Story By: BRYAN HULBERT / CHILI BOWL – TULSA, OK – Monday’s Chili Bowl Nationals Cummins Qualifying Night field included 66 of a scheduled 68 entries and included the O’Reilly Auto Parts Invitational Race of Champions.
A nail-biter of a race, the annual tradition of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Race of Champions brought the crowd to their feet, with Spencer Bayston adding his name to the list of winners in the event’s fifteenth edition.
Battling early with Rico Abreu, the pair went slide for slide for several laps, with Rico holding off the No. 1s until Lap 12. Getting space over the field, the closing laps would welcome a new challenger.
Charging the hub of the Tulsa Expo Raceway, Bixby’s Cannon McIntosh closed the gap to car lengths as the pair raced to the final three laps. Just needing a chance to pounce, the final trip to the back stretch saw Bayston waiting on the car off the cushion of the second turn.
Giving Cannon a run into the final two turns, it would not be enough as Cannon slid off the bottom enough to let Bayston win the drag race to the line.
Rico Abreu crossed third with Logan Seavey, who raced as high as third on Lap 10, ended up settling for fourth, while Tanner Thorson completed the top five.
Chase Briscoe, Buddy Kofoid, Blake Hahn, Justin Grant, and Kody Swanson made up the top ten.
Results:
O’Reilly Auto Parts Race of Champions Qualifying
O’Reilly Auto Parts Race of Champions Qualifying: 1. 71W-Michael Kofoid, 11.349[4]; 2. 39-Logan Seavey, 11.375[18]; 3. 08-Cannon McIntosh, 11.438[7]; 4. 1S-Spencer Bayston, 11.482[8]; 5. 88-Tanner Thorson, 11.494[16]; 6. 4X-Michael Pickens, 11.552[13]; 7. 2J-Justin Grant, 11.604[9]; 8. 24-Rico Abreu, 11.635[3]; 9. 5-Chase Briscoe, 11.674[11]; 10. 52-Blake Hahn, 11.801[10]; 11. 98-Tanner Carrick, 11.824[15]; 12. 55X-Alex Bowman, 11.830[19]; 13. 71G-Damion Gardner, 11.841[6]; 14. 4P-Kody Swanson, 11.848[5]; 15. 97-Brenham Crouch, 11.857[17]; 16. 7M-Shane Cockrum, 11.953[1]; 17. 1-Sammy Swindell, 12.089[12]; 18. 39T-Tim McCreadie, 12.150[2]; 19. 47-Zach Daum, 12.189[14]
O’Reilly Auto Parts Race of Champions
O’Reilly Race of Champions (20 Laps): 1. 1S-Spencer Bayston[5]; 2. 08-Cannon McIntosh[6]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu[1]; 4. 39-Logan Seavey[7]; 5. 88-Tanner Thorson[4]; 6. 5-Chase Briscoe[9]; 7. 71W-Michael Kofoid[8]; 8. 52-Blake Hahn[10]; 9. 2J-Justin Grant[2]; 10. 4P-Kody Swanson[14]; 11. 4X-Michael Pickens[3]; 12. 55X-Alex Bowman[12]; 13. 39T-Tim McCreadie[18]; 14. 98-Tanner Carrick[11]; 15. 47-Zach Daum[19]; 16. 97-Brenham Crouch[15]; 17. 7M-Shane Cockrum[16]; 18. 1-Sammy Swindell[17]; 19. (DNF) 71G-Damion Gardner[13]
