TULSA, Okla. - Tanner Thorson became the 22nd different winner of the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals at Oklahoma’s Tulsa Expo Raceway on Saturday after a late race duel with NASCAR Cup Series ace Christopher Bell.
The Minden, Nevada native wheeled the Reinbold/Underwood Motorsports No. 19t to Victory Lane to collect his first Golden Driller trophy.
“I knew I had to step it up from Thursday night,” said Thorson. “Bell was obviously better than me, and I knew they were going to bring the same car if not better. It helped having Kasey (Kahne) there running another car that was set up nearly identical. It brought a lot to my attention and the car ended up feeling pretty good.”
Bell led the first 36 laps of the event, with lap traffic becoming a factor several times. The situation took a turn after a caution on lap 36 for an incident involving Justin Grant.
On the restart, Thorson made the move to take the lead off of fourth turn. But Bell wasn’t done, as he retook the lead momentarily with six laps to go. With Bell and Thorson battling for the lead, the duo split the slower car of Brady Bacon. Bacon’s car had an incident between the leaders, bringing out the final caution of the night.
Back under green, Thorson was again under fire from Bell. That ended when Bell made contact with the wall, letting Thorson get away. Bell regained momentum on the final lap, but could not make a move as Thorson scored the win by a 0.688-second advantage.
“I knew it was getting late in the race and when they said how many laps were down, it was just like Turkey Night where I had to break Bell’s momentum a little bit because it not, it was going to be hard to beat him, so I just had to get going,” said Thorson. “Buddy (Kofoid) was there and he was pressing me a little bit, but my car actually seemed to get better throughout the run and used what I learned off Thursday night.”
Bell finished in second, with Rico Abreu in third, Kofoid in fourth, and Tanner Carrick in fifth.
Kyle Larson, C.J. Leary, Kevin Thomas, Jr., Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., and Thomas Meseraull rounded out the top 10.
Dawsonville, Georgia’s Chase Elliott made it to the F-Main earlier in the day, but saw his Chili Bowl hopes end when contact with another car sent his racer tumbling end over end. Elliott was unharmed, but his race weekend was over. He would be credited with a 19th place finish.
Winder, Georgia’s Michael Magic raced his way up to the G-Feature, coming home with a 7th place finish after starting third.
For more information on the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals, visit ChiliBowl.com.
Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals
Tulsa Expo Raceway – Tulsa, OK
General Tire Championship Night – January 15, 2022
1. 19T-Tanner Thorson
2. 71W-Christopher Bell
3. 97-Rico Abreu
4. 67-Michael Kofoid
5. 98-Tanner Carrick
6. 01-Kyle Larson
7. 55V-C.J. Leary
8. 5T-Kevin Thomas, Jr.
9. 47S-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
10. 7X-Thomas Meseraull
11. 7C-Tyler Courtney
12. 52-Blake Hahn
13. 17W-Shane Golobic
14. 89-Chris Windom
15. 97W-Zeb Wise
16. 2J-Justin Grant
17. 47Z-Corey Day
18. 71K-Kaylee Bryson
19. 29-Tim Buckwalter
20. 8J-Jonathan Beason
21. 27W-Colby Copeland
22. 81X-Dillon Welch
23. 87-Chase Johnson-DNF
24. 21H-Brady Bacon-DNF
