Winnin’ On Tulsa Time: Kevin Swindell and his team celebrate in victory lane after Swindell scored his fourth straight Chili Bowl Nationals victory Saturday night at Tulsa Expo Raceway. Photo by Joe Orth
It took 25 years for a driver to win back to back Lucas Oil Chili Bowl National titles at the Tulsa Expo Raceway in Tulsa, OK. Ever since then, that same name has stood atop the podium without fail as Kevin Swindell continued his family’s Chili Bowl dynasty this past Saturday night with his fourth Golden Driller in as many years. With the victory, the combined Swindell total stands at nine.
Drawing the number two pill Friday night for the winner’s redraw, Kevin positioned his US Fleet Tracking No. 39 alongside Sammy’s Spike No. 1 for an all Swindell front row.
Following a complete restart, Kevin paced where he started before surrounding the runner up spot to Kyle Larson just prior to the caution involving a half dozen drivers including Tony Stewart, Billy Wease, Bryan Clauson, Jac Haudenschild, Jerry Coons, Jr., and Jonathan Beason.
Single file past the cone, the caution again blinked on as Brady Bacon’s night ended upside down on the front straight. The elder Swindell paced the field to the restart with Larson keeping within three car lengths as the pair worked the inside berm before Sammy began building his advantage.
Working the cushion around the Tulsa Expo Raceway, the John Christner Trucking No. 39 worked back into contention for the runner up spot. Running inches apart, Swindell and Larson traded the runner up spot several times with Larson holding the advantage every time the pair crossed the line.
Slowing on lap 10 for the spun No. 71k of Jason Meyers, the restart yielded a three way battle for the race lead as Larson led for the first time on lap 13, swapping slide jobs at either end of the Tulsa Expo Raceway first with Sammy, then with Kevin as the trio went three wide with Larson holding the point as Kevin Swindell took over second. For the next five laps, the pair brought the sold out crowd to attention; screaming over the sound of the cars with the pair putting on a display of haymaker style slide-jobs that ended when Larson spun to a stop exiting turn four on lap 18.
“That was fun” said Kevin of the battle. “We’ve been friends a long time and we’ve raced a lot of sim racing and battled it out but I don’t think we’ve ever got to race, you know, real race and battle it out like that. We both have a lot of respect for each other so I think it showed that we were at least clearing each other. ”
With the lead in hand, Kevin Swindell pulled to a 3.367 second advantage before running down slower traffic on lap 30 as Kyle Larson’s night ends with his second caution. Larson received a standing ovation for his earlier performance as he exited the track.
Giving the field a chance to catch up, Sammy would find all roads blocked as the groove narrowed around the bottom.
Racing again to the back of the field, Kevin had to wait for a line to open up; allowing Sammy to move in as the white flag was displayed. Trying to make the middle groove work, Kevin would fly the front end after contact sent the field scrambling, opening up the potential for a bottom side pass.
Asked about the nearly catastrophic turn of events, Kevin replied, “I tried to just get in line behind Jason (Meyers) and I think he had just kind of given up and he went in there real slow and I couldn’t even get slowed up that much and hopped over his right rear and the first nose I saw as black and all I thought was, well, there he goes.”
With both Swindell’s able to keep rolling, the restart saw Kevin Swindell capping off a perfect week having won every race he entered with Sammy Swindell earned the runner up spot for the third year in a row.
Questioned about his son’s now fourth consecutive title, Sammy replied jokingly, “Yeah but I’m the one putting the cars together.” Continuing, the five time champion called the accomplishment remarkable considering it’s been both cars up front for the past five years now.
Brad Sweet, after challenging earlier for the runner up spot, settled for fourth with Dave Darland climbing from eleventh to complete the top five.
Jerry Coons, Jr. advanced eight spots to finish sixth with Shane Golobic coming from sixteenth to seventh. Bryan Clauson improved a dozen spots to eighth with Billy Wease posting his best A-Feature finish of ninth while earning the Hard Charger of the Race, coming from his twenty-second starting spot. Cory Kruseman round out the drivers in the top ten.
Qualifying features began with Trey Starks and Danny Smith each winning in the K-Features. Kip Hughes and Shane Cockrum grabbed J-Feature wins with Riley Emmel and Bobby Michnowicz taking I-Features.
Tyler Robbins and Blake Edwards were victors in the H-Features which saw Mike Goodman’s string of advanced come to a close at four after tangling with another driver. Travis Berryhill and Cody Ledger picked up the G-Features as Blake Hahn and C.J. Leary topped the F-Features.
E-Feature wins belonged to Joey Moughan and Jesse Frazier with Josh Lakatos and A.J. Fike winning the D-Features.
This blue pill has not been extensively studied for use during pregnancy. This way this drug is different from its other competitors and has achieved such a prestigious levitra generika place in the Czech Republic. But it is primarily focused on the chronic back pain and the pain is in the extremities, then it’s high time for you to schedule an appointment with an expert chiropractor Vista CA has to offer. My patients are not at all afraid or apprehensive about using these products because they have no additives or chemicals which may cause further skin irritation.
Following opening ceremonies, C-Features wins went to Bobby East and Alex Schutte while the B-Features saw Gary Taylor and Jerry Coons, Jr. race into the night’s A-Feature.
Of the 48 rookies at the 2013 Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire, California’s D.J. Netto earned the highest finish of any as the only Rookie to qualify for a B-Feature finishing seventeenth after spinning early on.
In all 268 competitors from 32 states including Canada, Australia, and Finland competed in the 2013 Chili Bowl. For more information regarding the Chili Bowl, log onto www.chilibowl.com.
Chili Bowl Nationals
Tulsa Expo Raceway – Tulsa, OK
Lucas Oil Championship A-Feature – Jan. 12, 2013
1. 39-Kevin Swindell
2. 1-Sammy Swindell
3. 67X-Brad Sweet
4. 47X-Tim McCreadie
5. 3DD-Dave Darland
6. 63-Jerry Coons Jr
7. 11-Shane Golobic
8. 39B-Bryan Clauson
9. 38-Billy Wease
10. 21K-Cory Kruseman
11. 81-Markus Niemela
12. 71K-Jason Meyers
13. 8J-Jonathan Beason
14. 10-Brad Kuhn
15. 14-Tony Stewart
16. 71X-Jac Haudenschild
17. 05T-Gary Taylor
18. 47-Damion Gardner
19. 1ST-J.J. Yeley
DNF 11A-Andrew Felker
DNF 71-Kyle Larson
DNF 99-Brady Bacon
DNF 15X-Chad Boat
DNF 51S-Mike Spencer
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.