Bacon "pounces" on Big Cat to lock into Saturday's feature
TULSA, Okla.—When it comes to the Chili Bowl Nationals, Brady Bacon has never felt that luck is on his side.
Despite growing up 10 miles from Tulsa Expo Raceway, the Broken Arrow native feels like he’s been cursed when it comes to finding success at his hometown track.
But with less than three circuits remaining in the 25-lap preliminary night A-Main, Bacon saw an opportunity. He slid the No. 76M Frank Manafort midget past Brad Sweet in Turn 1 to finish second and lock himself into Saturday night’s feature.
“He was just having a hard time getting into the corner—especially in Turn 1,” Bacon told RacinBoys.com. “He was vulnerable there. It was still going to be hard to pass him because he was kind of cheating it and it was going to make it harder to slide him. Luckily, we had a car that was good enough to run the bottom. If we didn’t have a car that was good enough it would have been really hard to pass him.”
Logan Seavey, who started from the pole, won the race. Sweet finished third followed by Jake Neuman and Chase Briscoe. Bacon rolled off fifth after finishing second in A Qualifier 4. He moved up to third and was challenging Sweet following the caution on Lap 9 but found it hard to pass on the slick surface.
“The track was not very forgiving tonight,” Bacon said. “It was really slick and really easy to make mistakes. Overdriving the car would have been more of a detriment than a benefit. So we just kind of had to wait it out and keep our tires underneath us.
“When he presented us with an opportunity, we were ready to pounce on it.”
Bacon pounced on the Big Cat, leaving Sweet wondering what might have been.
“I think the driver made some mistakes,” said Sweet, who started on the front row in the No. 1R HT Motorsports midget. “And I think Brady was just a little bit better. I really didn’t need that caution (Lap 14). We kind of had some momentum on our side and that broke the momentum for us. I didn’t necessarily do the best job for us at the end.
“Oh well. Rusty (Kunz) gave us a good car. We’ll try to come back Saturday and do a little bit better. You’re still in a good spot. It’s not like you’re completely out of it. I think you can still start 11th on Saturday night—and it’s 55-laps. Obviously, you want to be locked in. It makes life that much less stressful.”
For Bacon, Monday night’s qualifier marks just the third time he’s transferred to the A-Main in 16 attempts. The two-time USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champ hopes the third time will be a charm come Saturday.
“It’s a big relief because anything can happen in those prelim nights,” Bacon said. “I’ve been leading the B-Feature and gotten spun out. I’ve had a lot of stuff happen, so it’s just a relief. You can concentrate on your car and watch and have a little less stress throughout the week and hopefully be better prepared for the feature on Saturday.”
Our Partners
.png)
