By Bryan Hubert, Lucas Oi; Chili Bowl PR (Tulsa, OK) — Just like 2012, Sammy Swindell finished his Prelim Night under the double checkered flags as the US Fleet Tracking No. 1 swept all 25 laps of Wednesday’s US Fleet Tracking A-Feature.
With a familiar half grin, the crafty veteran spoke of his win by saying, “when you are this old, it doesn’t get old.”
Earning the pacers position, Swindell was never challenged en-route to his seventh Chili Bowl prelim victory while being chased across the line by 2008 Lucas Oil Chili Bowl champion Damion Gardner.
With the pair jumping into the one, two positions from the start, the race for third occupied most of the attention as the Loyet Motorsports No. o5T of Gary Taylor traded the show position with the Indy Race Parts No. 71 of Jac Haudenschild who grabbed the spot with nineteen laps remaining until the caution forced the field to the last fully completed lap.
With the majority of the field on the cushion, the race resumed with Swindell racing into the back of the field by lap fourteen.
Mired in slower traffic, the Swindell advantage would remain unchallenged as Gardner continued to pace in the runner up spot with Taylor holding third while Haudenschild worked to hold off Darren Hagen, Shane Golobic, and Mike Spencer as spots fourth through seventh where up for grabs prior to the races final caution on lap fifteen.
Getting the pass for third on lap nineteen, Haudenschild would join Gardner as the pair continued their pursuit of the Super Shox No. 1 but in the end Sammy Swindell continued his dominance of the Tulsa Expo Raceway.
Asked about his pass for third, Haudenschild replied, “I got around [Gary Taylor] early there and they put a yellow out and they put him back around me. We banged a little bit getting through it but that looks like the way you’ve got to do it here.”
Gary Taylor and Shane Golobic held on to fill out the top five.
Darren Hagen settled for sixth with Bryan Clauson climbing from thirteenth to seventh. Mike Spencer, Dustin Morgan, and Brad Kuhn completed the top ten.
Wednesday’s River Spirit Casino Qualifying night saw eight Heat Races contested with Dustin Morgan, Stevie Sussex, Gary Taylor, Jac Haudenschild, Shane Golobic, Thomas Meseraull, Alex Bright, and Darren Hagen earning victories.
C-Features went to Kasey Kahne and Wes McIntyre with B-Features belonging to Bobby East and Jace VanderWeerd.
A total of four A-Feature Qualifiers were contested with Gary Taylor, Darren Hagen, Jac Haudenschild, and Sammy Swindell on top.
Wednesday’s Hard Charger was Bobby East having advanced from the night’s first B-Feature to finish eleventh.
The River Spirit Casino Qualifying Night at the 27th Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire saw 66 drivers from 19 states as well as Canada draw in.
Wednesday’s River Spirit Casino Qualifying Night Results
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 93-Dustin Morgan[2]; 2. 51W-Brandon Waelti[1]; 3. 12JR-Josh Pelkey[3]; 4. 16-Robert Ballou[5]; 5. 5CC-Colten Cottle[4]; 6. 24H-Bryan Sebetto[9]; 7. 44-Don Droud Jr[7]; 8. 94-Layne Himebaugh[8]; DNS 9F-Jared Carpenter
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1AZ-Steve Sussex Jr[6]; 2. 7JR-J.D. Black[4]; 3. 1T-Tony Roney[3]; 4. 35T-Tyler Robbins[1]; 5. 0X-Johnny Murdock[8]; 6. 1W-Paul White[2]; DNF 11J-Travis Berryhill[7]; DNF 91-Jeff Stasa[9]; DNF 20X-Jimmy Harris[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 05T-Gary Taylor[2]; 2. 51S-Mike Spencer[5]; 3. 67W-Christopher Bell[7]; 4. 8K-Blake Hahn[3]; 5. 7S-Hunter Schuerenberg[8]; 6. 89-Kasey Kahne[6]; 7. 67K-Riley Emmel[4]; 8. 7X-Critter Malone[1]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 71X-Jac Haudenschild[1]; 2. 2S-Danny Stratton[4]; 3. 015-David Prickett[6]; 4. 3B-Jayme Barnes[7]; 5. 24L-C.J. Leary[8]; 6. 10C-Dalton Camfield[2]; 7. 37T-Harli White[5]; 8. 7T-Trey Marcham[3]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Shane Golobic[2]; 2. 10-Brad Kuhn[1]; 3. 27R-Kyle O’Gara[5]; 4. 2A-Jason Howell[7]; 5. 57A-Hannah Adair[6]; 6. 12M-Kyle McCutcheon[3]; 7. 44S-Clint Schubert[4]; DNF 4F-Chad Frewaldt[8]
Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Thomas Meseraull[1]; 2. 1-Sammy Swindell[5]; 3. 83-Kurt Blackaby[3]; 4. 4E-Bobby East[7]; 5. 91K-Dereck King[4]; 6. 2DD-Josh Hawkins[2]; 7. 11B-Andee Beierle[8]; 8. 5M-Ned Fry[6]
Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 77B-Alex Bright[1]; 2. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[5]; 3. 47-Damion Gardner[7]; 4. 8V-Jace VanderWeerd[4]; 5. 22X-Wayne Johnson[3]; 6. 25P-Dylan Peterson[2]; 7. 85J-Matt Johnson[6]; DNF 98GB-Gavin Galbraith[8]
Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Darren Hagen[1]; 2. 72-Tyler Edwards[4]; 3. 39B-Bryan Clauson[8]; 4. 14JR-Matt Streeter[6]; 5. 9P-Wes McIntyre[3]; 6. 75H-Johnny Herrera[7]; 7. 5$-Danny Smith[5]; 8. 82-Eric Johnson[2]
C-Features – Top 4 advance to corresponding B-Features
C Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 89-Kasey Kahne[2]; 2. 22X-Wayne Johnson[1]; 3. 7X-Critter Malone[13]; 4. 11J-Travis Berryhill[6]; 5. 67K-Riley Emmel[8]; 6. 37T-Harli White[7]; 7. 25P-Dylan Peterson[5]; DNF 20X-Jimmy Harris[11]; DNF 4F-Chad Frewaldt[9]; DNF 7T-Trey Marcham[12]; DNF 12M-Kyle McCutcheon[3]; DNF 94-Layne Himebaugh[10]; DNF 10C-Dalton Camfield[4]
C Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 9P-Wes McIntyre[1]; 2. 44-Don Droud Jr[5]; 3. 1W-Paul White[3]; 4. 44S-Clint Schubert[8]; 5. 98GB-Gavin Galbraith[9]; 6. 2DD-Josh Hawkins[4]; 7. 11B-Andee Beierle[2]; 8. 91-Jeff Stasa[11]; 9. 5M-Ned Fry[10]; DNF 85J-Matt Johnson[6]; DNF 82-Eric Johnson[12]; DNF 5$-Danny Smith[7]; DNS 9F-Jared Carpenter
A-Feature Qualifiers – Top 16 in combined passing points advance to the US Fleet Track A-Feature.
A-Feature Qualifier #1 (10 Laps): 1. 05T-Gary Taylor[4]; 2. 77B-Alex Bright[2]; 3. 14JR-Matt Streeter[7]; 4. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[5]; 5. 8V-Jace VanderWeerd[9]; 6. 72-Tyler Edwards[3]; 7. 2A-Jason Howell[1]; 8. 12JR-Josh Pelkey[8]; 9. 1AZ-Steve Sussex Jr[6]; 10. 35T-Tyler Robbins[10]
A-Feature Qualifier #2 (10 Laps): 1. 3-Darren Hagen[2]; 2. 11-Shane Golobic[4]; 3. 4E-Bobby East[1]; 4. 67W-Christopher Bell[5]; 5. 39B-Bryan Clauson[6]; 6. 1T-Tony Roney[8]; 7. 015-David Prickett[3]; 8. 8K-Blake Hahn[9]; 9. 5CC-Colten Cottle[10]; DNS 0X-Johnny Murdock
A-Feature Qualifier #3 (10 Laps): 1. 71X-Jac Haudenschild[3]; 2. 47-Damion Gardner[5]; 3. 51S-Mike Spencer[6]; 4. 91K-Dereck King[10]; 5. 51W-Brandon Waelti[1]; 6. 57A-Hannah Adair[9]; 7. 83-Kurt Blackaby[8]; 8. 27R-Kyle O’Gara[2]; 9. 7S-Hunter Schuerenberg[7]; DNF 7JR-J.D. Black[4]
A-Feature Qualifier #4 (10 Laps): 1. 1-Sammy Swindell[6]; 2. 10-Brad Kuhn[1]; 3. 93-Dustin Morgan[5]; 4. 57-Thomas Meseraull[3]; 5. 3B-Jayme Barnes[2]; 6. 75H-Johnny Herrera[10]; 7. 16-Robert Ballou[8]; 8. 2S-Danny Stratton[4]; 9. 24L-C.J. Leary[7]; 10. 24H-Bryan Sebetto[9]
B-Features – Top 4 advance to the US Fleet Tracking A-Feature
B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 4E-Bobby East[1]; 2. 75H-Johnny Herrera[5]; 3. 51W-Brandon Waelti[4]; 4. 83-Kurt Blackaby[6]; 5. 5CC-Colten Cottle[11]; 6. 7X-Critter Malone[15]; 7. 16-Robert Ballou[7]; 8. 7S-Hunter Schuerenberg[10]; 9. 27R-Kyle O’Gara[8]; 10. 8K-Blake Hahn[9]; 11. 11J-Travis Berryhill[16]; DNF 89-Kasey Kahne[13]; DNF 1AZ-Steve Sussex Jr[2]; DNF 35T-Tyler Robbins[12]; DNF 3B-Jayme Barnes[3]; DNF 22X-Wayne Johnson[14]
B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 8V-Jace VanderWeerd[1]; 2. 2S-Danny Stratton[6]; 3. 72-Tyler Edwards[2]; 4. 015-David Prickett[5]; 5. 57A-Hannah Adair[4]; 6. 24H-Bryan Sebetto[12]; 7. 2A-Jason Howell[7]; 8. 24L-C.J. Leary[10]; 9. 1W-Paul White[15]; 10. 1T-Tony Roney[3]; 11. 12JR-Josh Pelkey[8]; 12. 9P-Wes McIntyre[13]; 13. 44-Don Droud Jr[14]; DNF 44S-Clint Schubert[16]; DNF 0X-Johnny Murdock[11]; DNS 7JR-J.D. Black
US Fleet Tracking A-Feature – Top 3 Lock into Saturday’s Lucas Oil Championship A-Feature
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 1-Sammy Swindell[1]; 2. 47-Damion Gardner[3]; 3. 71X-Jac Haudenschild[4]; 4. 05T-Gary Taylor[2]; 5. 11-Shane Golobic[6]; 6. 3-Darren Hagen[7]; 7. 39B-Bryan Clauson[13]; 8. 51S-Mike Spencer[5]; 9. 93-Dustin Morgan[8]; 10. 10-Brad Kuhn[14]; 11. 4E-Bobby East[17]; 12. 67W-Christopher Bell[12]; 13. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[11]; 14. 75H-Johnny Herrera[19]; 15. 57-Thomas Meseraull[16]; 16. 77B-Alex Bright[10]; 17. 72-Tyler Edwards[22]; 18. 8V-Jace VanderWeerd[18]; 19. 91K-Dereck King[15]; 20. 015-David Prickett[24]; 21. 83-Kurt Blackaby[23]; 22. 51W-Brandon Waelti[21]; DNF 14JR-Matt Streeter[9]; DNF 2S-Danny Stratton[20]