Friday March 29th, 2024 2:25AM

Bell charges to Thursday Chili Bowl qualifier victory

By Bryan Hulbert

TULSA, Okla. - Christopher Bell added to his impressive annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals stats on Thursday.

The NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year contender scored his fifth straight and sixth overall preliminary night victory Thursday night on John Christner Trucking Qualifying Night at Oklahoma’s Tulsa Expo Raceway.

The win locks him into Saturday night’s A-Feature, putting him in contention for his fourth straight Chili Bowl victory.

“Man, this race…I say it time, and time again, this race literally is what motorsports means to me,” said Bell. “This is the pinnacle for me growing up in Oklahoma. I hope that this is the race I can run the rest of my life until I can come back here owning a racecar and have another Buddy Kofoid drive for me.”

Starting from sixth, Bell worked into the top three following a lap 5 restart. He would surge to the lead around Thomas Meseraull on lap 11. Racing three-wide in lap traffic at times, Bell would work his way out to an advantage of about a second.

With the white flag waving, Bell’s night nearly ended when he made contact with a slower car. But he was able to recover, and went on to score the win by 1.114 seconds.

“Lapped traffic was thick and they were just two by two, so honestly I just got to the point where I started riding behind them because I’ve taken myself out a lot here running over lapped cars and I still almost did it coming to the white flag,” Bell said.

Meseraull picked up the final transfer to Saturday’s A-Feature, ith Buddy Kofoid third in his first career Chili Bowl appearance. Logan Seavey finished in fourth, with Shane Golobic in fifth.

The 34th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals continues on Friday with Vacuworx Qualifying Night. Visit ChiliBowl.com for more information.

Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals
Tulsa Expo Raceway – Tulsa, OK
John Christner Trucking Qualifying Night – January 16, 2020

1. 84X-Christopher Bell*
2. 7X-Thomas Meseraull*
3. 67-Michael Kofoid
4. 39-Logan Seavey
5. 17W-Shane Golobic
6. 19B-Spencer Bayston
7. 55V-C.J. Leary
8. 76M-Jason McDougal
9. 25-Jerry Coons, Jr.
10. 25B-Steve Buckwalter
11. 91B-Tanner Berryhill
12. 3N-Jake Neuman
13. 08M-Joe B. Miller
14. 9P-Shane Cottle
15. 67S-Ryan Smith
16. 2ND-Dave Darland
17. 31B-Chance Crum
18. 15D-Andrew Deal
19. 27D-Travis Berryhill
20. 1G-Kyle Cummins
21. 21K-Cory Kruseman
22. 39B-Cole Bodine
23. 117-Jack Dover
24. 11A-Andrew Felker

*Advances to Saturday’s A-Feature

  • Associated Categories: Sports, NASCAR News, Other Motorsports
  • Associated Tags: nascar, motorsports, Open Wheel, Auto Racing, Dirt Track, Short Track, Midgets, Chili Bowl
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