Bell Wins Thursday Chili Bowl Prelim A-Main, Bilicki Flips in B-Main

Christopher Bell put on a clinic on Thursday night and gave the Chili Bowl Nationals crowd plenty of reason to keep their butts out of their seats. Starting from the eighth position and struggling early in the 30-lap A-Main, it looked like Bell was out of contention for a record-tying ninth career Chili Bowl prelim win.

Turns out, he wasn't.

Just as it appeared that Bell was done for, a slew of cautions erupted in the closing laps of the event, which allowed him to refocus, and after making adjustments to his driving style, he was able to claw his way through the minefield of cars, and put on a wild slide job move to take the lead from Ryan Bernal with three laps to go. He wouldn't look back.

“That was a ton of fun, man. That was a ton of fun,” Bell said in his victory interview on FloRacing. “I had to work for that one, obviously.”

After the race, Bell admittedly was having a hard time working forward in the tough field from his less-than-stellar starting spot. But it was under the lull caused by the late-race cautions that he chose to change his approach.

“Whenever we got those rash of yellows, I’m like, I’ve got to do something different," Bell said. "I was actually getting off pretty good on the bottom in [Turns] 3 and 4, so I just committed to myself down there, and I just made sure I got low enough on the berm enough to hit it, and I was able to make up some positions.”

The decision paid off as Bell came flying through the field like he was shot out of a cannon. And with three laps to go, he was able to work his way around both of the top challengers in the race -- Bernal, and C.J. Leary -- to take the A-Main win, and with it, he secured his starting spot in Saturday's Chili Bowl Nationals A-Main.

“That right there is why I love this place, man. You’re never out of it until the checkered flag falls,” Bell stated. “Last year, I was on the other side of it.”

Bell, who also won Monday night's Race of Champions in Tulsa, Oklahoma, extended his career Chili Bowl Nationals preliminary race wins total to nine, which moves him into a tie with fellow NASCAR star Kyle Larson, who snagged his ninth career Chili Bowl prelim win in the A-Main on Monday night. Both will be among the talented racers battling for the Golden Driller on Saturday night.

If Bell can capture the prize on Saturday night, it'll mark his fourth career win in the prestigious dirt midget event, which annually draws hundreds of competitors.

Joining Bell in advancing to Saturday night's big show from Thursday's A-Main was Leary, who drives for Alex Bowman Racing, a team owned by NASCAR star Alex Bowman. Bernal, who was passed late in the race for the win by Bell, faded to third, and as a result, will now face the B-Main on Saturday, where he'll look to advance into the big show.

While Bell stole the headlines, another NASCAR racer, Josh Bilicki, performed better than expected on Thursday night.

Bilicki was able to advance to the B-Main 2 by way of the accumlation of points scored through his Heat race, and qualifier race. Unfortunately, early in the B-Main 2, Bilicki went for a wild ride off the berm in Turn 1, and flipped his car. Incredibly, the track safety team rolled Bilicki's car back over, and he was able to continue on.

While he didn't win, or even finish on the lead lap, Bilicki showed incredible fortitude on his path to a 10th-place result in B-Main 2.

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