Kyle Larson Unstoppable On Warren CAT Qualifying Night; Bell Tops The VIROC

 Bryan Hulbert - TULSA, Okla. (January 14, 2020) Picking up his sixth career preliminary night victory, and third straight since 2018, Kyle Larson battled through a myriad of cautions to win Tuesday's Warren CAT Qualifying Night during the 34th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire.

Locking into his ninth championship A-Feature since 2010, the race to that ticket became a question of fuel.

"I think me and Jonathan (Beason) both were running out of fuel there at the end," explained Larson. "Mine was stumbling a lot the last five laps, so I was thankful we didn't have another caution because I don't know if I could have made it."

To the lead on the cushion over the No. 8j of Jonathan Beason, the start was short-lived as Derek Hagar came to a stop in turn three. Following Larson's lead to the top of the Tulsa Expo Raceway, Kyle got away by three-tenths of a second before the Whelen Caution lights switched on again.

Battle for second on the restart, Mike Hess set sights on Beason with no luck as the Broken Arrow native drove away. Railing the cushion in the tire tracks of Kyle Larson, the top two daylighted the field by 3.122 seconds before the caution displayed for Jeremy Webb who spun in the third turn.

Challenged again by Hess on the restart, Beason eluded the No. 51 but was again unable to keep pace with Larson's iRacing No. 01.

Continuing to be plagued by cautions, two more as the field reached lap 10 saw similar restarts with Larson keep the field at bay. Getting a run on a Lap 14 restart, Jonathan Beason looked for a hole but the charge for the lead was for not as Larson slowly pulled away.

Seeing slower traffic for the first time on Lap 21, Beason was on the back bumper of Larson for the lead, but Kyle wasted little time sliding the slower machines to keep the BA Lawn and Garden No. 8j chasing. Slowed with six laps to run as Jake Bubak slammed the cushion battling for third and going over, Larson picked up right where he left off as Beason, Wight, and Faccinto battled for second with Beason holding the position.

Taking the final six laps without delay, Kyle Larson crossed 2.822 seconds ahead of Jonathan Beason, who secured his sixth trip to Saturday's big dance with Michael Faccinto holding off the torrid advance of Dillon Welch, who advanced 12 positions to finish fourth. Larry Wight ended up completing the top five.

Not the only feature event on the night, the VIROC saw a new winner with Christopher Bell charging from seventh in the closing laps to collect a convincing victory. Mired mid-pack early on, cautions around the race's mid-point provided the springboard for Bell to begin making moves.

Going after race-long leader Sam Hafertepe, Jr. on a restart with nine laps to go, Bell's slide went unanswered as the Tucker-Boat Racing No. 84x pulled away to a 4.089 second lead at the checkered flag. Getting upside down during his qualifying run, Rico Abreu tore through the field from 14th to finish second with Sam Hafertepe, Jr. slipping to third. Kyle Larson made up four positions with C.J. Leary making up the top five.

With 77 drivers checking in for Warren CAT Qualifying Night, the weekend count stands at 134.

Nine Heat OERB Heat Races were won by Michael Faccinto, Kyle Larson, Jonathan Beason, Hank Davis, Hunter Schuerenberg, Larry Wight, Mike Hess, Tyler Thompson, and TJ Smith. D-Features went to Kenney Johnson and Austin Brown with C-Features topped by Kyle Hammer and Wyatt Burks. Dave.com B-Features went to Jake Bubak and Mitchel Moles. Team Toyota Qualifiers were captured by TJ Smith, Kyle Larson, Larry Wight, and Mike Hess.

The Worldwide Technologies Raceway Flip Counted swelled drastically from nine to 32 with all drivers able to walk away.

The 34th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire continues Wednesday, January 15 with Hard Rock Casino Hotel of Tulsa Qualifying Night. Hot Laps getting underway at 4:00 P.M. with racing at 5:00 P.M. (CT). General Admission Pit Passes never sell out and is sold at the event. Weekdays are $45 per day. Saturday is $60.

For continued updates on the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire, fans can follow along on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with @CBNationals. All official press, updates, and results on the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire can be found online at http://www.chilibowl.com.

Results:

Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire
Tulsa Expo Raceway - Tulsa, Okla.
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Warren CAT Qualifying Night

Car Count: 77
Event Count: 134

OERB Heat Races: Top 40 in passing points advance to Qualifiers.

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 08-Michael Faccinto[1]; 2. 5R-Roger Crockett[6]; 3. 07W-Mitchel Moles[2]; 4. 45H-Anthony Pope[4]; 5. 2B-Tyler Hewitt[3]; 6. 51-Curtis Jones[9]; 7. 0G-Gunner Ramey[7]; 8. 5B-Bobby Brewer[5]; 9. 11T-Larry Petersen[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 01-Kyle Larson[1]; 2. Q32-Peter Paulson[2]; 3. 84M-Alex DeCamp[8]; 4. 21M-Michelle Parson[7]; 5. 11C-Michael Woodruf[3]; 6. 71X-Presley Truedson[9]; 7. 2A-Matt Linder[5]; 8. 8X-Austin Shores[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 8J-Jonathan Beason[3]; 2. 15W-Jeff Wimmenauer[2]; 3. 55D-Nick Drake[9]; 4. 14F-Cameron Hagin[7]; 5. 31K-Kyle Beilman[6]; 6. 74M-Adam Pierson[8]; 7. 28Q-Sean Quinn[1]; 8. 46-Kenney Johnson[5]; 9. 22L-Lucas Scherb[4]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 42-Hank Davis[4]; 2. 71-Zeb Wise[6]; 3. 99P-Brandon Long[2]; 4. 91A-Chris Andrews[5]; 5. 87X-Nick O'Dell[3]; 6. 118-Scott Evans[7]; 7. 21H-Ty Hulsey[8]; 8. 20H-Noah Harris[9]; 9. 23P-Brad Wyatt[1]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 19A-Hunter Schuerenberg[3]; 2. 71G-Damion Gardner[5]; 3. 55X-Alex Bowman[4]; 4. 71T-Zac Taylor[2]; 5. 9U-Doug McCune[7]; 6. 7W-Brendon Wiseley[8]; 7. 17L-Rocky Silva[1]; 8. 23X-Travis Scott[6]; 9. (DNS) 98-Ryan Padgett

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 99-Larry Wight[1]; 2. 47-Alex Bright[2]; 3. 27B-Jake Bubak[8]; 4. 21F-Austin Langenstein[6]; 5. 5J-Jeff Crook[3]; 6. 45K-Kyle Hammer[5]; 7. 7K-Kaylee Bryson[4]; 8. 1J-James Reed[7]

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 51H-Mike Hess[1]; 2. 35C-Tanner Carrick[3]; 3. 17C-Jeremy Webb[8]; 4. 47M-Frankie Guerrini[7]; 5. 2BX-Brett Becker[5]; 6. 26-George Willard Jr[2]; 7. 00-Rob Yetman[4]; 8. 17A-Austin Brown[6]

Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 29-Tyler Thompson[6]; 2. 73B-Tyler Edwards[8]; 3. 9JR-Derek Hagar[5]; 4. 1K-Brayton Lynch[1]; 5. 2W-Wyatt Burks[3]; 6. 14R-Jake Nail[4]; 7. 73G-Avery Goodman[2]; 8. 75-Bryan Stanfill[7]

Heat 9 (8 Laps): 1. 11S-TJ Smith[1]; 2. 11K-Gage Rucker[3]; 3. 97W-Kaidon Brown[2]; 4. 81X-Dillon Welch[7]; 5. 7U-Kyle Jones[5]; 6. F5-Ray Allen Kulhanek[8]; 7. 17F-Devin Camfield[6]; 8. 44S-Brandon Akau[4]

D-Features: Top 4 advance to corresponding C-Feature.

D-Main 1 (10 Laps): 1. 46-Kenney Johnson[6]; 2. 23X-Travis Scott[4]; 3. 00-Rob Yetman[1]; 4. 22L-Lucas Scherb[8]; 5. 11T-Larry Petersen[7]; 6. 1J-James Reed[2]; 7. 28Q-Sean Quinn[3]; 8. 5B-Bobby Brewer[5]; 9. (DNS) 98-Ryan Padgett

D-Main 2 (10 Laps): 1. 17A-Austin Brown[2]; 2. 8X-Austin Shores[6]; 3. 17L-Rocky Silva[3]; 4. 2A-Matt Linder[5]; 5. 44S-Brandon Akau[4]; 6. 73G-Avery Goodman[1]; 7. (DNS) 75-Bryan Stanfill; 8. (DNS) 23P-Brad Wyatt

C-Features: Top 4 advance to corresponding B-Feature.

C-Main 1 (12 Laps): 1. 45K-Kyle Hammer[6]; 2. 118-Scott Evans[1]; 3. 2BX-Brett Becker[2]; 4. 11C-Michael Woodruf[4]; 5. 22L-Lucas Scherb[13]; 6. 23X-Travis Scott[12]; 7. 26-George Willard Jr[8]; 8. 17J-Jeremy Dockery[10]; 9. 17F-Devin Camfield[7]; 10. 46-Kenney Johnson[9]; 11. 5J-Jeff Crook[3]; 12. 00-Rob Yetman[11]; 13. 14R-Jake Nail[5]; 14. (DNS) 1K-Brayton Lynch

C-Main 2 (12 Laps): 1. 2W-Wyatt Burks[5]; 2. 7U-Kyle Jones[2]; 3. 2B-Tyler Hewitt[3]; 4. 51-Curtis Jones[7]; 5. 20H-Noah Harris[9]; 6. 7K-Kaylee Bryson[10]; 7. 17A-Austin Brown[11]; 8. 0G-Gunner Ramey[8]; 9. 21H-Ty Hulsey[6]; 10. 17L-Rocky Silva[13]; 11. 87X-Nick O'Dell[4]; 12. 9U-Doug McCune[1]; 13. 8X-Austin Shores[12]; 14. 2A-Matt Linder[14]

Team Toyota Qualifiers: Top 16 in combined passing points advance to the A-Feature.

Qualifier 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11S-TJ Smith[2]; 2. 08-Michael Faccinto[3]; 3. 17C-Jeremy Webb[4]; 4. 5R-Roger Crockett[5]; 5. 21M-Michelle Parson[1]; 6. 29-Tyler Thompson[6]; 7. 71T-Zac Taylor[10]; 8. 21F-Austin Langenstein[8]; 9. 91A-Chris Andrews[9]; 10. Q32-Peter Paulson[7]

Qualifier 2 (10 Laps): 1. 01-Kyle Larson[3]; 2. 8J-Jonathan Beason[4]; 3. 35C-Tanner Carrick[2]; 4. 71-Zeb Wise[5]; 5. 07W-Mitchel Moles[8]; 6. 73B-Tyler Edwards[6]; 7. 14F-Cameron Hagin[1]; 8. 71X-Presley Truedson[9]; 9. 15W-Jeff Wimmenauer[7]; 10. 74M-Adam Pierson[10]

Qualifier 3 (10 Laps): 1. 99-Larry Wight[3]; 2. 47M-Frankie Guerrini[1]; 3. 19A-Hunter Schuerenberg[4]; 4. 47-Alex Bright[7]; 5. 55D-Nick Drake[6]; 6. 84M-Alex DeCamp[5]; 7. 99P-Brandon Long[8]; 8. 7W-Brendon Wiseley[10]; 9. 11K-Gage Rucker[2]; 10. 45H-Anthony Pope[9]

Qualifier 4 (10 Laps): 1. 51H-Mike Hess[3]; 2. 81X-Dillon Welch[1]; 3. 9JR-Derek Hagar[2]; 4. 97W-Kaidon Brown[8]; 5. 27B-Jake Bubak[5]; 6. 71G-Damion Gardner[4]; 7. 42-Hank Davis[6]; 8. 55X-Alex Bowman[7]; 9. 31K-Kyle Beilman[9]; 10. F5-Ray Allen Kulhanek[10]

Dave.com B-Features: Top 4 advance to the A-Feature.

B-Main 1 (15 Laps): 1. 27B-Jake Bubak[1]; 2. 55X-Alex Bowman[7]; 3. 9JR-Derek Hagar[2]; 4. 97W-Kaidon Brown[3]; 5. 74M-Adam Pierson[10]; 6. 91A-Chris Andrews[8]; 7. 21M-Michelle Parson[5]; 8. 45K-Kyle Hammer[13]; 9. 15W-Jeff Wimmenauer[9]; 10. 2BX-Brett Becker[15]; 11. 99P-Brandon Long[4]; 12. 118-Scott Evans[12]; 13. 31K-Kyle Beilman[11]; 14. 71X-Presley Truedson[6]; 15. 11C-Michael Woodruf[14]; 16. (DNS) 42-Hank Davis

B-Main 2 (15 Laps): 1. 07W-Mitchel Moles[3]; 2. 71G-Damion Gardner[4]; 3. 2W-Wyatt Burks[13]; 4. 84M-Alex DeCamp[2]; 5. 14F-Cameron Hagin[6]; 6. 7U-Kyle Jones[12]; 7. 2B-Tyler Hewitt[15]; 8. Q32-Peter Paulson[10]; 9. 51-Curtis Jones[14]; 10. 45H-Anthony Pope[11]; 11. 71T-Zac Taylor[5]; 12. 21F-Austin Langenstein[7]; 13. 7W-Brendon Wiseley[8]; 14. 11K-Gage Rucker[9]; 15. 35C-Tanner Carrick[1]; 16. (DNS) F5-Ray Allen Kulhanek
VIROC

VIROC (20 Laps): 1. 84X-Christopher Bell[7]; 2. 97-Rico Abreu[14]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[1]; 4. 01-Kyle Larson[8]; 5. 55V-CJ Leary[3]; 6. 7C-Tyler Courtney[5]; 7. 4A-Justin Grant[2]; 8. 19-Tanner Thorson[9]; 9. 21-Daryn Pittman[10]; 10. 5D-Zach Daum[11]; 11. 19B-Spencer Bayston[16]; 12. 39-Logan Seavey[12]; 13. 87-Aaron Reutzel[13]; 14. 1R-Brad Sweet[6]; 15. 1-Sammy Swindell[15]; 16. 14-Jesse Colwell[17]; 17. 71G-Damion Gardner[4]

A-Feature: Top 2 advance to Saturday's A-Feature.

A-Main (30 Laps): 1. 01-Kyle Larson[2]; 2. 8J-Jonathan Beason[1]; 3. 08-Michael Faccinto[8]; 4. 81X-Dillon Welch[16]; 5. 99-Larry Wight[3]; 6. 11S-TJ Smith[5]; 7. 07W-Mitchel Moles[18]; 8. 9JR-Derek Hagar[21]; 9. 97W-Kaidon Brown[23]; 10. 55X-Alex Bowman[19]; 11. 5R-Roger Crockett[9]; 12. 47M-Frankie Guerrini[15]; 13. 73B-Tyler Edwards[13]; 14. 47-Alex Bright[14]; 15. 17C-Jeremy Webb[6]; 16. 19A-Hunter Schuerenberg[7]; 17. 2W-Wyatt Burks[22]; 18. 84M-Alex DeCamp[24]; 19. 27B-Jake Bubak[17]; 20. 55D-Nick Drake[11]; 21. 51H-Mike Hess[4]; 22. 29-Tyler Thompson[12]; 23. 71-Zeb Wise[10]; 24. 71G-Damion Gardner[20]

Lap Leader(s): Kyle Larson 1-30
Hard Charger: Kaidon Brown +14