Cannon McIntosh scored the opening night win at the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals on Monday night at the Tulsa Expo Raceway. Photo: DBIII
Fending off the field is one thing, but doing so with a failing right rear tire made Cannon McIntosh’s win during Monday’s Cummins Qualifying Night even sweeter at the 37th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals Oklahoma’s Tulsa Expo Raceway.
“That yellow coming out, I didn’t know if it was a good or bad thing, not knowing how many laps were left, but I had zero confidence going into the restart,” McIntosh said. “I could hear the right rear just rolling over in the corner, and I could feel it every caution lap we rolled, but thankfully there were only three to go.”
“I knew these guys would be coming pretty quick there, and obviously, the top got pretty quick, so I was just worried when I moved back down that they were going to get a run, but I think the right rear going down didn’t hurt me more than just how good the top was going to be at the end.”
It marked McIntosh’s third preliminary night win in five years, all of which have been on Monday. The Bixby, Oklahoma native led from start to finish, but not without pressure, as Chris Windom spent the race stalking McIntosh.
Keeping Windom at bay through the start, Cannon had to fend off the challenge through restarts on lap 4 and lap 7, all while Windom was under attack from Ryan Timms. Getting clear of Timms on a restart, Shane Golobic began working his way into the picture.
Varying lines were used at both ends of the Tulsa Expo Raceway until lap 20, when traffic came into play. That forced McIntosh to move to the cushion while occasionally dipping down to the hub when the path cleared. Letting Windom begin closing an over two-second gap that would go to nothing when the caution waved on lap 28.
Changing his tactics on the restart, Windom tried to slingshot the first two turns but would not get the pass. Nursing the car through the final green flag run, McIntosh still managed to take the win with a 0.454-second advantage over the race for second, which saw Shane Golobic steal second by 0.099-seconds. He and McIntosh earned the transfer spots into Saturday’s A-Feature.
Windom came home in third, followed by Trey Marcham in fourth, and NASCAR Cup Series ace Chase Briscoe in fifth.
Gavan Boschele, Ryan Timms, Kyle Spence, Jacob Denny, and Daniel Adler rounded out the top 10.
Monday’s action also included the O’Reilly Auto Parts Invitational Race of Champions. Spencer Bayston added his name to the list of winners in the event’s 15th edition.
Bayston came out on top of an early battle with Rico Abreu before coming under fire from McIntosh over the final three laps. Cannon made a hard charge on the final lap, but it was Bayston winning the drag race to the finish line to take the win.
Abreu crossed the line in third, with Logan Seavey in fourth and Tanner Thorson in fifth.
Action continues in the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals on Tuesday with Warren CAT Qualifying Night. For more information, visit ChiliBowl.com.
Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals
Tulsa Expo Raceway – Tulsa, OK
Cummins Qualifying Night – January 9, 2023
1. 08-Cannon McIntosh*
2. 17W-Shane Golobic*
3. 89-Chris Windom
4. 32T-Trey Marcham
5. 5-Chase Briscoe
6. 5G-Gavan Boschele
7. 67-Ryan Timms
8. 67X-Kyle Spence
9. 25-Jacob Denney
10. 50-Daniel Adler
11. 40S-Steven Snyder, Jr.
12. 73B-Tyler Edwards
13. 81-Tanner Holmes
14. 03-Ayrton Gennetten
15. 41X-Howard Moore
16. 2H-Nick Hoffman
17. 8-Alex Sewell
18. 0H-Cap Henry
19. 97K-Tom Harris
20. 69P-Joey Paxson
21. 22-Sean McClelland
22. 85-Jerry Coons Jr-DNF
23. 7T-T.J. Smith-DNF
24. 32-Gary Taylor-DNF
*Top 2 advance to Saturday’s A-Feature
Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals
Tulsa Expo Raceway – Tulsa, OK
O’Reilly Auto Parts Race of Champions – January 9, 2023
1. 1S-Spencer Bayston
2. 08-Cannon McIntosh
3. 24-Rico Abreu
4. 39-Logan Seavey
5. 88-Tanner Thorson
6. 5-Chase Briscoe
7. 71W-Michael Kofoid
8. 52-Blake Hahn
9. 2J-Justin Grant
10. 4P-Kody Swanson
11. 4X-Michael Pickens
12. 55X-Alex Bowman
13. 39T-Tim McCreadie
14. 98-Tanner Carrick
15. 47-Zach Daum
16. 97-Brenham Crouch
17. 7M-Shane Cockrum
18. 1-Sammy Swindell
19. 71G-Damion Gardner-DNF
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