Racin’ Today » McIntosh Kicks Off 2023 Chili Bowl With A Victory

McIntosh Kicks Off 2023 Chili Bowl With A Victory

John Sturbin | Senior Writer, RacinToday.com Wednesday, January 11 2023

Racing has moved indoors as the 2023 Chili Bowl is underway. (Photo courtesy of NASCAR)

By John Sturbin | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com

Fending off the field is one thing, but doing so with a failing right rear tire made Cannon McIntosh’s win during Cummins Qualifying Night extra sweet at the 37th annual Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire.

McIntosh’s third preliminary night win in five years at Tulsa Expo Raceway _ all on a Monday _ saw the G No. 08 lead from start to finish despite pressure from Chris Windom once the caution flew on Lap 28 of the scheduled 30.

“That yellow coming out _ I didn’t know if it was a good or bad thing _ not knowing how many laps were left. But I had zero confidence going into the restart,” Cannon said. “I could hear the right rear just rolling over in the corner and I could feel it every caution lap we rolled. Thankfully, there were only three to go.

“I knew these guys would be coming pretty quick there, and obviously, the top got pretty quick. So I was just worried when I moved back down that they were going to get a run. But I think the right rear going down didn’t hurt me more than just how good the top was going to be at the end.”

Keeping the No. 89 at bay through the start, Cannon fended off Windom through restarts on Lap 4 and Lap 7, all while Windom was under attack from Ryan Timms. Varying lines at both ends of the track until Lap 20, when traffic came into play, forced Cannon to move to the cushion while occasionally dipping down to the hub when the path cleared. That allowed Windom to begin closing an over two-second gap down to zero when the caution waved on Lap 28.

Changing his tactics on the restart, Windom tried to slingshot the first two turns but could not complete the pass. Nursing the car through the final green flag run, Cannon emerged with an 0.454-second advantage over second, which saw Shane Golobic steal the transfer spot into Saturday’s A-Feature by 0.099-seconds. Third-place Windom was followed by Trey Marcham. Moving up from 12th, NASCAR Cup Series regular Chase Briscoe made it to fifth.

USAC National Midget Tour regular Tanner Thorson joined the ranks of dirt track racing’s elite last January with a workmanlike victory in the A-Feature of the 36th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals.

Thorson became the 22nd driver to hoist a Golden Driller trophy, symbolic of winning “The Super Bowl of Midget Racing,” after overtaking three-time event champion and NASCAR Cup regular Christopher Bell. Thorson took the lead from Oklahoma native Bell _ who paced the first 36 laps _ on Lap 37 of 55 around TER’s quarter-mile clay oval en route to a margin of victory of 0.688-seconds.

Monday’s field included 66 of a scheduled 68 entries and included the O’Reilly Auto Parts Invitational Race of Champions, with Spencer Bayston adding his name to the list of winners in the event’s 15th annual edition.

Battling early with Rico Abreu, the pair went slide-for-slide for several laps, with Rico holding off the No. 1s until Lap 12. Charging the hub of the racing surface, Bixby’s McIntosh closed the gap to within car lengths as the pair raced to the final three laps.

The final trip to the backstretch saw Bayston waiting on the car off the cushion of Turn 2. Cannon slid off the bottom enough to let Bayston win the drag race to the line. Abreu crossed third with Logan Seavey _ who raced as high as third on Lap 10 _ ending up fourth and reigning CBN champ Thorson completing the top-five. Briscoe, Buddy Kofoid, Blake Hahn, Justin Grant and Kody Swanson completed the top-10.

The WorldWide Technology Raceway Flip Count made it to six, with everyone able to walk away.

The 2023 Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire runs through Saturday, Jan. 14, atop the clay surface of Tulsa Expo Raceway. The event is contested under the massive roof of the SageNet Center in Oklahoma. The championship event will air live on MAVTV Motorsports Network and stream live on MAVTV on FloRacing Saturday at 10:30 p.m. (EST), with an encore presentation airing on MAVTV Motorsports Network on Sunday, Jan. 15.

Chili Bowl Nationals updates are available on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram via @CBNationals. All official press updates and results can be accessed online at http://www.chilibowl.com.

37th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals

Cummins Qualifying Night

OERB Heat Races: Top-40 in passing points advance to Qualifiers

OERB Heat 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. (DNF) 7K-Kolton Gariss[3]; 8. (DNF) 15G-Dennie Gieber[2]; 9. (DNF) 8L-Colin Deming[5].

OERB Heat 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 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 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. (DNF) 18K-Billy Rayburn[3].

OERB Heat 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 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]; 8. (DNS) 42K-Kevin Battefeld.

OERB Heat 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 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-Features: Top-4 advance to corresponding B-Feature

C-Feature 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. (DNF) 7R-Casey Burkham[10]; 11. (DNF) 50T-Keoni Texeira[2]; 12. (DNF) 36K-Kris Carroll[8]; 13. (DNS) 44C-Blake Carrier.

C-Feature 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. (DNF) 15K-Gage Rucker[5]; 11. (DNF) 80H-Joshua Hanna[7]; 12. (DNF) 18K-Billy Rayburn[11]; 13. (DNS) 42K-Kevin Battefeld.

Team Toyota Qualifiers: Top-16 in combined passing points advance to the A-Feature

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].

Dave.com B-Features: Top-4 advance to the A-Feature

Dave.com B-Feature 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].

Dave.com B-Feature 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. (DNF) 7K-Kolton Gariss[15].

O’Reilly Auto Parts Race of Champions Qualifying

O’Reilly 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].

O’Reilly Auto Parts Race of Champions

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. (DNF) 71G-Damion Gardner[13].

A-Feature: Top-2 advance to Saturday’s A-Feature

Cummins A-Feature (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. (DNF) 85-Jerry Coons Jr[7]; 23. (DNF) 7T-TJ Smith[14]; 24. (DNF) 32-Gary Taylor[16].

Lap Leader(s): Cannon McIntosh 1-3

Hard Charger: Daniel Adler plus-12

Chili Bowl Nationals Champions

1987_Rich Vogler

1988 _ Scott Hatton

1989 _ Sammy Swindell

1990 _ Johnny Heydenreich

1991 _ Lealand McSpadden

1992 _ Sammy Swindell (2)

1993 _ Dave Blaney

1994 _ Andy Hillenburg

1995 _ Donnie Beechler