January 14, 2019

Seavey wires Chili Bowl opener

TULSA, Okla. -- In a real sense, the Chili Bowl is a bigger event this year, having expanded from five days to six with an additional qualifying night. But the number of automatic qualifiers for Saturday night�s A-main is smaller, with only two drivers advancing from each night�s qualifying A-feature, instead of the traditional three. The stakes are higher, and so is the pressure. Logan Seavey was the wire-to-wire winner of Monday night�s A-feature at the Tulsa Expo Center, but Brady Bacon won a battle that was just as significant, when he shot past Brad Sweet on Lap 23 of 25 to secure second place and assure himself a starting spot in Saturday�s A-main. Both Seavey and Bacon will start within the top 10 for the title race, and it was with a sense of relief that they took questions from the media after Monday�s preliminary. �I would say for this race that it was a little more relief, because it�s so hard, and you definitely don�t want to be in that B-main come Saturday, because it�s just as tough as the feature,� said Seavey, who finished 14th in last year�s main event after advancing from the first B-main. �To have the night we had, everything just fell into place, and that�s kind of what it takes with this race is for stuff to go your way. Everything went our way tonight. We didn�t run into any trouble, and obviously I had a great race car.� Not that Seavey didn�t have an anxious moment on the final lap in his No. 67 Keith Kunz Motorsports Toyota. �That last lap was pretty scary for me,� Seavey said. �I took the white and dove to the bottom, because I thought that was the more clean lane�everybody was lined up on the top�and as soon as I went to the bottom, there was a car that had just broken. �I had to swerve back to the top, and I didn�t know how far the guys were behind me. Then I had to follow another lapper into the last corner, and like I said, I didn�t know where the guys were behind me, so I didn�t know if they were ready to throw a slider and maybe hit the bottom real good on that last lap. Fortunately, we had a good enough lead that that little last-lap mishap didn�t hurt us too bad.� With Seavey out front, Bacon found traction on the low side and finally worked his way past Sweet with just over two laps left to earn the coveted runner-up position. �We just got a good enough run off (Turn) 2 off the bottom that I was able to slide up in front of him going into 3 and hold on from there,� said Bacon, who will start the A-main for the first time since 2013, when he finished 22nd. �This race has always been kind of a curse for me. Obviously, I grew up 25 minutes from here, and it�s one of the most important races of the year for me. I�ve always had really good luck at the Shootout�ran really good there�but I could never catch a break here. It�s just a relief to get through this night without any misfortune.� Jake Neuman ran fourth and Chase Briscoe fifth in the opening-night A-feature. With Saturday�s title race run at 55 laps, Sweet thinks he�ll have an opportunity to challenge the cars that start ahead of him�assuming he transfers as one of the top seven finishers in his B-main. �Obviously, with adding a night, it stings a bit more than it would�ve,� Sweet said of his third-place run. �I think you can come back and start in the front row of a B (main)� you can still start 11th or so in a 55-lap race. I just felt like we�ve got to get our car a little better to be a little more in contention to win� A few different cautions, and the race might have played out a little bit different. But that�s racing. Logan did a great job. I felt like Brady�s car was a little better, and he was able to snooker by me there at the end and got me moving around off my line.� The race wasn�t without its casualties. A pileup in Turn 1 on Lap 13 eliminated the cars of Tanner Carrick, Zac Moody, David Camfield, Hayden Williams and Kyle Craker, rending their path to Saturday�s A-main a formidable challenge indeed.