TULSA, Okla. — Fending off the field is one thing, but doing so with a failing right-rear tire made Cannon McIntosh’s victory during Monday’s Cummins Qualifying Night preliminary feature even sweeter at the 37th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire.
“That yellow coming out, I didn’t know if it was a good or bad thing, not knowing how many laps were left, but I had zero confidence going into the restart. I could hear the right rear just rolling over in the corner, and I could feel it every caution lap we rolled, but thankfully there were only three to go,” explained McIntosh.
“I knew these guys would be coming pretty quick there, and obviously, the top got pretty quick, so I was just worried when I moved back down that they were going to get a run, but I think the right rear going down didn’t hurt me more than just how good the top was going to be at the end.”
McIntosh’s third preliminary night triumph in five years, all of which have been on Monday, the Gear Wrench No. 08 led from start to finish but was not without pressure as Chris Windom stalked McIntosh throughout.
Keeping the NOS Energy Drink No. 89 at bay through the start, McIntosh fended off Windom through restarts on lap four and lap seven, all while Windom was under attack from Ryan Timms. Getting clear of Timms on the restart, Shane Golobic worked his way into the picture.
Varying lines at both ends of the Tulsa Expo Raceway until lap 20, when traffic came into play, that forced McIntosh to move to the cushion while occasionally dipping down to the hub when the path cleared. Windom closed the gap gradually, but a lap-28 yellow flag erased it.
Changing his tactics on the restart, Windom tried to slingshot past McIntosh, but the leader kept control and beat Windom to the checkered flag by .454 seconds over Golobic, who stole the final transfer spot to Saturday’s main event.
Windom was third, followed by Trey Marcham and Chase Briscoe, who racced from 12th to fifth.
Monday’s field included 66 of a scheduled 68 entries and included the O’Reilly Auto Parts Invitational Race of Champions, which was won by Spencer Bayston.
The World Wide Technology Raceway Flip Count made it to six with everyone able to walk away.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 08-Cannon McIntosh[1]; 2. 17W-Shane Golobic[5]; 3. 89-Chris Windom[3]; 4. 32T-Trey Marcham[2]; 5. 5-Chase Briscoe[12]; 6. 5G-Gavan Boschele[11]; 7. 67-Ryan Timms[4]; 8. 67X-Kyle Spence[6]; 9. 25-Jacob Denney[20]; 10. 50-Daniel Adler[22]; 11. 40S-Steven Snyder Jr[13]; 12. 73B-Tyler Edwards[15]; 13. 81-Tanner Holmes[8]; 14. 03-Ayrton Gennetten[21]; 15. 41X-Howard Moore[23]; 16. 2H-Nick Hoffman[18]; 17. 8-Alex Sewell[17]; 18. 0H-Cap Henry[19]; 19. 97K-Tom Harris[10]; 20. 69P-Joey Paxson[24]; 21. 22-Sean McClelland[9]; 22. (DNF) 85-Jerry Coons Jr[7]; 23. (DNF) 7T-TJ Smith[14]; 24. (DNF) 32-Gary Taylor[16]