A week of thrills resulted in numerous spills for the NASCAR national series stars in Tulsa, Okla., for the 2024 Chili Bowl Nationals.
Five NASCAR drivers, representing the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series, made a run at the famous Golden Driller Saturday (Jan. 13), with a sixth attempting to lock in a spot during a preliminary.
Kyle Larson stole headlines Tuesday (Jan. 9) evening when he announced intentions to try a dirt double. Already in Vado, N.M., for the Wild West Shootout, Larson claimed a Keith Kunz car for Thursday (Jan. 11) after making a phone call. In order to have a shot to complete both races, Larson needed to finish in the top two positions on Thursday to secure an A-main start for Saturday.
During his heat race, Larson made contact with another car and flipped. The car remained durable, though, and Larson finished the heat, relegated to the front row one of Thursday’s C-features.
Following in the footsteps of his 2015 Chili Bowl preliminary, Larson drove through the B-main to secure a spot in the Thursday main event.
A long green flag run to start the A-main left Larson running out of time, and then he went upside down again. This second somersault broke the front of Larson’s car, relegating the No. 98K to the E-main on Saturday and ending Larson’s Chili Bowl two days early.
“Hate that I tore up their equipment,” Larson said, “but I had a good time getting to race with Keith again. That was a lot of fun.”
Josh Bilicki took a tumble during his heat race on Friday (Jan. 12), setting him back into O-main early Saturday morning.
“I need more time in these cars” Bilicki said Friday night. “This is my eighth weekend on dirt. I’m really frustrated at this point in myself, but we’re at the Chili Bowl. It’s still cool to be here.”
Bilicki advanced into the P-main out of the first race on Saturday, but a narrow groove and yet another incident buried Bilicki at the back, ending his day.
JJ Yeley flipped in his heat race Thursday and joined his crew in making repairs to the car.
Yeley climbed through the field in his qualifier and drove his way into the G-main for the weekend. On Saturday, Yeley rocketed away and beat his competitors but could not overcome the lack of track position to advance further in the following…
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