Bryan Clauson, the 2014 Chili Bowl Nationals winner, led wire-to-wire to score the A-Feature victory in Friday’s qualifying race, advancing him to Saturday’s finals. Photo by Pat Grant
Picking up where he left off in 2014, Bryan Clauson led flag-to-flag in Friday’s Vacuworx Global Qualifying Night A-Feature event for the 29th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals at the Tulsa Expo Center in Tulsa, OK.
The only driver to lead start to finish in a preliminary A-Feature so far this week, the win is his third career preliminary night victory.
Asked what it would mean to win back-to-back Drillers, Clauson replied, “It would be huge. This place has been under an evil reign for a long time. I got to sit here next to Kevin (Swindell) last year and talk about how easy it is to win off the front row, and this and that. We are on the front row this year, and hopefully it’s as easy as he says. Hopefully we can make 55 good ones, and be sitting here again tomorrow.”
Working low on the start, Clauson soon jumped to the cushion to begin building his momentum. Racing from eighth, Chad Boat began working Daryn Pittman for third. Making the pass on lap 7, the pair gave chase as Dave Darland occupied the runner-up spot.
Finding the tail of the field on lap 12, Clauson began picking his way through slower cars, building a buffer between himself and Darland, who was losing his advantage over Boat and Pittman through traffic.
Swapping the third spot on the 18th lap, Boat returned the favor, and then made work of Darland for second on lap 20 with Pittman in tow. Challenged by Damion Gardner for fourth, Darland and Gardner tangled entering the first turn, forcing the race’s lone caution on lap 22.
With seven lapped cars in the lineup, Clauson took the green with no worries of being caught. Racing amongst slower cars, Daryn Pittman managed to work back around Chad Boat for second in the final two laps.
“I hadn’t run the bottom in 20 laps so I didn’t know what to expect when I went down there,” said Pittman of his pass for second. “I was just committed that I was going down there and try to make something happen.”
Chad Boat held on to punch the week’s final ticket into Saturday’s A-Feature.
“You’ve got to pass everyone you can and our goal was to get up where Bryan was. It probably wasn’t realistic, but I think we are all pretty pleased here.”
Racing from the night’s second B-Feature, Tanner Thorson tore a path from 18th to fourth. California’s Darren Hagen rounded out the top five.
Starting 17th, Tim McCreadie came up to sixth with Shane Cottle seventh, Ronnie Gardner eight, Cory Kruseman ninth, and Damion Gardner 10th after the tangle with Darland.
Friday saw 78 drivers drawing in, bringing the weekend’s official count to 326, making the 29th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals presented by General Tire the highest attended event in the history of the Chili Bowl.
Of the final 78 that made the call for Friday’s event, eight ended up adding their name to the flip count, which stands at 41. Thankfully, all drivers have walked away.
Action concludes on Saturday. For more information, visit ChiliBowl.com.
Chili Bowl Nationals
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Vacuworx Global Qualifier – Jan. 16, 2015
A-Feature
1. 63-Bryan Clauson
2. 21-Daryn Pittman
3. 15X-Chad Boat
4. 67-Tanner Thorson
5. 7A-Darren Hagen
6. 47X-Tim McCreadie
7. 3-Shane Cottle
8. 68-Ronnie Gardner
9. 21K-Cory Kruseman
10. 71L-Damion Gardner
11. 1JR-Stevie Sussex III
12. 17RW-Dave Darland
13. 4J-Tim Crawley
14. 17K-Alex Schutte
15. 37F-Hunter Schuerenberg
16. 57D-Daniel Robinson
17. 9D-Sean Dodenhoff
18. 51F-Mike Spencer
19. 85H-Shane Hollingsworth
20. 41-Jason Johnson
21. 82H-Mike Hess
22. 17J-Chase Johnson
23. 24X-Landon Simon
24. 35X-Frank Flud
Top 3 advance to Saturday’s A-Feature
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