TULSA, Okla. — Toyota Racing Development extended its reign over the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals with its seventh straight victory as an engine manufacturer during Saturday night’s finale.
Kyle Larson led all 55 laps of the championship A Main to top the Super Bowl of Midget Racing for the second consecutive year, joining an exclusive club of eight drivers who have earned multiple Chili Bowl titles.
But Toyota’s march has rolled on inside the River Spirit Expo Center since 2015, the first year Rico Abreu hoisted the Golden Driller trophy at Tulsa Expo Raceway.
Abreu won the event in back-to-back years in 2015 and ’16, followed by a run of three in a row by Christopher Bell from 2017-’19. Larson’s pair of victories in 2020 and ’21 complete the set of seven.
“Everyone at Toyota Racing Development is extremely proud to have earned a seventh consecutive Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals title,” said Tyler Gibbs, general manager of Toyota Racing Develpoment. “We have been very fortunate to have teamed with so many talented, hard-working individuals over the past seven years. To have three different teams finish in the top three and seven different teams reach tonight’s A Main is proof of the great partners we have.”
Fourteen Toyota-powered drivers were in the field for this year’s Chili Bowl A Main, featuring drivers from seven different teams.
Kyle Larson Racing, CB Industries, Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, RMS Racing, Dave Mac Motorsports, Hahn Racing and Joe B. Miller Motorsports were represented among the 24 feature starters, all utilizing TRD engines.
In addition to its Saturday night score, TRD engines swept all five Chili Bowl preliminary night wins, with Cannon McIntosh (Monday), Larson (Tuesday), Abreu (Wednesday), Bell (Thursday) and Justin Grant (Friday) each notching a weeknight victory.
Bell also won the Vacuworx Invitational Race of Champions Tuesday night, giving Toyota power plants seven wins in six nights during the annual midget racing extravaganza.
With its seventh Chili Bowl triumph, Toyota moved into a three-way tie for the most wins in history as an engine manufacturer at the historic event, joining Gaerte (’96-’01, ’03) and Esslinger (’08-’14), which also won seven in a row prior to Toyota’s current streak.
The 36th Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals will take place Jan. 10-15, 2022 inside the River Spirit Expo Center.
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