Former NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson has celebrated his third victory at the Chili Bowl Nationals.
Larson’s win put him alongside Christopher Bell as a three-time Chili Bowl champion.
The Chili Bowl Nationals, a major event in midget racing, began in 1987 and has since become a staple of the sport’s annual schedule.
The event format involves several qualifying nights that lead up to the A-Main race. Kyle Larson’s journey to victory during the main event began with his win on Monday’s qualifying night.
This victory set the stage for his participation in the Pole Shuffle, a unique feature of the event where top qualifiers race head-to-head to finalize starting positions for the grand A-Main race.
Reflecting on his third Chili Bowl victory, Larson commented, as quoted by NASCAR.com:
“All three (Chili Bowl wins) are different.
“The first one was just a big hurdle to get over mentally I feel like to get a win in here finally. Then the next year meant a lot because we didn’t have the best car that race but we played defense really well.
“Tonight, the track was challenging to make a lap by yourself, so when you can win a 40-lap race on a track that challenging, it’s pretty cool.”
He managed to lead every lap of the main event, though not without close calls. With 17 laps remaining, Larson encountered a stalled car, Jacob Denney, amid the traffic. Despite making contact, his car restarted just in time to maintain his lead.
Larson described the heart-pounding moment, stating:
“He was just stopped sideways in front of me. I just kind of ramped over the left-front of his race car. I just kind of jumped him really. It stalled in mid-air.
“When it was getting ready to land, I was like, ‘Please, please, please re-fire.’ It re-fired, so I thought I would only get one break, not two.”
Later in the race, Larson made contact with the wall, which could have been disastrous. Fortunately, a caution flag caused by an unrelated dislodged banner allowed him to retain his position at the front.
“I made a mistake on the frontstretch and was kind of up on top of the wall and it shot me off of it.
“I thought I was going to flip similar to how I did last year. I didn’t know it at the time, but it had ripped the banner down. I thought they threw the caution for me.
“Before I got back around to the other side I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know how they’re going to score this.’
“If they were going to have me as the cause of the caution, if I would get penalized or anything. But I saw the banner laying there and I was like, ‘OK, well that’s good. Maybe I’ll keep my spot.’”
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