TULSA, Okla. - Rico Abreu was the class of the field in Wednesday’s qualifying night at the 33rd annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals, as he scored his fourth win since 2015 at Oklahoma’s Tulsa Expo Raceway.
The victory locks the two-time Chili Bowl champ into Saturday night’s A-Feature event.
Asked if he felt his comfort level at the Chili Bowl was back to where it was a few years ago, Rico replied, “Yeah, I think so. I won those back to back years and I kind of had a slump year and came back to be competitive. Last year I felt I wasn’t as good as the top two but if the roles were reversed, I think if I was in a little better position I think where they could chase me instead of me chasing them. Because those two boys (Bell and Larson), they don’t too many mistakes when they get out front. I think this year was a matter of just minimizing the mistakes”
Abreu started second in Wednesday night’s feature, but fell to third on the start as Cole Bodine and Blake Hahn surged ahead. By lap two, Abreu had bypassed Hahn. One lap later, the first caution of the night flew when Matt Westfall slowed to a stop in turn one.
Back under green, Abreu began working over the leader, and on lap 7, he made the move past Bodine to take the top spot. The caution flew again two laps later when Alex Bright and Sammy Swindell tangled, again slowing the action.
On the restart, Abreu pulled away, leaving Bodine, David Gravel and Tim McCreadie to battle for second, with Gravel coming away with the spot.
Following another caution, Abreu would hold off Gravel on the restart, as the two drivers battled around the Tulsa Expo Raceway.
From there, Abreu went on to cross the finish line 1.794 second ahead of Gravel.
“Keith (Kunz) was kind of giving me a few signals that I needed to pick up the pace a little bit and said they were making up some time on me on the bottom in three and four,” Abreu said. “All night, I kind of struggled around the bottom, but I feel like I hit some good laps there at the end of the race.”
With his second place finish, Gravel locked himself into his first career championship feature event. Behind him, Bodine finished in third, with Jake Swanson in fourth and Cannon McIntosh in fifth.
McCreadie, Colby Copeland, Ryan Smith, Robert Dalby and Daniel Robinson rounded out the top ten.
With three nights of competition in the books, 204 drivers have checked in so far with 73 taking part in Wednesday’s Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tulsa Qualifying Night.
The 33rd Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals continues Thursday with John Christner Trucking Qualifying Night. For more information, visit ChiliBowl.com.
Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals
Tulsa Expo Raceway – Tulsa, OK
Hard Rock Casino Tulsa Night – January 16, 2019
1. 97-Rico Abreu*
2. 76G-David Gravel*
3. 57C-Cole Bodine
4. 68W-Jake Swanson
5. 08-Cannon McIntosh
6. 9-Tim McCreadie
7. 87-Colby Copeland
8. 67R-Ryan Smith
9. 4D-Robert Dalby
10. 57D-Daniel Robinson
11. 52-Blake Hahn
12. 43-Justin Peck
13. 92-Aaron Reutzel
14. 47-Alex Bright
15. 1-Sammy Swindell
16. 9P-Tom Harris
17. 54W-Matt Westfall
18. 16K-Tristan Guardino
19. 15M-Jason McDougal
20. 67K-Holley Hollan
21. 3F-Geoff Ensign
22. (DNF) 91T-Tyler Thomas
23. (DNF) 17-Chris Windom
24. (DNF) 29A-Davey Ray
*Locked Into Saturday’s A-Feature
