In one of the most chaos-filled VIROC’s Tulsa has seen in a number of years, it came down to a pair of Golden Driller contenders at the end of the 25-lap race of champions.
Justin Grant was able to ride the cushion and hold off the two-time, reigning Chili Bowl Nationals champion in Kyle Larson.
“It’s definitely a good test for us,” Grant said on FloRacing after securing the win. “We’ve changed a lot setup-wise, just trying to get better at the end of these long runs.”
The finish came down to the closing seconds, with Larson throwing a number of sliders and coming off empty-handed.
The finish to tonight's Chili Bowl Race of Champions.
Just Grant wins the 2022 VIROC over Kyle Larson. #ChiliBowl2022
🎥 @FloRacingpic.twitter.com/c47nxwMbKG
— Always Race Day (@AlwaysRaceDay) January 11, 2022
“I should have went back to the top in (turns) three and four coming to two-to-go and I would have had a better run I think to make a move,” Larson said on the broadcast. “I’m really happy with my car. It’s a night-and-day different feeling from where I was earlier in the night. I’m definitely happy. I feel like I have a car I can win with, now. We’ll keep tweaking on it and we’ll keep getting better.”
That quote from Larson should alarm his competitors, especially after the race of champions turned into a race of recent top tier names from the Chili Bowl main events.
USAC Midget champion Buddy Kofoid was taken out earlier in the night by a lapped car in longtimer Sammy Swindell. A few laps later, the race saw Logan Seavey bring out the yellow from the runner-up spot.
The field shuffled around and it left Grant to hold off his comptetition.
“They really weren’t that much fun,” Grant said of the laps he was running. “I felt like we were taking on water there and then I lost my entry grip and I went to try and figure out how to keep some speed going. We’ve got to get through our qualifier still, so we’ve got a lot of work in front of us.”
At the very least, Grant will be guaranteed a spot in Saturday’s main event, a provisional he receives due to his win tonight. If something goes wrong on his qualifying night, he’ll use it, but Grant will run on Friday.
Fans wanting to tune into the action can go to FloRacing, where they can see each race leading up to Saturday’s top features – which will be shown on MAV TV.
2022 Chili Bowl VIROC Results
1. Justin Grant
2. Kyle Larson
3. Christopher Bell
4. Tanner Thorson
5. Blake Hahn
6. Rico Abreu
7. Tyler Courtney
8. Spencer Bayston
9. Chase Elliott
10. Bryant Wiedeman
11. Brad Sweet
12. Tim McCreadie
13. Daryn Pittman
14. Brady Bacon
15. Sammy Swindell
16. Logan Seavey
17. Cannon McIntosh
18. Buddy Kofoid
