By T.J. Buffenbarger
TULSA, Okla. (January 9, 2023) — For the third time in the past four years Cannon McIntosh opened the 37th Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire by winning the opening night preliminary feature at the Tulsa Expo Raceway age the SageNet Center.
McIntosh’s victory was dramatic as his right rear tire began to lose air in the closing moments of the main event when a caution flag appeared with two laps to go. McIntosh, a resident of Bixby, Oklahoma, was able to overcome the right rear going down to score the victory in front of his home state crowd.
“About six or seven laps to go the right rear started to go flat,” said McIntosh. “I could feel it and couldn’t run it on the curb, it would just throw the nose and I knew something was wrong. I could almost hear it under caution and rolling by on the screen it looked fine but then towards the end right before it went green, I could really tell it was going down, so just move back to the bottom I knew I wasn’t going be able to run the curb.”
Shane Golobic drove up from fifth starting spot to get by Chris Windom during the final restart to take the second and final lock in position for Saturday’s finale.
McIntosh and Trey Marcham started on the front row for the 30-lap main event with McIntosh driving away during the early stages of the event. Windom moved by Marcham for second trying to keep pace with McIntosh while Ryan Timms followed Windom up into the third spot.
Veteran driver Jerry Coons Jr. made his presence felt throughout the feature moving into the top five on lap four just before the first caution flag of the event appeared for Gary Taylor’s car backwards in turn four. Front end issues forced Taylor to retire from the event.
McIntosh pulled away during the restart while Windom and Timms diced for the second position. During the restart Golobic jumped to the top of the racetrack after dropping back at the start and drove around Coons for fourth and started his move towards the front.
On lap eight Tanner Holmes got upside down between turns three and four and collected Tom Harris and Shawn McClelland, and T.J. Smith. Everyone but Smith was able to continue with Holmes team doing a significant amount of repair in the work area to be able to continue.
McIntosh pulled away from Windom during the restart while Golobic continued his charge dropping Timms and Coons back a spot and set out after the lead duo.
As the leaders were overtaking slower traffic McIntosh’s right rear tire began to lose air. At the same time Coons’ feel-good run came to an end as he slowed to bring out the caution flag.
McIntosh was able to keep enough air in his tire during the caution laps to maintain the lead during the restart with just three laps to go.
McIntosh went to the bottom of the racetrack to protect the lead and was able to hold on over the final three laps for the victory. Windom and Golobic battled for the second position exchanging slide jobs for the position over the final two laps before Golobic used the bottom of the racetrack to edge Windom for the position on the final lap. Marcham and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top five.
McIntosh brought his car to a stop in front of the Top Row Rowdies section in turn three to salute some of the people he watched the Chili Bowl with while growing up.
“That rowdy section is my family,” said McIntosh. “I grew up watching the Chili Bowl just in that section as a kid and just to be able to see all those guys and gals jumping up and down for me that it was an amazing feeling. I figured I might as well jump up in front of K on the cage in front of them I never had before, so it was cool to do that for them.”
Golobic was happen at the end to be locked into Saturday’s finale without having to run one of the alphabet mains.
“I just kind of benefited from (Windom) trying to do something special to win the race,” said Golobic. “That’s what we’re all here for. (Windom) saw just like I did that (McIntosh) had right rear going down, he knew exactly where Cannon was going. We all did and (Windom) sold out to try and win the race. It just opened the door for me to be able to on the bottom and behind Cannon and hope he made a mistake. When it comes off for your battling for that second login spot, it’s kind of no rules, and I kind of just let it float to the fence and (Windom) crossed me back. I felt like he was close to getting that spot back, but gotta go for it to get that lock in spot.”
Windom was disappointed coming within a lap of securing a transfer position and ended up coming up one position short but did so going for the victory at the end while still securing a position in the front of one of the two B-Mains on Saturday.
“I’m a little frustrated with it but at the same time I wasn’t just going follow Cannon around the bottom. I got a good start, and I went to the top of four on the restart and had a big run on (McIntosh) but it’s just so hard to hear when the when the tracks to the fence like that it takes two three laps to get your momentum going. Then (Golobic) started poking his nose in there and you know coming up in front of me down the straightaway so that was killing everything I had. I felt like I was catching Cannon the last five or so laps and the restart thought was going help, ended up not helping. Frustrating, but I’m not that mad about it because I didn’t want to sit there and follow him.”
37th Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals
Cummins Qualifying Night
Tulsa Expo Raceway / SageNet Center
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Monday, January 9, 2023
OERB Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 08-Cannon McIntosh[4]
2. 32T-Trey Marcham[6]
3. 41X-Howard Moore[7]
4. 2W-Tony Bruce Jr[8]
5. 4K-Kayla Roell[1]
6. 17M-Jeremy Schnepper[9]
7. 7K-Kolton Gariss[3]
8. 15G-Dennie Gieber[2]
9. 8L-Colin Deming[5]
OERB Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 8-Alex Sewell[3]
2. 97K-Tom Harris[5]
3. 5F-Danny Frye III[1]
4. 91K-Kevin Bayer[8]
5. 50T-Keoni Texeira[2]
6. P1-Paul White[7]
7. 45K-Kyler Johnson[6]
8. 80H-Joshua Hanna[9]
9. 9-Xavier Doney[4]
OERB Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 85-Jerry Coons Jr[1]
2. 5-Chase Briscoe[3]
3. 50-Daniel Adler[4]
4. 03-Ayrton Gennetten[6]
5. 28K-Kory Schudy[8]
6. 45J-Jerry Brey[2]
7. 36K-Kris Carroll[5]
8. 7R-Casey Burkham[7]
OERB Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 67-Ryan Timms[1]
2. 5G-Gavan Boschele[5]
3. 16W-Garet Williamson[7]
4. 8X-Broc Elliott[6]
5. 21E-Emilio Hoover[8]
6. 28Q-Sean Quinn[4]
7. 12X-Steven Snawder[2]
8. 18K-Billy Rayburn[3]
OERB Heat Race #5 (8 Laps)
1. 81-Tanner Holmes[1]
2. 89-Chris Windom[6]
3. 40S-Steven Snyder Jr[5]
4. 9B-Brian Schwabauer[2]
5. 18N-Weston Gorham[3]
6. 36C-Ian Creager[7]
7. 76-Michael Smith[8]
8. 7F-Roy Entze II[4]
OERB Heat Race #6 (8 Laps)
1. 25-Jacob Denney[2]
2. 73B-Tyler Edwards[7]
3. 0H-Cap Henry[8]
4. 6-Bill Rose[4]
5. 47K-Kevin Brewer[5]
6. 15K-Gage Rucker[1]
7. 3V-Jim Vanzant[6]
DNS: 42K-Kevin Battefeld
OERB Heat Race #7 (8 Laps)
1. 17W-Shane Golobic[1]
2. 67X-Kyle Spence[3]
3. 2H-Nick Hoffman[4]
4. 18L-Logan Scherb[2]
5. 69P-Joey Paxson[8]
6. 40U-Jace Sparks[7]
7. 8D-Colby Deming[6]
8. B1-Aaron Sanders[5]
OERB Heat Race #8 (8 Laps)
1. 32-Gary Taylor[1]
2. 22-Sean McClelland[2]
3. 7T-TJ Smith[3]
4. 86C-David Camfield Sr[6]
5. 31X-Jeff Champagne[4]
6. 44C-Blake Carrier[5]
7. 116-Claud Estes III[7]
8. 51C-Logan Calderwood[8]
C-Main #1 (12 Laps)
1. 18N-Weston Gorham[1]
2. 28Q-Sean Quinn[4]
3. 9-Xavier Doney[11]
4. 8D-Colby Deming[5]
5. 45K-Kyler Johnson[6]
6. 116-Claud Estes III[3]
7. 51C-Logan Calderwood[7]
8. 7F-Roy Entze II[9]
9. 15G-Dennie Gieber[12]
10. 7R-Casey Burkham[10]
11. 50T-Keoni Texeira[2]
12. 36K-Kris Carroll[8]
DNS: 44C-Blake Carrier
C-Main #2 (12 Laps)
1. 47K-Kevin Brewer[1]
2. 3V-Jim Vanzant[6]
3. 7K-Kolton Gariss[8]
4. 76-Michael Smith[3]
5. 12X-Steven Snawder[9]
6. B1-Aaron Sanders[10]
7. 45J-Jerry Brey[4]
8. 8L-Colin Deming[12]
9. 4K-Kayla Roell[2]
10. 15K-Gage Rucker[5]
11. 80H-Joshua Hanna[7]
12. 18K-Billy Rayburn[11]
DNS: 42K-Kevin Battefeld
Team Toyota Qualifier #1 (10 Laps)
1. 67-Ryan Timms[3]
2. 40S-Steven Snyder Jr[1]
3. 08-Cannon McIntosh[6]
4. 97K-Tom Harris[5]
5. 2W-Tony Bruce Jr[2]
6. 16W-Garet Williamson[4]
7. 31X-Jeff Champagne[10]
8. 03-Ayrton Gennetten[7]
9. 21E-Emilio Hoover[8]
10. 17M-Jeremy Schnepper[9]
Team Toyota Qualifier #2 (10 Laps)
1. 22-Sean McClelland[1]
2. 81-Tanner Holmes[3]
3. 32T-Trey Marcham[6]
4. 5G-Gavan Boschele[5]
5. 91K-Kevin Bayer[2]
6. 0H-Cap Henry[4]
7. 69P-Joey Paxson[8]
8. P1-Paul White[10]
9. 6-Bill Rose[9]
10. 8X-Broc Elliott[7]
Team Toyota Qualifier #3 (10 Laps)
1. 17W-Shane Golobic[3]
2. 5-Chase Briscoe[2]
3. 89-Chris Windom[6]
4. 7T-TJ Smith[8]
5. 73B-Tyler Edwards[5]
6. 25-Jacob Denney[4]
7. 50-Daniel Adler[1]
8. 86C-David Camfield Sr[7]
9. 36C-Ian Creager[10]
10. 9B-Brian Schwabauer[9]
Team Toyota Qualifier #4 (10 Laps)
1. 67X-Kyle Spence[2]
2. 85-Jerry Coons Jr[4]
3. 2H-Nick Hoffman[1]
4. 32-Gary Taylor[3]
5. 28K-Kory Schudy[7]
6. 8-Alex Sewell[6]
7. 41X-Howard Moore[5]
8. 18L-Logan Scherb[9]
9. 5F-Danny Frye III[8]
10. 40U-Jace Sparks[10]
Davecom B-Main #1 (15 Laps)
1. 8-Alex Sewell[1]
2. 0H-Cap Henry[3]
3. 03-Ayrton Gennetten[7]
4. 41X-Howard Moore[5]
5. 2W-Tony Bruce Jr[4]
6. 31X-Jeff Champagne[6]
7. 18L-Logan Scherb[8]
8. 28Q-Sean Quinn[14]
9. 21E-Emilio Hoover[9]
10. 8D-Colby Deming[16]
11. 28K-Kory Schudy[2]
12. 9-Xavier Doney[15]
13. 9B-Brian Schwabauer[12]
14. 6-Bill Rose[10]
15. 18N-Weston Gorham[13]
16. 36C-Ian Creager[11]
Davecom B-Main #2 (15 Laps)
1. 2H-Nick Hoffman[1]
2. 25-Jacob Denney[3]
3. 50-Daniel Adler[6]
4. 69P-Joey Paxson[5]
5. P1-Paul White[8]
6. 16W-Garet Williamson[2]
7. 8X-Broc Elliott[10]
8. 91K-Kevin Bayer[4]
9. 86C-David Camfield Sr[7]
10. 40U-Jace Sparks[12]
11. 5F-Danny Frye III[9]
12. 76-Michael Smith[16]
13. 47K-Kevin Brewer[13]
14. 3V-Jim Vanzant[14]
15. 17M-Jeremy Schnepper[11]
16. 7K-Kolton Gariss[15]
Cummins A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 08-Cannon McIntosh[1]
2. 17W-Shane Golobic[5]
3. 89-Chris Windom[3]
4. 32T-Trey Marcham[2]
5. 5-Chase Briscoe[12]
6. 5G-Gavan Boschele[11]
7. 67-Ryan Timms[4]
8. 67X-Kyle Spence[6]
9. 25-Jacob Denney[20]
10. 50-Daniel Adler[22]
11. 40S-Steven Snyder Jr[13]
12. 73B-Tyler Edwards[15]
13. 81-Tanner Holmes[8]
14. 03-Ayrton Gennetten[21]
15. 41X-Howard Moore[23]
16. 2H-Nick Hoffman[18]
17. 8-Alex Sewell[17]
18. 0H-Cap Henry[19]
19. 97K-Tom Harris[10]
20. 69P-Joey Paxson[24]
21. 22-Sean McClelland[9]
22. 85-Jerry Coons Jr[7]
23. 7T-TJ Smith[14]
24. 32-Gary Taylor[16]
OReilly Auto Parts Race of Champions Qualifying
1. 71W-Michael Kofoid, 11.349[4]
2. 39-Logan Seavey, 11.375[18]
3. 08-Cannon McIntosh, 11.438[7]
4. 1S-Spencer Bayston, 11.482[8]
5. 88-Tanner Thorson, 11.494[16]
6. 4X-Michael Pickens, 11.552[13]
7. 2J-Justin Grant, 11.604[9]
8. 24-Rico Abreu, 11.635[3]
9. 5-Chase Briscoe, 11.674[11]
10. 52-Blake Hahn, 11.801[10]
11. 98-Tanner Carrick, 11.824[15]
12. 55X-Alex Bowman, 11.830[19]
13. 71G-Damion Gardner, 11.841[6]
14. 4P-Kody Swanson, 11.848[5]
15. 97-Brenham Crouch, 11.857[17]
16. 7M-Shane Cockrum, 11.953[1]
17. 1-Sammy Swindell, 12.089[12]
18. 39T-Tim McCreadie, 12.150[2]
19. 47-Zach Daum, 12.189[14]
OReilly Auto Parts O’Reilly Race of Champions (20 Laps)
1. 1S-Spencer Bayston[5]
2. 08-Cannon McIntosh[6]
3. 24-Rico Abreu[1]
4. 39-Logan Seavey[7]
5. 88-Tanner Thorson[4]
6. 5-Chase Briscoe[9]
7. 71W-Michael Kofoid[8]
8. 52-Blake Hahn[10]
9. 2J-Justin Grant[2]
10. 4P-Kody Swanson[14]
11. 4X-Michael Pickens[3]
12. 55X-Alex Bowman[12]
13. 39T-Tim McCreadie[18]
14. 98-Tanner Carrick[11]
15. 47-Zach Daum[19]
16. 97-Brenham Crouch[15]
17. 7M-Shane Cockrum[16]
18. 1-Sammy Swindell[17]
19. 71G-Damion Gardner[13]