Tulsa, Oklahoma (01/13/2021)... Circle City Raceway Qualifying Night belonged solely to Rico Abreu. He started on the pole and was unchallenged from start to finish, winning by 3.588 seconds.
The win was Abreu's sixth preliminary night win in seven years and his fourth in a row. Alex Bright shined in his Tom Malloy/Rodela No. 25x. He ended his night with a runner-up finish and a spot in the A-Main on Saturday.
Two-time World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion Brad Sweet gave Bright a run for his money in the final seven laps after a caution for a failed slide job attempt on Robert Dalby from Parker Price-Miller. Sweet and Bright traded sliders, but Bright was too quick and forced Sweet to settle for third.
2020 POWRi National Midget champion Jake Neuman placed fourth while Colby Copeland rounded out the top 5 in his No. 27W.
Following Copeland was his Matt Wood Racing teammate and Hard Charger of the race, Kevin Thomas Jr. Jake Swanson, veteran Daniel Robinson, Parker Price-Miller, and former Chili Bowl Rookie of the Year, Gio Scelzi, who crossed the line in 10th.
2019 Camping World NASCAR Truck Series champion Brett Moffitt made the A-Main in his Chili Bowl debut, where he placed 18th. Another NASCAR star made his Chili Bowl debut on Wednesday night, Chase Elliot. Chase was running fifth in B-Main two, where he spun out, causing him to go to the rear. He made it back up to eighth, but it was not enough as only the top 4 transferred to the Feature.
Daniel Robinson was the driver of the night on Twitter. The Ewing, Illinois native decided to give 5-time Chili Bowl Nationals winner Sammy Swindell the one-finger salute as he passed him out of turn four coming to the checkered flag in Qualifier number three. When asked why he did that by Ross Wece, Robinson said, "I wasn't even mad at him. I'd just never passed Sammy Swindell before." Not too many people can say that they have passed a Swindell inside the Tulsa Expo Center, but now Robinson is someone who can make the claim. Daniel would go onto finish 8th in the A-Main.
-Lucas Halbert
A-Main Results (30 Laps):
1. (97) Rico Abreu [1], 2. (25x) Alex Bright [2], 3. (1R) Brad Sweet [9[, 4. (3N) Jake Neuman [7], 27W) Colby Copeland [8], 6. (47W) Kevin Thomas Jr [14], 7. (55X) Jake Swanson [5], 8. (57K) Daniel Robinson [6], 9. (4A) Parker Price-Miller [4], 10. (84) Giovanni Scelzi [10], 11. (1) Sammy Swindell [17], 12. (71X) Brian Carber [19], 13. (3W) Brandon Waelti [15], 14. (15A) Emerson Axsom [13], 15. (91T) Tyler Thomas [16], 16. (81) Colten Cottle [22], 17. (22X) Steven Shebester [18], 18. (45M) Brett Moffitt [24], 19. (37) Max Adams [21], 20. (91) Jeff Stasa [23], 21. (4D) Robert Dalby [3]-DNF, 22. (19A) Chase Randall [11]-DNF, 23. (44S) Kameron Key [12]-DNF, 24. (7R) AJ Hopkins [20]-DNF