Normally, Christopher Bell takes his Chili Bowl Nationals prelim victory home with ease, but he had to work for it on Thursday night.
Making the winning pass with just four laps to go, Bell narrowly got the job done – earning his seventh straight prelim night victory at the indoor event in Tulsa.
“First off, I gotta say damn, I love the Chili Bowl,” Bell said on the FloRacing broadcast. “I hope you guys enjoyed that one. Whenever they put their (trackwork) in, I struggled to get going early… I had to work for that one.”
Bell took home the win for Keith Kunz Motorsports – the team’s fourth-straight prelim night victory on the week.
And… they’ve got four more drivers running on Friday night to cap it off.
“They took a chance on me when I was a kid trying to prove myself in this sport,” Bell said of the team. “Hats off to the track crew, too. I think you guys are in for a good one on Saturday.”
Bell’s win is his seventh consecutive prelim night victory and eighth of his career.
It ties the mark set by Sammy Swindell while Bell has a plentiful amount of years ahead of him.
“That’s crazy,” Bell said. “I remember coming here when I was five or six years old, sitting on the frontstretch watching Sammy win all those races. The Chili Bowl – it’s home man.”
Tanner Thorson came up in the runner-up spot and will head to the A-Main on Saturday with Bell.
While 13-year old Brent Crews had a tire issue derail his race, he managed a P20 finish and will race in the D-Main on Saturday.
The final prelim night of the Chili Bowl is scheduled to get started at 4:00 p.m. CT with hot laps on Friday. As always, fans can tune into the action on FloRacing.
Chili Bowl Nationals Thursday Night Prelim Results
1. Christopher Bell
2. Tanner Thorson
3. CJ Leary
4. Tim Buckwalter
5. Shane Golobic
6. Brady Bacon
7. Dillon Welch
8. Matt Sherrell
9. Emerson Axsom
10. Don Droud Jr.
11. Shane Cottle
12. Spencer Bayston
13. Steve Buckwalter
14. Joe B. Miller
15. Mitchell Davis
16. Frankie Guerrini
17. Danny Stratton
18. Andrew Deal
19. Damion Gardner
20. Brent Crews
21. Stevie Sussex
22. Brody Fuson
23. Maria Cofer
24. Whit Gastineau
