Keith Kunz Motorsports of Columbus has announced its full 10-car lineup for the 35th Annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals, which will conclude tonight in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The event will be broadcast live on MAVTV and LucasOilRacing.TV.
Their lineup consists of Rico Abreu, Cannon McIntosh, Buddy Kofoid, Brian Carber, Kaylee Bryson, Tanner Carrick, Tucker Klaasmeyer, Jesse Love, Daison Pursley and Holley Hollan.
Kunz saw his streak five straight Chili Bowl Nationals victories end last year, but he’s ready to go on a new run. So far this week, Kunz Motorsports drivers had won two of the first three preliminary night feature races.
KKM will once again field the biggest team in the event. This team is young, but they have had success in their limited experience inside the Tulsa Expo Center. Rico Abreu leads the way with two Golden Drillers and the only one to win the Main Event. He is not the only one on the team to win a prelim feature because second-year driver Cannon McIntosh did so last year.
“We’re really excited about the team we’re bringing to Tulsa,” Kunz said. “A lot of people felt like we weren’t going to be as strong outdoors this past year because of the young guys we had on our team, and I feel like we proved them wrong in a lot of ways.”
Abreu wins Wednesday
Driving to roll down a new car for his qualifying run after a massive flip during Tuesday’s Vacuworx Invitational Race of Champions, the new Spike Chassis seemed to be a perfect fit as California’s Abreu rolled into Victory Lane for the sixth consecutive year on Wednesday’s Circle City Raceway Qualifying Night in Tulsa.
“This Keith Kunz Motorsports Team, they are so good at setting up a car to get better as the race goes on,” stated Abreu. “It’s really rewarding to drive for such an unbelievable team.”
The 31st victory for car owner Kunz, the No. 97 went unchallenged through the duration of the 30-lap affair with Abreu rolling to the lead from the pole with Alex Bright in pursuit. Rolling the hub of the Tulsa Expo Raceway the first third of the A-Feature, slower traffic finally forced Abreu to adjust to the cushion.
Bright finished second to Abreu, followed by Brad Sweet, Jake Neuman and Colby Copeland.
Larson wins Tuesday
Picking up his fourth Warren CAT Qualifying Night victory in as many years, Kyle Larson punched his ticket into today’s championship A-Feature for the 10th time since 2010 by winning the Tuesday’s feature in Tulsa.
Larson’s seventh overall preliminary night victory, the MAVTV No. 01 trailed Thomas Meseraull on the start, with the pair quickly going slide for slide for the lead until the caution came on Lap 4, when Jonathan Beason’s third-place run came to a close with a hard hit to the wall in the second turn.
McIntosh wins Monday
A statement win for McIntosh on Monday, the Bixby, Oklahoma, shoe opened the Chili Bowl Nationals by wheeling the Keith Kunz Motorsports-Curb-Agajanian No. 71k to his second Cummins Qualifying Night victory in as many years.
“I really didn’t think I was going to be able to do it again, but you just have to believe, and as the night went on, I started to believe more and more that I could do it and just told myself to be patient and be consistent, and that’s what it took to win tonight,” stated Cannon when asked about his temperament going into the Monday opener.
Handing Kunz his 30th A-Feature win as a car owner atop Tulsa Expo Raceway clay, the 18-year-old battled early on with Ryan Bernal. Swapping lines with the No. 87w, Cannon gained the edge on Lap 4. Stalked by Tyler Courtney, who took over second a lap after McIntosh took the point, the No. 7c commenced to slide-jobs through several mid-race restarts.
Stewart talks truck race
When the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule was released in November, many were surprised to see that Eldora Speedway — the half-mile dirt track owned by three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart — would no longer have a spot on the series’ 22-race calendar.
“I know there has been a lot of misconceptions that NASCAR took us off the (truck series) schedule. That’s now how this happened,” said Stewart. “NASCAR didn’t take us off the schedule. We just didn’t renew our contract. We have our list of reasons for it. We’ve got some big things that we are trying to do with (Eldora Speedway), and we felt that we needed to go in a different direction.”
Although not returning to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule next season, Eldora Speedway will play host to SRX (Superstar Racing Experience), a new venture co-owned by Stewart and long-time NASCAR crew chief and former team owner Ray Evernham, on June 26.
Setser competes at Tulsa
Gunnar Setser of Columbus opened his 2021 campaign on New Year’s weekend, piloting a Keith Kunz Motorsports entry in multiple divisions at the 36th Annual Tulsa Shootout.
A field of 112 Winged Outlaw entries converged at the River Spirit Expo Center. The field was divided into 22 Heat Races, with the top 112 in passing points at the conclusion advancing to eight qualifying races on Jan. 1. Setser advanced one spot to place fourth, which positioned him starting 11th in his qualifier.
Advancing four spots to finish seventh, Setser went on to a B-Feature, where he finish fifth, ending his night early.
In the Restricted A-Class, Setser went into battle against a field of 60 entries. The top 60 in passing points following 11 heat races would transfer to five qualifying races. After starting fifth, Setser advanced to a solid third-place finish.
Starting 11th in a Restricted A-Class qualifier, Setser moved up two spots to finish ninth. Transferring to a B-Feature, he narrowly missed locking into the A-Main with a fourth-place finish.
In a stout field of 179 Winged A-Class drivers, Setser was once again vying for a spot in the top 112 in passing points. A fifth-place finish in his heat race earned him the eighth starting position for a C-Feature.
The Stock Non-Wing division drew an impressive field of 303 entries to the Tulsa Expo Raceway. A fourth-place finish in his heat race earned Setser the fifth starting spot for a C-Feature. Charging forward to grab the win, he advanced to the 13th starting position in the B-Feature. Unfortunately, he failed to reach a transfer position into the A-Main.
