Justin Grant Unstoppable On 2017 Chili Bowl Vacuworx Qualifying Night

TULSA, Okla. (January 13, 2017) The final day of qualifying for the 31st annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire was one filled with emotion as California’s Justin Grant found Victory Lane for the first time in Preliminary Night competition; and did it in a Clauson-Marshall mount one year after Bryan Clauson took his final checkered flag atop the clay of the Tulsa Expo Raceway.

“No, I can’t even try,” said Grant of putting the win into words. “But I’m not going to say I’m carrying on (Bryan Clauson’s) legacy at all. That would be not even a chance. He was incredible. He was such a big deal. I guess we didn’t really appreciate how big of a deal he was until we lost him. It’s incredible to see how many people are behind him and behind that. It is a lot pressure.”

Making three first time winners in four nights of racing, Grant was the class of the field with all 25 laps of the Vacuworx Night feature credited to his torrid pace.

Caution following the first lap that saw Ace McCarthy spinning and collecting Holly Shelton, Grant was stalked by fellow Californian, Ronnie Gardner. Keeping pace with the No. 39BC, the pair broke away from the running order.

With the cushion coming in just after the race’s mid-point, some of the fastest lap times being turned were by Daryn Pittman. Coming from eighth, the No. 21 wheeled hard on the high line. Having lost pace with the leader in traffic, Gardner worked the low line while Pittman stuck true to the wall to take over the runner-up spot on Lap 18.

Remaining under green flag conditions, Pittman was able to close the gap, but it wouldn’t be enough to run down Justin Grant. With a silver lined Friday night, Pittman will make the call in his seventh Chili Bowl A-Feature since 1999.

The only other Oklahoman locked into the Feature so far, Pittman commented on what it would mean to match the feat of Andy Hillenburg, “I was here and I watched it. It was one of the best Chili Bowls I’ve ever seen so it’d mean a lot. Andy (Hillenburg) was a big hero of mine I got to watch growing up and it was a blast as a young kid watching him win this race so I’d love to be the one to do it.”

Ronnie Gardner would hold on to third to earn his first A-Feature start on Saturday night. The second Six-Eight Motorsports entry to lock into the big dance, Gardner, commented about the team’s success in the 2017 edition Chili Bowl.

“It’s cool man. I think the budget of our team is like a fifth of a lot of the guys out here so that’s pretty cool just for this midget man. I don’t think I will be able to wipe the smile off the face all the home.”

Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. came up to fourth from seventh with California’s Michael Faccinto completing the top-five after starting ninth. Damion Gardner from 12th was sixth with D.J. Netto seventh. The two California drivers were followed by Indiana royalty as 15th starting Dave Darland grabbed eighth. Fighting through the field, Tim McCreadie show from 18th to ninth with Oklahoma’s Wayne Johnson finishing tenth.

Followed by the #BCForever Pole Shuffle powered by Pizza Express to set to the Top 12 in Saturday’s A-Main, Justin Grant pulled off his second victory of the night by defeating Oklahoma’s Christopher Bell. The 11 rounds began with Zach Daum winning over Colby Copeland. Leary trumped Daum in the next round to face Ronnie Gardner who went on to race Daryn Pittman. Winning the three lap dash, Pittman retired with mechanical issues, leaving Danny Stratton to face Jake Swanson. Downing Stratton, Swanson was defeated in the next round by Tyler Cortney who but away Travis Berryhill before spinning while racing Justin Grant for the runner-up spot.

Through four nights of races, a record setting 365 drivers have checked in for the 31st annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire. The record far exceeds the one set in 2016 with 335.

At the close of Friday’s Vacuworx Qualifying Night, the Fastenal Flip Count has reached 33.

Saturday begins early with Hot Laps at 9:30 A.M. for duel ‘O’ and ‘N’ events. The building will open at 8:00 A.M. Opening Ceremonies are set for 5:30 P.M. (CT). For continued updates on the 31st annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire, fans can follow along with the Chili Bowl on social media, as well as the online PPV broadcast on http://www.racinboys.com. All official results and news can be found at http://www.chilibowl.com.

Results:

Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire
Tulsa Expo Raceway – Tulsa, Okla.
Friday, January 13, 2017
Vacuworx Qualifying Night

Car Count: 91
Event Count: 365 (New Record)

Budweiser Heat Races: Top 40 in passing points advance to Qualifiers.

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 71G-Damion Gardner[1]; 2. 10B-Rick Shuman[2]; 3. 05B-Steve Buckwalter[7]; 4. 88-Chad Wheeler[4]; 5. 2AG-Rickie Gaunt[8]; 6. 87F-Sean McClelland[3]; 7. 96CM-Brett Becker[5]; 8. 2J-Cody Lampe[6]; 9. 9M-Cory Mallo[9]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11AG-Dave Darland[3]; 2. 51R-Brody Roa[1]; 3. 98-Clinton Boyles[5]; 4. 25S-Alex Schriever[2]; 5. 10J-John Hunt[6]; 6. 101-Chuck McGillivray[7]; 7. 29-Derek Childs[9]; 8. 56B-Tyler Brehm[8]; 9. 6B-Brad Kraus[4]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 25H-Anton Hernandez[5]; 2. 3C-D.J. Netto[6]; 3. 39BC-Justin Grant[8]; 4. 28A-Ace McCarthy[9]; 5. 84X-Chad Boat[3]; 6. 06-Andy Baugh[7]; 7. 11R-Shane Watts[2]; 8. 10X-Tom Doherty[4]; 9. (DNF) 22X-Payton Williams[1]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 35F-Michael Faccinto[6]; 2. 80-Josh Hawkins[1]; 3. 17R-Alex Schutte[8]; 4. 24S-Landon Simon[2]; 5. 11C-Chett Gehrke[4]; 6. 15L-Ashley Hazelton[3]; 7. 93L-Trey Lambert[7]; 8. 55-Tom Everhart[5]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 71.5-Robert Bell[1]; 2. 7-Shannon McQueen[7]; 3. 0R-Holly Porter[4]; 4. 83S-Shane Weeks[5]; 5. 12R-Brian Rieck[6]; 6. 0-Johnny Murdock[3]; 7. 27Z-Zane Hendricks[2]; (DNS) 22E-David Stephenson

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 17BC-Ricky Stenhouse Jr[7]; 2. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer[3]; 3. 8C-John Carney II[4]; 4. 37-Nick Knepper[8]; 5. 59E-Dex Eaton[2]; 6. 21R-Ryan Truitt[1]; 7. 77C-Kevin Schawitsch[6]; 8. (DNF) 69J-Earl McDoulett Jr[5]

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Daryn Pittman[1]; 2. 14K-Chris Cochran[3]; 3. 8GQ-Jimi-Ray Quin[6]; 4. 22A-Andy Malpocker[2]; 5. GO-Shane Cockrum[5]; 6. 1P-Terry Nichols[4]; 7. 83G-Matt Gilbert[8]; 8. 37F-Tim Kent[7]

Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 21K-Cory Kruseman[2]; 2. 87JR-Troy Rutherford[4]; 3. 2C-Wayne Johnson[5]; 4. 57C-Chad Boespflug[6]; 5. 27S-Andy Shouse[1]; 6. 20X-Noah Harris[7]; 7. 00-Tristan Lee[8]; 8. 89-Nick Bailey[3]

Heat 9 (8 Laps): 1. 32D-Danny Jennings[1]; 2. 68-Ronnie Gardner[8]; 3. 4J-Tim Crawley[3]; 4. 47X-Tim McCreadie[5]; 5. D33-Joey Moughan[7]; 6. 4B-Shane Sellers[2]; 7. 5GS-Garrett Stout[4]; 8. (DNF) 17KT-Ryan Secrest[6]

Heat 10 (8 Laps): 1. 67-Tanner Thorson[1]; 2. 73X-Jac Haudenschild[7]; 3. 12W-Billy Wease[5]; 4. 9A-Jason Walls[2]; 5. 22H-John Heydenreich[3]; 6. 4F-Chad Frewaldt[8]; 7. (DNF) 79-Blake Nimee[4]; 8. (DNF) 20-Tadd Holliman[6]

Heat 11 (8 Laps): 1. 1ST-J.J. Yeley[3]; 2. 3N-Jake Neuman[1]; 3. 95-Chris Andrews[2]; 4. 67K-Holly Shelton[7]; 5. 3F-Davey (D.J.) Hamilton Jr.[5]; 6. 83-Kurt Blackaby[8]; 7. D6-Dakota Gaines[6]; 8. 51A-Ryan Jamison[4]

D-Features: Top 2 advance to corresponding C-Feature.

D Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 79-Blake Nimee[4]; 2. 96CM-Brett Becker[3]; 3. 93L-Trey Lambert[1]; 4. 37F-Tim Kent[6]; 5. 9M-Cory Mallo[10]; 6. 77C-Kevin Schawitsch[2]; 7. (DNF) 17KT-Ryan Secrest[5]; 8. (DNF) 6B-Brad Kraus[9]; 9. (DNF) 55-Tom Everhart[8]; 10. (DNF) 10X-Tom Doherty[7]; (DNS) 11R-Shane Watts; (DNS) 22E-David Stephenson

D Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 89-Nick Bailey[8]; 2. 27Z-Zane Hendricks[5]; 3. 2J-Cody Lampe[6]; 4. 5GS-Garrett Stout[3]; 5. 21R-Ryan Truitt[1]; 6. 51A-Ryan Jamison[9]; 7. 56B-Tyler Brehm[4]; 8. (DNF) D6-Dakota Gaines[2]; 9. (DNF) 20-Tadd Holliman[7]; (DNS) 69J-Earl McDoulett Jr; (DNS) 22X-Payton Williams

C-Features: Top 4 advance to corresponding B-Feature.

C Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. D33-Joey Moughan[1]; 2. 10J-John Hunt[2]; 3. 9A-Jason Walls[4]; 4. 22H-John Heydenreich[9]; 5. 27S-Andy Shouse[11]; 6. 25S-Alex Schriever[3]; 7. 87F-Sean McClelland[13]; 8. 101-Chuck McGillivray[7]; 9. 3F-Davey (D.J.) Hamilton Jr.[6]; 10. 59E-Dex Eaton[10]; 11. 00-Tristan Lee[12]; 12. 96CM-Brett Becker[16]; 13. 83-Kurt Blackaby[5]; 14. 79-Blake Nimee[15]; 15. 0-Johnny Murdock[14]; 16. (DNF) 20X-Noah Harris[8]

C Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 84X-Chad Boat[8]; 2. 88-Chad Wheeler[1]; 3. GO-Shane Cockrum[5]; 4. 24S-Landon Simon[3]; 5. 22A-Andy Malpocker[10]; 6. 1P-Terry Nichols[12]; 7. 11C-Chett Gehrke[6]; 8. 4F-Chad Frewaldt[4]; 9. 89-Nick Bailey[15]; 10. 06-Andy Baugh[7]; 11. 4B-Shane Sellers[14]; 12. 83G-Matt Gilbert[11]; 13. 27Z-Zane Hendricks[16]; 14. 15L-Ashley Hazelton[13]; 15. 29-Derek Childs[9]; 16. (DNF) 12R-Brian Rieck[2]

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

Qualifying Race 1 (10 Laps): 1. 67-Tanner Thorson[1]; 2. 71G-Damion Gardner[2]; 3. 21K-Cory Kruseman[3]; 4. 17R-Alex Schutte[4]; 5. 17BC-Ricky Stenhouse Jr[6]; 6. 7-Shannon McQueen[5]; 7. 98-Clinton Boyles[7]; 8. 4J-Tim Crawley[10]; 9. 10B-Rick Shuman[8]; 10. 0R-Holly Porter[9]

Qualifying Race 2 (10 Laps): 1. 28A-Ace McCarthy[3]; 2. 2C-Wayne Johnson[7]; 3. 37-Nick Knepper[1]; 4. 11AG-Dave Darland[4]; 5. 35F-Michael Faccinto[6]; 6. 73X-Jac Haudenschild[5]; 7. 51R-Brody Roa[8]; 8. 95-Chris Andrews[10]; 9. 8C-John Carney II[9]; 10. 71.5-Robert Bell[2]

Qualifying Race 3 (10 Laps): 1. 21-Daryn Pittman[2]; 2. 1ST-J.J. Yeley[4]; 3. 68-Ronnie Gardner[6]; 4. 3C-D.J. Netto[5]; 5. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer[1]; 6. 87JR-Troy Rutherford[3]; 7. 12W-Billy Wease[7]; 8. 80-Josh Hawkins[8]; 9. 57C-Chad Boespflug[9]; 10. 83S-Shane Weeks[10]

Qualifying Race 4 (10 Laps): 1. 39BC-Justin Grant[5]; 2. 67K-Holly Shelton[7]; 3. 14K-Chris Cochran[1]; 4. 05B-Steve Buckwalter[4]; 5. 47X-Tim McCreadie[10]; 6. 25H-Anton Hernandez[6]; 7. 32D-Danny Jennings[2]; 8. (DNF) 8GQ-Jimi-Ray Quin[3]; 9. (DNF) 2AG-Rickie Gaunt[9]; 10. (DNF) 3N-Jake Neuman[8]

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

B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 14K-Chris Cochran[3]; 2. 25H-Anton Hernandez[1]; 3. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer[4]; 4. 51R-Brody Roa[5]; 5. 4J-Tim Crawley[7]; 6. 8GQ-Jimi-Ray Quin[8]; 7. 7-Shannon McQueen[2]; 8. 57C-Chad Boespflug[10]; 9. D33-Joey Moughan[13]; 10. 12W-Billy Wease[6]; 11. 71.5-Robert Bell[12]; 12. 10J-John Hunt[14]; 13. 9A-Jason Walls[15]; 14. 0R-Holly Porter[11]; 15. (DNF) 22H-John Heydenreich[16]; 16. (DNF) 10B-Rick Shuman[9]

B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 47X-Tim McCreadie[3]; 2. 37-Nick Knepper[1]; 3. 73X-Jac Haudenschild[2]; 4. 84X-Chad Boat[11]; 5. 3N-Jake Neuman[12]; 6. 32D-Danny Jennings[6]; 7. 88-Chad Wheeler[14]; 8. 8C-John Carney II[9]; 9. 24S-Landon Simon[15]; 10. 98-Clinton Boyles[5]; 11. 95-Chris Andrews[7]; 12. 80-Josh Hawkins[8]; 13. GO-Shane Cockrum[13]; 14. (DNF) 83S-Shane Weeks[10]; (DNS) 87JR-Troy Rutherford; (DNS) 2AG-Rickie Gaunt

A-Feature: Top 3 advance to Saturday’s A-Feature.

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 39BC-Justin Grant[1]; 2. 21-Daryn Pittman[8]; 3. 68-Ronnie Gardner[2]; 4. 17BC-Ricky Stenhouse Jr[7]; 5. 35F-Michael Faccinto[9]; 6. 71G-Damion Gardner[12]; 7. 3C-D.J. Netto[11]; 8. 11AG-Dave Darland[15]; 9. 47X-Tim McCreadie[18]; 10. 2C-Wayne Johnson[4]; 11. 21K-Cory Kruseman[13]; 12. 73X-Jac Haudenschild[22]; 13. 67-Tanner Thorson[10]; 14. 84X-Chad Boat[24]; 15. 17R-Alex Schutte[14]; 16. 14K-Chris Cochran[17]; 17. 25H-Anton Hernandez[19]; 18. 67K-Holly Shelton[6]; 19. 37-Nick Knepper[20]; 20. 05B-Steve Buckwalter[16]; 21. 28A-Ace McCarthy[3]; 22. 51R-Brody Roa[23]; 23. (DNF) 1ST-J.J. Yeley[5]; 24. (DNF) 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer[21]

Lap Leader(s): Justin Grant 1-25
Hard Charger: Jac Haudenschild +10

#BCForever Pole Shuffler powered by Pizza Express:

Round 1: Copeland v. Daum
Round 2: Daum v. Leary
Round 3: Leary v. Gardner
Round 4: Gardner v. Pittman
Round 5: Pittman v. Stratton (Pittman with Mechanical issues)
Round 6: Wight v. Stratton
Round 7: Stratton v. Swanson
Round 8: Swanson v. Courtney
Round 9: Berryhill v. Courtney
Round 10: Courtney v. Grant
Round 11: Bell v. Grant