For the second straight year at the Chili Bowl Nationals, the Monday Night Preliminary feature belongs to Cannon McIntosh and Keith Kunz Motorsports.
The 18-year-old up-and-coming racer was able to earn a front-row spot for the 30-lap main event and never looked back after passing Ryan Bernal for the lead in the opening laps.
“The car got a lot better throughout the night,” McIntosh said after the race in an interview with FloRacing. “We weren’t the best earlier today throughout practice. We just made some adjustments and talked together about what we thought we could do to make the car better. These guys do a good job and it shows.”
McIntosh is part of the 10-car contingent that Keith Kunz Motorsports brought to the Chili Bowl.
It was the most cars of any team that entered the over-300 car field.
“I didn’t really think I was going to be able to do it again, but you’ve just got to believe,” McIntosh said on the broadcast. “As the night was going on, I just believed more and more that I could do it. I told myself to be patient and consistent, and that’s what it took to win tonight.”
McIntosh held off Tyler Courtney for the win, but both drivers will lock into Saturday night’s main event for the Chili Bowl Nationals.
Courtney, the 2019 USAC Midget champion, will be turning his efforts towards winged sprint car racing this season, but he wants to start the year off well as much as anybody.
“I should have just stayed up on top (in the closing laps),” Courtney said on the Flo broadcast. “But, hindsight is 20:20. We’re in the show, and 55 laps is a long time.”
Blake Hahn rounded out the podium after starting all the way back in P12. He was on the move as much as anyone in the feature race, if you don’t count 2006 champion Tim McCreadie.
McCreadie chugged his way all the way to the Feature on Monday after having to start the C-Main.
He made his way all the way through one of the twin-B Features and started P19 before salvaging a P8 finish.
He’ll join the World of Outlaws’ David Gravel, NASCAR’s Chase Briscoe and 2020 USAC Midget champion Chris Windom in the B-Mains on Saturday.
Carson Macedo was racing alongside and in between the group of big-name drivers, but was relegated to the C-Main group after making a mistake and nearly tagging the wall.
Jerry Coons Jr. also came up from the C-Main, but got in an accident and did not finish Monday’s prelim night.
The 2021 Chili Bowl continues on Tuesday evening in Tulsa, with the action kicking off with hot laps – which are an hour earlier, at 4:00 p.m. CT on FloRacing.
Monday Night Feature Results
1. Cannon McIntosh
2. Tyler Courtney
3. Blake Hahn
4. Chris Windom
5. David Gravel
6. Jacob Denny
7. Chase Briscoe
8. Tim McCreadie
9. Trey Marcham
10. Carson Macedo
11. Alex Sewell
12. Gary Taylor
13. Stephen Schnapf
14. Kory Schudy
15. Roger Crockett
16. CJ Leary
17. Steven Russell
18. Kade Morton
19. Riley Kreisel
20. Mitchel Moles
21. Clinton Boyles
22. Jerry Coons Jr
23. Ryan Bernal
24. Kevin Bayer
Locked In
Below we will continue to update the drivers who are locked in to each of the final five feature races on Saturday night in Tulsa – determined by their respective finishing positions in their preliminary nights.
Saturday’s Chili Bowl A-Main (Prelim Top 2 Finishers)
– Cannon McIntosh
– Tyler Courtney
B-Mains (Prelim P3-P8 Finishers)
– Blake Hahn
– Chris Windom
– David Gravel
– Jacob Denny
– Chase Briscoe
– Tim McCreadie
C-Main (Prelim P9-P14 Finishers)
– Trey Marcham
– Carson Macedo
– Alex Sewell
– Gary Taylor
– Stephen Schnapf
– Kory Schudy
D-Main (Prelim P15-P20 Finishers)
– Roger Crockett
– CJ Leary
– Steven Russell
– Kade Morton
– Riley Kreisel
– Mitchel Moles
E-Main (Prelim P21-P24 Finishers)
– Clinton Boyles
– Jerry Coons Jr
– Ryan Bernal
– Kevin Bayer
