just quick enough to get up to speed like that. I think in the end I was holding my own but it was just too late.”
Leary fought off NASCAR XFINITY Series star Justin Allgaier in the final laps to secure the third and final transfer spot, after racing forward from fifth in his heat and fourth in his qualifier earlier in the night.
“The last five to 10 laps, [I was] trying to figure out a way to get around Stratton, but trying to hold off Allgaier was difficult because he was pretty good there at the end, too,” said Leary, who received the night’s Jason Leffler ‘Elbows Up’ Hard Charger Award.
“We were pretty good. Last year [on our preliminary night] we came close to locking in, but finished fourth … so to get locked in tonight is special for me and for this team.”
Allgaier was set for a front row start in one of Saturday’s B-Mains, with a fourth-place finish in sight, but jumped the cushion in turn four coming to the checkered flag and flipped wildly before collecting fifth-running Thomas Meseraull as well.
As a result of the last-lap carnage, Shane Golobic and Andrew Deal completed the top five.
Former Chili Bowl champion Tracy Hines ran sixth, just ahead of reigning Knoxville Nationals champion Jason Johnson in seventh.
Allgaier and Meseraull were credited with 17th and 18th, respectively.
All told, 96 drivers drew in for competition on Wednesday night, bringing the three-day event entry total to 274 with one preliminary night remaining.
Preliminary action for the 31st annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals concludes Friday with Vacuworx Qualifying Night at the Tulsa Expo Center.
