By T.J. Buffenbarger
TULSA, OK (January 8, 2024) – Tanner Carrick was victorious during the opening night of the 28th Chili Bowl Nationals presented by NOS Energy Drink Monday night at the Tulsa Expo Raceway. Carrick ran down Cannon McIntosh, who had won two Monday night preliminary features in a row, and held off multiple challenges from Shane Golobic for the victory.
For Carrick, being victorious makes flying back for work for a couple of days before returning to Tulsa worthwhile for the Lincoln, California driver, crediting his Keith Kunz Motorsports crew for the quality of the car he was able to drive to victory.
“Keith and Chucky gave me a phenomenal car,” said Carrick. “We worked our butts off all night long, trying to make it a little better each time we went on the track. Not bad fourth midget race since last year I’d say. These guys gave me an amazing car. Every time we come to this building I just seem to make a couple mistakes that end up not letting us win. I did my job tonight.”
Golobic overcame a mid-race penalty that docked him two positions before a restart, rallying back to claim the second and final position to lock into Saturday’s finale.
“I’m pleased with the car. My crew gave me the race winning car, my NOS Energy Drink car was really, really good,” said Golobic. “I guess I got penalized two spots, which really didn’t help with that restart. I don’t know what I should have done differently. I kind of got penalized for somebody else’s mistake, which is frustrating. I let that get in my head and kind of changed my driving style. That’s on me, so I’ll just have to clean that up. To be locked in and be hanging our heads. It’s kind of a sign that how good our team is.”
McIntosh and Jacob Denney started on the front row for the 30-lap preliminary feature. McIntosh took the lead while Denney, Emilio Hoover, and Michael Pickens battled for the second position three wide on the second lap.
Hoover held down the second spot while Denney and Pickens raced for third until Denney got a run to take away the runner up spot on lap five.
Just as Denney got to second, Tanner Carrick made his presence felt around Pickens for third on lap five, passing Denney for second on lap six. Carrick quickly closed in on McIntosh for the lead when the first caution flag appeared on lap 10 when Denney slid to a stop between turns three and four trying to pass.
Carrick immediately pressured McIntosh for the lead, only to have the caution appear one lap later when Mario Clouser, A.J. Hopkins, and Ricky Lewis stopped after tangling. During that caution, Golobic was penalized for an infection during the previous restart, pushing him back to fifth.
Carrick made the pass stick on lap 14 to take the lead from McIntosh in turn four. Pickens was shuffled back after contact to fifth as Briscoe and Golobic drove through, then started to challenge McIntosh for second. Golobic, McIntosh, and Briscoe were racing three wide for second position on lap 18 before Golobic got the spot one lap later.
With 10 laps to go Golobic quickly closed on Carrick for the lead. Unsuccessfully trying a slide job with seven laps to go, Carrick pulled away from Golobic until the caution flag appeared for a tangle between Denny and Hoover, who were running 9th and 10th at the time of the caution.
Golobic kept working the bottom side of the track after the restart, but Carrick was able to maintain the lead until the final caution flag of the event appeared when Tayor Reimer did a 360 spin in turn four. Even though she was able to keep going, Reimer was sent to the tail of the field for drawing the caution flag.
Golobic kept working the bottom of the track to pull along side of Carrick but got out of shape on the berm in turns three and four and allowed Carrick to get away. Golobic then had to go on defense with Pickens and Briscoe adding pressure.
That was enough to give Carrick a 0.061 advantage at the finish for the victory. Golobic edged out Pickens for the runner up spot while Briscoe and Chris Windom from 15th starting position rounded out the top five.
38th Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy Drink
Cummins Qualifying Night
Tulsa Expo Raceway
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Monday, January 8, 2024
OERB Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 21D-Weston Gorham[1]
2. 15C-Carter Chevalier[2]
3. 32T-Trey Marcham[3]
4. 8D-Colin Deming[5]
5. 27X-Cody Leonard[8]
6. 17M-Jake Scott[7]
7. 3V-Jim Vanzant[4]
8. 50-Daniel Adler[9]
9. 18K-Billy Rayburn[6]
OERB Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 9-Emilio Hoover[6]
2. 8B-Cooper Williams[1]
3. 25-Jacob Denney[9]
4. 41X-Howard Moore[5]
5. 8-Alex Sewell[4]
6. 2-Dave Axton[2]
7. 30X-Larry Bratti[8]
8. 77B-Bret Klabunde[7]
9. 118-Scott Evans[3]
OERB Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]
2. 2W-AJ Hopkins[6]
3. 75-Mario Clouser[2]
4. 45J-Jerry Brey[8]
5. 15G-Dennie Gieber[9]
6. 7F-Blake Green[3]
7. 33B-Mike Bitner[1]
8. 14S-TJ Smith[5]
9. 16R-Kyle Jones[7]
OERB Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 7P-Kris Carroll[3]
2. 6A-Ricky Lewis[1]
3. 17W-Shane Golobic[8]
4. 25K-Taylor Reimer[7]
5. 73S-Shon Deskins[2]
6. 4K-Kayla Roell[5]
7. 17C-Devin Camfield[4]
8. 21G-John Murdie[9]
9. 33-Stanley Kreisel[6]
OERB Heat Race #5 (8 Laps)
1. 59-Michael Pickens[2]
2. 19B-Cole Bodine[3]
3. 27-Keith Rauch[1]
4. 20G-Noah Gass[6]
5. 09X-Bryant Bell[4]
6. 7-Michelle Decker[8]
7. 88A-Austin Torgerson[5]
8. 5F-Danny Frye III[7]
OERB Heat Race #6 (8 Laps)
1. 32W-Gary Taylor[3]
2. 89-Chris Windom[2]
3. 51B-Joe B Miller[4]
4. 5-Chase Briscoe[6]
5. 93-Kyle Bellm[8]
6. 00D-Broc Elliott[1]
7. 85L-Lee Nardelli[5]
8. 11G-Travis Jenkins[7]
OERB Heat Race #7 (8 Laps)
1. 2H-Nick Hoffman[1]
2. 98-Tanner Carrick[5]
3. 55T-Trevor Cline[7]
4. 9B-Brian Schwabauer[3]
5. 80A-DJ Estes[2]
6. 19S-Dylan Archer[4]
7. 42K-Kevin Battefeld[8]
8. 92-Slater Helt[6]
OERB Heat Race #8 (8 Laps)
1. 71P-Cannon McIntosh[6]
2. 0S-Derek Sheaffer[2]
3. 37P-Logan Prickett[1]
4. 16T-Kevin Newton[3]
5. 55S-Gage Green[5]
6. 23D-Devon Dobie[4]
7. P1-Paul White[7]
8. 56-Mitchell Davis[8]
eam Toyota Qualifier #1 (10 Laps)
1. 98-Tanner Carrick[4]
2. 2H-Nick Hoffman[3]
3. 9-Emilio Hoover[6]
4. 5-Chase Briscoe[7]
5. 2W-AJ Hopkins[5]
6. 8B-Cooper Williams[1]
7. 15C-Carter Chevalier[2]
8. 75-Mario Clouser[8]
9. 37P-Logan Prickett[9]
10. 55S-Gage Green[10]
Team Toyota Qualifier #2 (10 Laps)
1. 71P-Cannon McIntosh[6]
2. 17W-Shane Golobic[5]
3. 89-Chris Windom[2]
4. 6A-Ricky Lewis[1]
5. 55T-Trevor Cline[4]
6. 8-Alex Sewell[10]
7. 27X-Cody Leonard[7]
8. 9B-Brian Schwabauer[9]
9. 45J-Jerry Brey[3]
10. 8D-Colin Deming[8]
Team Toyota Qualifier #3 (10 Laps)
1. 59-Michael Pickens[4]
2. 25-Jacob Denney[6]
3. 93-Kyle Bellm[7]
4. 41X-Howard Moore[8]
5. 16T-Kevin Newton[9]
6. 19B-Cole Bodine[3]
7. 09X-Bryant Bell[10]
8. 7P-Kris Carroll[5]
9. 0S-Derek Sheaffer[2]
10. 51B-Joe B Miller[1]
Team Toyota Qualifier #4 (10 Laps)
1. 32T-Trey Marcham[7]
2. 32W-Gary Taylor[5]
3. 25K-Taylor Reimer[3]
4. 20G-Noah Gass[1]
5. 21D-Weston Gorham[4]
6. 27-Keith Rauch[8]
7. 15G-Dennie Gieber[2]
8. 7-Michelle Decker[9]
9. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[6]
DNS: 17M-Jake Scott
C-Main #1 (12 Laps)
1. 23D-Devon Dobie[4]
2. 4K-Kayla Roell[2]
3. 73S-Shon Deskins[1]
4. 00D-Broc Elliott[6]
5. 17C-Devin Camfield[9]
6. 42K-Kevin Battefeld[3]
7. 85L-Lee Nardelli[8]
8. 2-Dave Axton[5]
9. 11G-Travis Jenkins[11]
10. 33-Stanley Kreisel[12]
11. 21G-John Murdie[7]
12. 77B-Bret Klabunde[10]
DNS: 92-Slater Helt
DNS: 16R-Kyle Jones
C-Main #2 (12 Laps)
1. 56-Mitchell Davis[9]
2. 50-Daniel Adler[6]
3. P1-Paul White[5]
4. 80A-DJ Estes[1]
5. 3V-Jim Vanzant[8]
6. 14S-TJ Smith[12]
7. 7F-Blake Green[4]
8. 30X-Larry Bratti[2]
9. 5F-Danny Frye III[10]
10. 118-Scott Evans[14]
11. 19S-Dylan Archer[3]
12. 33B-Mike Bitner[11]
13. 18K-Billy Rayburn[13]
14. 88A-Austin Torgerson[7]
The Enjoy Illinois 300 NASCAR Cup Series Race at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday, June 2 B-Main #1 (15 Laps)
1. 75-Mario Clouser[8]
2. 6A-Ricky Lewis[2]
3. 7P-Kris Carroll[4]
4. 19B-Cole Bodine[3]
5. 09X-Bryant Bell[7]
6. 9B-Brian Schwabauer[9]
7. 27X-Cody Leonard[6]
8. 21D-Weston Gorham[1]
9. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[5]
10. 73S-Shon Deskins[15]
11. 23D-Devon Dobie[13]
12. 00D-Broc Elliott[16]
13. 55S-Gage Green[12]
14. 8D-Colin Deming[11]
15. 4K-Kayla Roell[14]
16. 37P-Logan Prickett[10]
The Enjoy Illinois 300 NASCAR Cup Series Race at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday, June 2 B-Main #2 (15 Laps)
1. 75-Mario Clouser[8]
2. 6A-Ricky Lewis[2]
3. 7P-Kris Carroll[4]
4. 19B-Cole Bodine[3]
5. 09X-Bryant Bell[7]
6. 9B-Brian Schwabauer[9]
7. 27X-Cody Leonard[6]
8. 21D-Weston Gorham[1]
9. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[5]
10. 73S-Shon Deskins[15]
11. 23D-Devon Dobie[13]
12. 00D-Broc Elliott[16]
13. 55S-Gage Green[12]
14. 8D-Colin Deming[11]
15. 4K-Kayla Roell[14]
16. 37P-Logan Prickett[10]
Cummins A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 98-Tanner Carrick[4]
2. 17W-Shane Golobic[6]
3. 59-Michael Pickens[5]
4. 5-Chase Briscoe[12]
5. 89-Chris Windom[15]
6. 71P-Cannon McIntosh[1]
7. 32T-Trey Marcham[8]
8. 51B-Joe B Miller[20]
9. 2H-Nick Hoffman[9]
10. 32W-Gary Taylor[7]
11. 93-Kyle Bellm[10]
12. 19B-Cole Bodine[23]
13. 7P-Kris Carroll[21]
14. 41X-Howard Moore[13]
15. 8-Alex Sewell[22]
16. 27-Keith Rauch[18]
17. 25-Jacob Denney[2]
18. 55T-Trevor Cline[16]
19. 75-Mario Clouser[17]
20. 9-Emilio Hoover[3]
21. 25K-Taylor Reimer[14]
22. 20G-Noah Gass[24]
23. 2W-AJ Hopkins[11]
24. 6A-Ricky Lewis[19]