Swindell Conquers for Fourth Straight Driller
Photo by Joe Orth
BY Bryan Hulbert
Tulsa, Oklahoma (January 12, 2013) It took 25 years for a driver to win back to back Lucas Oil Chili Bowl National titles. Ever since then, that same name has stood atop the podium without fail as Kevin Swindell continued his family’s Chili Bowl dynasty this past Saturday night with his fourth Golden Driller in as many years. With the victory, the combined Swindell total stands at nine.
Drawing the number two pill Friday night for the winner’s redraw, Kevin positioned his US Fleet Tracking No. 39 alongside Sammy’s Spike No. 1 for an all Swindell front row.
Following a complete restart, Kevin paced where he started before surrounding the runner up spot to Kyle Larson just prior to the caution involving a half dozen drivers including Tony Stewart, Billy Wease, Bryan Clauson, Jac Haudenschild, Jerry Coons, Jr., and Jonathan Beason.
Single file past the cone, the caution again blinked on as Brady Bacon’s night ended upside down on the front straight. The elder Swindell paced the field to the restart with Larson keeping within three car lengths as the pair worked the inside berm before Sammy began building his advantage.
Working the cushion around the Tulsa Expo Raceway, the John Christner Trucking No. 39 worked back into contention for the runner up spot. Running inches apart, Swindell and Larson traded the runner up spot several times with Larson holding the advantage every time the pair crossed the line.
Slowing on Lap 10 for the spun No. 71k of Jason Meyers, the restart yielded a three way battle for the race lead as Larson led for the first time on Lap 13, swapping slide jobs at either end of the Tulsa Expo Raceway first with Sammy, then with Kevin as the trio went three wide with Larson holding the point as Kevin Swindell took over second. For the next five laps, the pair brought the sold out crowd to attention; screaming over the sound of the cars with the pair putting on a display of haymaker style slide-jobs that ended when Larson spun to a stop exiting turn four on Lap 18.
“That was fun” said Kevin of the battle. “We’ve been friends a long time and we’ve raced a lot of Sim racing and battled it out but I don’t think we’ve ever got to race, you know, real race and battle it out like that. We both have a lot of respect for each other so I think it showed that we were at least clearing each other. ”
With the lead in hand, Kevin Swindell pulled to a 3.367 second advantage before running down slower traffic on Lap 30 as Kyle Larson’s night ends with his second caution. Larson received a standing ovation for his earlier performance as he exited the track.
Giving the field a chance to catch up, Sammy would find all roads blocked as the groove narrowed around the bottom.
Racing again to the back of the field, Kevin had to wait for a line to open up; allowing Sammy to move in as the white flag was displayed. Trying to make the middle groove work, Kevin would fly the front end after contact sent the field scrambling, opening up the potential for a bottom side pass.
Asked about the nearly catastrophic turn of events, Kevin replied, “I tried to just get in line behind Jason [Meyers] and I think he had just kind of given up and he went in there real slow and I couldn’t even get slowed up that much and hopped over his right rear and the first nose I saw as black and all I thought was, well, there he goes.”
With both Swindell’s able to keep rolling, the restart saw Kevin Swindell capping off a perfect week having won every race he entered with Sammy Swindell earned the runner up spot for the third year in a row.
Questioned about his son’s now fourth consecutive title, Sammy replied jokingly, “Yeah but I’m the one putting the cars together.” Continuing, the five time champion called the accomplishment remarkable considering it’s been both cars up front for the past five years now.
Brad Sweet, after challenging earlier for the runner up spot, settled for fourth with Dave Darland climbing from eleventh to complete the top five.
Jerry Coons, Jr. advanced eight spots to finish sixth with Shane Golobic coming from sixteenth to seventh. Bryan Clauson improved a dozen spots to eighth with Billy Wease posting his best A-Feature finish of ninth while earning the Hard Charger of the Race, coming from his twenty-second starting spot. Cory Kruseman round out the drivers in the top ten.
Qualifying features began with Trey Starks and Danny Smith each winning in the K-Features. Kip Hughes and Shane Cockrum grabbed J-Feature wins with Riley Emmel and Bobby Michnowicz taking I-Features.
Tyler Robbins and Blake Edwards were victors in the H-Features which saw Mike Goodman’s string of advanced come to a close at four after tangling with another driver. Travis Berryhill and Cody Ledger picked up the G-Features as Blake Hahn and C.J. Leary topped the F-Features.
E-Feature wins belonged to Joey Moughan and Jesse Frazier with Josh Lakatos and A.J. Fike winning the D-Features.
Following opening ceremonies, C-Features wins went to Bobby East and Alex Schutte while the B-Features saw Gary Taylor and Jerry Coons, Jr. race into the night’s A-Feature.
Of the 48 rookies at the 2013 Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire, California’s D.J. Netto earned the highest finish of any as the only Rookie to qualify for a B-Feature finishing seventeenth after spinning early on.
In all 268 competitors from 32 states including Canada, Australia, and Finland competed in the 2013 Chili Bowl. For more information regarding the Chili Bowl, log onto www.chilibowl.com. Social Media can be found at www.facebook.com/chilibowlnationals and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cbnationals. The receive the Chili Bowl E-News Letter, simply text “ASCS” to 22828.
Saturday’s Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire Results
Lucas Oil Championship A-Feature
A Feature (55 Laps): 1. 39-Kevin Swindell[2]; 2. 1-Sammy Swindell[1]; 3. 67X-Brad Sweet[5]; 4. 47X-Tim McCreadie[9]; 5. 3DD-Dave Darland[11]; 6. 63-Jerry Coons Jr[14]; 7. 11-Shane Golobic[16]; 8. 39B-Bryan Clauson[20]; 9. 38-Billy Wease[22]; 10. 21K-Cory Kruseman[8]; 11. 81-Markus Niemela[19]; 12. 71K-Jason Meyers[18]; 13. 8J-Jonathan Beason[15]; 14. 10-Brad Kuhn[23]; 15. 14-Tony Stewart[12]; 16. 71X-Jac Haudenschild[10]; 17. 05T-Gary Taylor[13]; 18. 47-Damion Gardner[6]; 19. 1ST-J.J. Yeley[21]; DNF 11A-Andrew Felker[24]; DNF 71-Kyle Larson[3]; DNF 99-Brady Bacon[7]; DNF 15X-Chad Boat[4]; DNF 51S-Mike Spencer[17]
B-Features – Top 6 in each advance to Championship A-Feature
B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 05T-Gary Taylor[1]; 2. 8J-Jonathan Beason[6]; 3. 51S-Mike Spencer[9]; 4. 81-Markus Niemela[10]; 5. 1ST-J.J. Yeley[7]; 6. 10-Brad Kuhn[13]; 7. 21-Daryn Pittman[8]; 8. 3-Darren Hagen[5]; 9. 4-Jon Stanbrough[18]; 10. 37X-Gary (Bubba) Altig[19]; 11. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[16]; 12. 05K-Bud Kaeding[17]; 13. 21D-A.J. Hopkins[11]; DNF 7MR-Kevin Ramey[14]; DNF 7B-Austin Brown[12]; DNF 2H-Casey Shuman[2]; DNF 24-Tracy Hines[3]; DNF 57-Thomas Meseraull[20]; DNF 49-Trevor Kobylarz[4]; DNF 4E-Bobby East[15]
B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 05T-Gary Taylor[1]; 2. 8J-Jonathan Beason[6]; 3. 51S-Mike Spencer[9]; 4. 81-Markus Niemela[10]; 5. 1ST-J.J. Yeley[7]; 6. 10-Brad Kuhn[13]; 7. 21-Daryn Pittman[8]; 8. 3-Darren Hagen[5]; 9. 4-Jon Stanbrough[18]; 10. 37X-Gary (Bubba) Altig[19]; 11. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[16]; 12. 05K-Bud Kaeding[17]; 13. 21D-A.J. Hopkins[11]; DNF 7MR-Kevin Ramey[14]; DNF 7B-Austin Brown[12]; DNF 2H-Casey Shuman[2]; DNF 24-Tracy Hines[3]; DNF 57-Thomas Meseraull[20]; DNF 49-Trevor Kobylarz[4]; DNF 4E-Bobby East[15]
C-Features – Top 6 advance to the corresponding B-Features
C Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 4E-Bobby East[1]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[2]; 3. 05K-Bud Kaeding[3]; 4. 4-Jon Stanbrough[4]; 5. 37X-Gary (Bubba) Altig[12]; 6. 57-Thomas Meseraull[9]; 7. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[5]; 8. 39C-Dillon Welch[6]; 9. 11R-Troy Rutherford[7]; 10. 3T-Tim Barber[8]; 11. 35-Billy Pauch Jr[11]; 12. 91B-Kevin Bayer[16]; 13. 92J-Brenden Bright[14]; 14. 2S-Danny Stratton[19]; 15. 72-Tyler Edwards[13]; 16. 11BA-Brett Anderson[18]; 17. 8V-Jace VanderWeerd[17]; 18. 7A-Dalton Armstrong[10]; 19. 89K-Josh Lakatos[15]; 20. 7M-Seth Motsinger[20]
C Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 9E-Alex Schutte[2]; 2. 19S-Richard VanderWeerd[1]; 3. 67W-Christopher Bell[3]; 4. 5D-Zach Daum[4]; 5. 56A-Levi Jones[6]; 6. 67-Rico Abreu[9]; 7. 71S-Sheldon Haudenschild[5]; 8. 69-A.J. Fike[15]; 9. 77B-Alex Bright[11]; 10. 98-P.J. Jones[8]; 11. 19W-Matt Mitchell[18]; 12. 91K-Dereck King[16]; 13. 87F-Brian McClelland[12]; DNF 35S-Matt Sherrell[13]; DNF 015-David Prickett[19]; DNF 25M-Derrick Myers[10]; DNF 8L-Matt Ward[20]; DNF 15D-Andrew Deal[17]; DNF 91T-Tyler Thomas[14]; DNS 75H-Johnny Herrera
D-Features – Top 6 advance to the corresponding C-Features
D Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 89K-Josh Lakatos[2]; 2. 91B-Kevin Bayer[4]; 3. 8V-Jace VanderWeerd[1]; 4. 11BA-Brett Anderson[7]; 5. 2S-Danny Stratton[13]; 6. 7M-Seth Motsinger[6]; 7. 14W-Matt Westfall[3]; 8. 25B-Steve Buckwalter[11]; 9. 24H-Bryan Sebetto[17]; 10. 5CC-Colten Cottle[16]; 11. 38N-Joey Moughan[15]; 12. 11C-Chett Gehrke[14]; 13. 12F-Nic Faas[18]; 14. 51W-Brandon Waelti[5]; 15. 29-Brandon Hahn[8]; DNF 0Z-Cameron Beard[10]; DNF 83-Kurt Blackaby[9]; DNF 20-Tadd Holliman[12]
D Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 69-A.J. Fike[1]; 2. 91K-Dereck King[3]; 3. 15D-Andrew Deal[13]; 4. 19W-Matt Mitchell[4]; 5. 015-David Prickett[7]; 6. 8L-Matt Ward[9]; 7. 57D-Daniel Robinson[2]; 8. 151-Jesse Frazier[15]; 9. 8-Alex Sewell[17]; 10. 68-Ronnie Gardner[6]; 11. 87-Tim Crawley[5]; 12. 81B-Ryan Beechler[8]; 13. 57A-Hannah Adair[16]; 14. 05-Brad Loyet[10]; 15. 7X-Critter Malone[18]; 16. 35D-Brett Felkins[14]; 17. 14JR-Matt Streeter[11]; DNF 45X-C.J. Johnson[12]
E-Features – Top 4 advance to the corresponding D-Feature
E Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 38N-Joey Moughan[2]; 2. 5CC-Colten Cottle[1]; 3. 24H-Bryan Sebetto[5]; 4. 12F-Nic Faas[6]; 5. 38K-Rick Hendrix[8]; 6. 8K-Blake Hahn[13]; 7. 2B-Tyler Reddick[15]; 8. 57X-Kaley Engstrom[3]; 9. 16-Robert Ballou[9]; 10. 7S-Hunter Schuerenberg[14]; 11. 56P-Jason Leffler[10]; 12. 57K-Kevin Studley[11]; 13. 191-Chase Barber[12]; 14. 5C-Chris Coker[4]; DNS 1W-Paul White; DNS 21N-Nick Speidel
E Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 151-Jesse Frazier[8]; 2. 57A-Hannah Adair[1]; 3. 8-Alex Sewell[3]; 4. 7X-Critter Malone[5]; 5. 62S-Taylor Simas[4]; 6. 24L-C.J. Leary[13]; 7. 2A-Jason Howell[9]; 8. 5G-P.J. Gargiulo[6]; 9. 37-Cameron Hagin[10]; 10. 2R-Levi Roberts[12]; 11. 11W-Chase Stockton[15]; 12. 3F-Tanner Swanson[14]; 13. 27R-Kyle O’Gara[16]; 14. 86C-David Camfield Jr[7]; DNF 62-Dennis Howell[2]; DNS 73F-Tyler Walker
F-Features – Top 4 advance to the corresponding E-Features
F Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 8K-Blake Hahn[9]; 2. 7S-Hunter Schuerenberg[1]; 3. 2B-Tyler Reddick[2]; 4. 1W-Paul White[5]; 5. 06-Mario Clouser[16]; 6. 11J-Travis Berryhill[13]; 7. 24E-Cody Darrah[14]; 8. 21X-Kurt Mayhew[3]; 9. 7DA-Dakoda Armstrong[10]; 10. 70-Peter Palazzolo[6]; 11. 32A-Garrett Aitken[8]; 12. 84-Joey Fabozzi[12]; 13. 0-Glenn Styres[15]; 14. 56X-Mark Chisholm[7]; 15. 6-Aaron Pierce[11]; DNS 17R-Kyle Steffens
F Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 24L-C.J. Leary[1]; 2. 3F-Tanner Swanson[2]; 3. 11W-Chase Stockton[8]; 4. 27R-Kyle O’Gara[5]; 5. 35L-Cody Ledger[13]; 6. 83JR-Bruce Buckwalter Jr.[7]; 7. 17-Michael Koontz[4]; 8. 26X-John Golobic[16]; 9. 6A-David Gough[10]; 10. 5B-Tommy Brown[6]; 11. 7J-Shawn Jackson[3]; 12. 6R-Joe Ramaker[12]; 13. 12JR-Josh Pelkey[15]; 14. 77H-Michael Harders[11]; DNF 1T-Tony Roney[9]; DNF 44-Don Droud Jr[14]
G-Features – Top 4 advance to the corresponding F-Features
G Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11J-Travis Berryhill[1]; 2. 24E-Cody Darrah[8]; 3. 0-Glenn Styres[4]; 4. 06-Mario Clouser[10]; 5. 9P-Wes McIntyre[5]; 6. 15S-Tim Siner[15]; 7. 23-Jimmy Light[16]; 8. 35T-Tyler Robbins[13]; 9. 6B-Bill Balog[12]; 10. 55-Taylor Lynn Ferns[11]; 11. 11XS-Donovan Peterson[6]; 12. 5BL-Barry Lamb[3]; 13. 12S-Bryan Severs[7]; DNF 7D-Michelle Decker[2]; DNF 115-Conner Kassik[14]; DNS 1AZ-Steve Sussex Jr
G Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 35L-Cody Ledger[2]; 2. 44-Don Droud Jr[9]; 3. 12JR-Josh Pelkey[1]; 4. 26X-John Golobic[10]; 5. 50-Daniel Adler[14]; 6. 77-Mike Boesel[8]; 7. 7CS-Pat Schudy[4]; 8. 17E-Blake Edwards[13]; 9. 32-Danny Jennings[12]; 10. 2D-Troy DeCaire[6]; 11. 23F-Josh Most[16]; 12. 9U-Doug McCune[3]; 13. 94K-Darren Kingston[11]; DNF 3B-Jayme Barnes[15]; DNS 89-Kasey Kahne; DNS 11T-Shon Deskins
H-Features – Top 4 advance to the corresponding G-Features
H Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 35T-Tyler Robbins[1]; 2. 115-Conner Kassik[2]; 3. 15S-Tim Siner[10]; 4. 23-Jimmy Light[14]; 5. 22X-Wayne Johnson[9]; 6. 28K-Justin Hendricks[7]; 7. 9D-Sean Dodenhoff[3]; 8. 94C-Brad Cox[4]; 9. 15-Danny Burke[12]; 10. 59-Billy Lawhead[15]; 11. 2AU-Alex Orr[6]; 12. 0X-Johnny Murdock[5]; DNF 22-Mike Goodman[16]; DNF 59E-Dex Eaton[8]; DNF 67K-Riley Emmel[13]; DNS 0K-Don O’Keefe Jr
Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 17E-Blake Edwards[3]; 2. 50-Daniel Adler[10]; 3. 3B-Jayme Barnes[5]; 4. 23F-Josh Most[8]; 5. 44S-Clint Schubert[1]; 6. 96-Brad Noffsinger[6]; 7. 98G-Gavin Galbraith[15]; 8. 37T-Harli White[16]; 9. 19-Patrick Stasa[2]; 10. 82H-Mike Hess[14]; DNF 4K-Kevin Thomas Jr[4]; DNF 49JR-Bobby Michnowicz[13]; DNF 31B-David Budres[7]; DNF 7JR-J.D. Black[9]; DNS 5R-Garrett Rider; DNS 71XX-Davey Ray
I-Features – Top 4 advance to the corresponding H-Features
I Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 67K-Riley Emmel[1]; 2. 23-Jimmy Light[3]; 3. 59-Billy Lawhead[4]; 4. 22-Mike Goodman[16]; 5. 33R-Joe Stornetta[14]; 6. 14C-Shane Cockrum[13]; 7. 75-Landon Simon[6]; 8. 27B-Johnny Scott[12]; DNF 7-Shannon McQueen[8]; DNF 22A-Andy Malpocker[11]; DNF 51X-Matt Lundy[15]; DNF 25P-Dylan Peterson[9]; DNF 12G-Chris Gurley[2]; DNF 17W-Cole Wood[7]; DNF 2DD-Josh Hawkins[5]; DNS 55B-Brian Shirley
I Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 49JR-Bobby Michnowicz[3]; 2. 82H-Mike Hess[8]; 3. 98G-Gavin Galbraith[1]; 4. 37T-Harli White[5]; 5. 14E-Eric Fenton[4]; 6. 27-Ryan Smith[12]; 7. 72K-Kevin Olson[6]; 8. 14R-Jody Rosenboom[7]; 9. 40-Andy Huston[10]; 10. 98GB-Curtis Boyer[14]; 11. 31E-Evan Sewell[2]; 12. 57H-Davey Heskin[16]; 13. 11B-Andee Beierle[9]; 14. 27C-Kip Hughes[13]; 15. 91H-Mike Hudson[11]; 16. 87C-Coby Hughes[15]
J-Features – Top advance to the corresponding I-Features
J Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 14C-Shane Cockrum[4]; 2. 33R-Joe Stornetta[3]; 3. 51X-Matt Lundy[6]; 4. 22-Mike Goodman[14]; 5. 87R-Danny Smith[2]; 6. 7T-Trey Marcham[9]; 7. 4B-Chris Shirek[16]; 8. 94-Layne Himebaugh[15]; 9. W94-Waylon Weaver[11]; 10. 2X-Clint Woolbright[7]; 11. 5M-Ned Fry[5]; DNF 12J-Jay Mounce[10]; DNF 7RS-Scott Crystal[8]; DNF 20X-Jimmy Harris[1]; DNF 55S-Trey Starks[13]; DNS 63D-Nick Knepper
J Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 27C-Kip Hughes[2]; 2. 98GB-Curtis Boyer[3]; 3. 87C-Coby Hughes[4]; 4. 57H-Davey Heskin[15]; DNF 4X-Shawn Petersen[16]; DNF 1B-Bobby Brewer[11]; DNF 14S-Tom Casson[6]; DNF 14X-Scott Petersen[8]; DNF 1X-Bryan Debrick[7]; DNF 85J-Matt Johnson[9]; DNF 91-Jeff Stasa[1]; DNF 6C-Michael Heberling[10]; DNF 5$-Danny Smith[13]; DNF 7JS-Kyle Bellm[14]; DNS 4F-Chad Frewaldt; DNS 88-Dustin Weland
K-Features – Top 4 advance to the corresponding J-Feature
K Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 55S-Trey Starks[4]; 2. 22-Mike Goodman[3]; 3. 94-Layne Himebaugh[1]; 4. 4B-Chris Shirek[9]; 5. 10C-Dalton Camfield[8]; 6. 16C-Rich Camfield[11]; 7. 2P-Payton Pierce[14]; 8. 1R-Robby Larson[12]; 9. 33A-Stephen Arnold[6]; 10. 83B-Eldon Blackaby[7]; DNF 3G-Matt Harms[10]; DNS 12M-Kyle McCutcheon; DNS 93R-Jake Rosario; DNS 4C-Chuck McGillivary
K Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 5$-Danny Smith[4]; 2. 7JS-Kyle Bellm[14]; 3. 57H-Davey Heskin[9]; 4. 4X-Shawn Petersen[10]; 5. 82-Eric Johnson[1]; 6. 29S-Tim Kent[8]; 7. 11H-Dustin Hapka[2]; 8. 11XC-Steve Newman[11]; DNF 22AZ-Rick Shuman[6]; DNF 5L-Mike Larrison[3]; DNF 73X-Greg Edenholm[5]; DNS 85-Jonathan Hendrick; DNS 9F-Jared Carpenter; DNS 43-Brent Beauchamp
Category: News
