Kyle Larson led the way from start to finish at the 39th annual Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy Drink, earning his third career win at the Midget racing event in the HendrickCars.com/FloRacing No. 1k, owned by Paul Silva.
“We had a great car,” Larson said. “Paul Silva has worked very hard on the Midget over the last three years, and as bad as we were in 2022 with the same car, it feels great to come away with a win in the Chili Bowl, especially considering how difficult Monday was.
The Matt Wood Racing #57w, making its first feature starter, was given the lead over Landon Brooks to start the 40-lap feature and was pitted against Daison Pursley. Pursley and Larson took second on lap 13 and quickly found traffic, with Larson’s night almost coming to an end when a few slower cars converged. Over the front of Brenham Crouch, Larson somehow kept rolling.
“Being at the back of the pack, they could be impatient, and they converged and stopped right in front of me and had to drive over his left front, and it got stuck in mid-air, so when I landed I was like, please, please fire again, and that happened,” Larson said of the race’s near end.
The pair ran along every line, and sometimes over the wall to keep pace with Pursley, and again had slower traffic, bringing the battle for the lead into view, with Pursley still being chased by Brooks.
Back to green after a caution at the end of the race when a banner tore at the front and pulled to the right across the track as Larson slipped and climbed the wall. During the final sprint to the finish, Larson and Pursley were all over the cushion as the CB Industries No. 86 made one final charge, but Larson took the win by 0.365 seconds.
Shane Golobic made the run from eight and moved into third place in the closing laps, with ninth-starting Ryan Bernal in fourth. Landon Brooks completed the top five.