For the second night in the row, the Tulsa, Ok. fans were treated to an absolute banger of a feature at the Chili Bowl Nationals.
But there was a difference on Tuesday night (Jan. 14). This time around, it was an underdog that stole a victory away from the top teams. With a seventh-to-first performance in the A-main, Landon Brooks secured his first Midget win at Tulsa Expo Raceway.
With the win, Brooks officially guaranteed his first start in Saturday’s A-main. The result was his first prelim night top-five, surprising the rest of the field. But the run did come with some help: Monday night runner-up Shane Golobic is the crew chief on Brooks’ race winning No. 57w and helped guide the young star to the win.
“After the heat race, I was kind of just going 50%” Brooks told Frontstretch afterward. “Sometimes I feel like I overdrive them and I don’t put consistent laps together. So after the heat race he [Golobic] said just hammer this thing, go do what you do and have fun. That’s pretty much what I did, and he gave me the racecar to be able to do it.
“It’s insane. When I passed the checkered flag I couldn’t believe it. We’ll go party tonight, celebrate and we’ll move on to tomorrow and hopefully lock another one in.”
Much like Monday’s battle between Golobic and Kyle Larson, the fight for the win came down to a series of late slide jobs. Brooks and Brenham Crouch traded the lead, with Brooks ultimately taking a thrilling victory in the end.
After spending much of the race mired in traffic, Brooks finally tracked down Crouch with four to go, completing the slider in turns 1 and 2 with three laps remaining in the 30-lapper.
A mistake on the cushion moments later nearly cost Brooks, but the 21-year old quickly recovered to fend off the return slider from Crouch. He then held off Crouch to the checkered flag to secure the victory.
Like Brooks, Crouch also locked in to his first career Saturday A-main, converting his first-ever prelim night top-15 into a podium lock-in spot.
“(I) led a lot of laps there and wasn’t really contested (early on),” Crouch told Frontstretch post-race. “Just kept doing what I was doing and Landon just picked my pocket. He raced me very smart.”
“It’s a really cool feeling,” he later added. “I can’t tell you the first time I came here, I don’t even think I remember it if I’m being…
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