Armstrong holds off Swindell for Chili Bowl Prelim Victory
1/16/2014
TULSA, Okla. (January 15, 2014) Drama was plenty when the checkered flag dropped on the second night of the 28th Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire, as Indiana’s Caleb Armstrong edged out Sammy Swindell for his first Chili Bowl prelim victory on Wednesday’s River Spirit Casino Qualifying Night.
The second first time winner in as many nights, Armstrong began the night’s 25 lap feature from the outside of the front row. Slowed for a caution on Lap 2, Armstrong’s restart relegated the No. 7c to fourth behind Brad Loyet and Alex Sewell.
Working back to the runner up spot by Lap 4, the cushion served the C&A Motorsports driver well, chasing down leader Chris Andrews by the seventh round as the pair approached the tail of the field.
Into traffic on Lap 10, it was Andrews and Armstrong in a race all their own.
Completing the twelfth circuit, the Baker Crop Insurance No. 7c worked around Tulsa’s Chis Andrews for the top spot. Clear from traffic, Andrews went for the slide job two laps later, but instead spun, bringing out the caution on Lap 14.
Back underway with Chris Windom now in pursuit, the RFMS Racing shoe tried for the lead on Lap 19, but was unable to finish the move.
Coming around for the twenty-first time, fifth running Nick Knepper blew through the cushion in turn-three, bouncing the No. 55 off the wall as the engine expired down the front straight-a-way, pouring oil on the bottom of turns one and two.
With the caution displayed, track crews assessed the situation and brought the tiller out to work the nearly engine’s worth of oil into the bottom groove.
Aligned single file for the restart with five laps remaining, Knepper’s departure brought thirteenth starting, Sammy Swindell, into the top five.
Into second with two laps to run, Swindell set his sights on the lead, pulling even with the No. 7c down the back-straight-away with Armstrong maintain the point. Swindell again applied pressure at the white flag.
Committed to the cushion, Armstrong surrendered the lead through the first turn. Giving Swindell just over a half car advantage, Armstrong pulled around the five-time Chili Bowl champion entering the final two turns. Nearly missing the line entering three, Armstrong pitched hard off the cushion exiting the final turn, edging Swindell at the line by 0.441 seconds.
Asked about the final laps, the New Castle, Ind. driver replied, “I saw him (Sammy Swindell) stick his nose in there and I didn’t want to push the issue at first, but then I started pushing it, but I didn’t want to jump the curb. It was easy too, as I did it earlier in the race. I just kept on going and ended up winning.”
On the subject of crews having to till the bottom of the track following the blown engine by Knepper, Swindell responded, “I don’t know if it made a lot of difference. I thought I could slip out there off of two in front of him (Armstrong) there on the last lap. I got there and it wasn’t the grip I thought was going to be there. I should’ve stayed on the bottom. I heard him coming, I just let it go. He ran a good race and I wasn’t going to mess that up.
Chris Windom earned the final pass into Saturday’s championship event.
“We had a really good car,” commented Windom. “We were on Caleb there before that last yellow and I knew Sammy was coming plus I knew JJ (Yeley) was good. They dug that track up in (Turns) one and two, and I made probably the wrong move staying on the top and Sammy got around me on the bottom. I just wasn’t sure what to do there.”
Racing with Rico Abreu for fourth, J.J. Yeley ended his night upside down after the two made contact exiting the fourth turn; resulting in a split finish with the caution displayed with the checkered flag. A very angered Yeley was okay and was scored eighteenth.
Abreu was credited with fourth with Brad Loyet rounding out the top five.
Fifteenth starting Shane Golobic crossed sixth with Brad Kuhn coming from fourteenth to seventh. Jerry Coons, Jr. from eighteenth to eight with Payton Peirce advancing from twenty-first to ninth after transferring from the first B-Feature. Travis Berryhill completed the top ten.
Of the 72 drivers scheduled for Wednesday night, 70 made the draw. Like Tuesday, two Chili Bowl rookies made the call for the A-Feature with Chris Andrews and Parker Price-Miller in the lineup.
The Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire continues with Thursday’s John Christner Trucking Qualifying Night. Races begin at 6:00 P.M. (CT) with Hot Laps at 5:00 P.M. For additional information on the Chili Bowl, log onto http://www.chilibowl.com.
Thursday’s River Spirit Casino Qualifying Night Results
Heat Races: 8 Laps – Top 40 in Passing Points advance to Qualifiers.
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 05-Brad Loyet[2]; 2. 11CA-Chris Andrews[8]; 3. 2X-Ryan Hall[7]; 4. 5$-Danny Smith[5]; 5. 96-Cody Brewer[6]; 6. (DNF) 37K-Steve Brown[3]; 7. (DNF) 28-Greg Fitzpatrick[4]; 8. (DNF) 32-Casey Shuman[1]….5$ penalized at the finish for hitting the cone on a restart.
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 15W-Brandon Waelti[4]; 2. 31B-Travis Berryhill[6]; 3. 10-Brad Kuhn[3]; 4. 45X-Johnny Herrera[8]; 5. 55-Nick Knepper[7]; 6. 2M-Seth Motsinger[2]; 7. 2J-Zach Blurton[1]; 8. 71AU-Domain Ramsay[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Sammy Swindell[4]; 2. 8V-Jace VanderWeerd[2]; 3. 5-Jerry Coons Jr[5]; 4. 14W-Matt Westfall[6]; 5. 33H-Cameron Hagin[7]; 6. 7K-Robby Parish[8]; 7. 16C-David Camfield[3]; 8. (DNF) 44D-Philip Dietz[1]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 15B-Danny Burke[1]; 2. 5C-Colten Cottle[4]; 3. 37F-Chris Guinn[3]; 4. 91S-Jeff Stasa[8]; 5. 83-Hannah Adair[7]; 6. 5K-Tucker Klaasmeyer[2]; 7. (DNF) 69B-Randy Boyer[5]; 8. (DNF) 57X-Tim Kent[6]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 67K-Rico Abreu[2]; 2. 26-Shane Golobic[6]; 3. 10J-John Hunt[3]; 4. 76M-Brad Noffsinger[7]; 5. 92-Brenden Bright[4]; 6. 1T-Tony Roney[5]; 7. 51X-Michael Curtis[1]; 8. 35L-Cody Ledger[8]….92 penalized at the finish for hitting the cone on a restart.
Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 9P-Parker Price-Miller[2]; 2. 6RR-Joe Liguori[1]; 3. 66-Shane Cockrum[5]; 4. 86-Chris Ennis[4]; 5. 14K-Kyle Bellm[6]; 6. 1OU-A.J. Burns[8]; 7. 44C-Clint Schubert[3]; 8. (DNF) 3F-Ned Fry[7]
Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 1ST-J.J. Yeley[1]; 2. 3-Chris Windom[4]; 3. 8-Alex Sewell[7]; 4. 7JR-J.D. Black[6]; 5. 17J-Chase Johnson[3]; 6. 20S-Shon Deskins[8]; 7. 0K-Don O’Keefe Jr[2]; 8. (DNF) 0C-Chris Stockham[5]
Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 8K-Frank Flud[2]; 2. 15-Tim Siner[1]; 3. 39T-Payton Pierce[3]; 4. 73X-Trey Marcham[7]; 5. 6R-Jody Rosenboom[4]; 6. 93H-Harley Hollan[5]; 7. 71M-Brandon Matus[6]…6R penalized at the finish for hitting the cone on a restart.
Heat 9 (8 Laps): 1. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[2]; 2. 87R-Jeff Flesher[4]; 3. 82-Eric Johnson[1]; 4. 84-Scotty Smith[3]; 5. 7F-Sean McClelland[7]; 6. 25-Dylan Peterson[5]; 7. (DNF) 20X-Jimmy Harris[6]
C-Features: 12 Laps – Top 4 advance to corresponding B-Feature.
C Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 96-Cody Brewer[1]; 2. 7K-Robby Parish[2]; 3. 1T-Tony Roney[5]; 4. 6R-Jody Rosenboom[4]; 5. 2M-Seth Motsinger[7]; 6. 20S-Shon Deskins[3]; 7. 35L-Cody Ledger[11]; 8. 25-Dylan Peterson[6]; 9. 16C-David Camfield[10]; 10. 51X-Michael Curtis[13]; 11. 71AU-Domain Ramsay[14]; 12. 71M-Brandon Matus[8]; 13. (DNF) 69B-Randy Boyer[9]; DNS 3F-Ned Fry; DNS 32-Casey Shuman
C Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 93H-Harley Hollan[5]; 2. 92-Brenden Bright[3]; 3. 17J-Chase Johnson[4]; 4. 37K-Steve Brown[6]; 5. 44C-Clint Schubert[10]; 6. 1OU-A.J. Burns[2]; 7. 2J-Zach Blurton[12]; 8. 0K-Don O’Keefe Jr[11]; 9. 20X-Jimmy Harris[8]; 10. (DNF) 44D-Philip Dietz[15]; 11. (DNF) 5K-Tucker Klaasmeyer[7]; 12. (DNF) 14K-Kyle Bellm[1]; 13. (DNF) 0C-Chris Stockham[14]; 14. (DNF) 28-Greg Fitzpatrick[9]; DNS 57X-Tim Kent
Qualifiers: 10 Laps – Top 16 in combined Heat Race and Qualifier points advance to A-Feature.
Qualifier 1 (10 Laps): 1. 66-Shane Cockrum[1]; 2. 1ST-J.J. Yeley[2]; 3. 11CA-Chris Andrews[6]; 4. 10-Brad Kuhn[8]; 5. 26-Shane Golobic[5]; 6. 67K-Rico Abreu[4]; 7. 5C-Colten Cottle[3]; 8. 6RR-Joe Liguori[7]; 9. 5$-Danny Smith[9]; 10. 83-Hannah Adair[10]
Qualifier 2 (10 Laps): 1. 3-Chris Windom[3]; 2. 9P-Parker Price-Miller[4]; 3. 45X-Johnny Herrera[2]; 4. 76M-Brad Noffsinger[1]; 5. 15W-Brandon Waelti[6]; 6. 15-Tim Siner[7]; 7. 2X-Ryan Hall[5]; 8. 82-Eric Johnson[9]; 9. 37F-Chris Guinn[8]; 10. (DNF) 7F-Sean McClelland[10]
Qualifier 3 (10 Laps): 1. 73X-Trey Marcham[1]; 2. 8-Alex Sewell[5]; 3. 55-Nick Knepper[9]; 4. 8K-Frank Flud[4]; 5. 1-Sammy Swindell[6]; 6. 14W-Matt Westfall[7]; 7. 87R-Jeff Flesher[3]; 8. 91S-Jeff Stasa[2]; 9. 10J-John Hunt[8]; 10. 86-Chris Ennis[10]
Qualifier 4 (10 Laps): 1. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[4]; 2. 05-Brad Loyet[5]; 3. 5-Jerry Coons Jr[2]; 4. 31B-Travis Berryhill[6]; 5. 39T-Payton Pierce[8]; 6. 33H-Cameron Hagin[9]; 7. 8V-Jace VanderWeerd[1]; 8. 7JR-J.D. Black[7]; 9. 15B-Danny Burke[3]; 10. 84-Scotty Smith[10]
B-Main: 15 Laps – Top 4 advance to A-Feature.
B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 67K-Rico Abreu[3]; 2. 45X-Johnny Herrera[1]; 3. 39T-Payton Pierce[2]; 4. 15-Tim Siner[4]; 5. 14W-Matt Westfall[5]; 6. 6RR-Joe Liguori[7]; 7. 96-Cody Brewer[13]; 8. 83-Hannah Adair[11]; 9. 82-Eric Johnson[8]; 10. 1T-Tony Roney[15]; 11. 15B-Danny Burke[9]; 12. 86-Chris Ennis[12]; 13. 10J-John Hunt[10]; 14. 7K-Robby Parish[14]; 15. 6R-Jody Rosenboom[16]; 16. (DNF) 87R-Jeff Flesher[6]
B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 5-Jerry Coons Jr[1]; 2. 91S-Jeff Stasa[7]; 3. 8V-Jace VanderWeerd[6]; 4. 5C-Colten Cottle[5]; 5. 76M-Brad Noffsinger[2]; 6. 33H-Cameron Hagin[3]; 7. 93H-Harley Hollan[13]; 8. 7F-Sean McClelland[11]; 9. 17J-Chase Johnson[15]; 10. 2X-Ryan Hall[4]; 11. 37F-Chris Guinn[9]; 12. 5$-Danny Smith[10]; 13. 37K-Steve Brown[16]; 14. 92-Brenden Bright[14]; 15. (DNF) 7JR-J.D. Black[8]; 16. (DNF) 84-Scotty Smith[12]
A-Feature: 25 Laps – Top 3 lock into Saturday’s Championship Feature.
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[2]; 2. 1-Sammy Swindell[13]; 3. 3-Chris Windom[4]; 4. 67K-Rico Abreu[17]; 5. 05-Brad Loyet[5]; 6. 26-Shane Golobic[15]; 7. 10-Brad Kuhn[14]; 8. 5-Jerry Coons Jr[18]; 9. 39T-Payton Pierce[21]; 10. 31B-Travis Berryhill[7]; 11. 15W-Brandon Waelti[12]; 12. 66-Shane Cockrum[9]; 13. 8K-Frank Flud[16]; 14. 9P-Parker Price-Miller[6]; 15. 15-Tim Siner[23]; 16. 73X-Trey Marcham[10]; 17. 8V-Jace VanderWeerd[22]; 18. 1ST-J.J. Yeley[11]; 19. 5C-Colten Cottle[24]; 20. 91S-Jeff Stasa[20]; 21. (DNF) 55-Nick Knepper[8]; 22. (DNF) 11CA-Chris Andrews[1]; 23. (DNF) 8-Alex Sewell[3]; 24. (DNF) 45X-Johnny Herrera[19]
Lap Leaders: Chris Andrews (1-11), Caleb Armstrong (12-25)