WHITT SECOND IN WEDNESDAY QUALIFIER;
FIRST TOYOTA INTO CHILI BOWL NATIONALS SATURDAY A MAIN
TULSA, Okla. (January 14, 2010) – Cole Whitt finished second in Wednesday’s 25-lap Qualifying Showdown main event and became the first Toyota-powered driver to earn a position in Saturday’s A Main feature event at the 24th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals at the Tulsa Expo Raceway.
Whitt earned the pole position for the feature event by racing from eighth to win his heat race with a last-corner pass and then charging from sixth to win his qualifying race in his Keith Kunz Motorsports No. 71 Red Bull Toyota. However, in the feature, fellow front-row starter Kevin Swindell was able to use the high side to his advantage and moved into the lead on the green flag. Whitt maintained the second position throughout the race, but never was in position to re-take the lead.
“I wanted to get into traffic (to make a run at Swindell),” said Whitt. “But at the Chili Bowl second is still great. Getting in the A Main was our goal tonight.”
Fellow Toyota-powered driver Tim McCreadie narrowly missed securing the third transfer spot into Saturday’s Main A when he was nipped at the finish line by Brad Kuhn after holding the third position most of the race.
Like Whitt, McCreadie won both his heat and qualifying races on Wednesday. The 2006 Chili Bowl winner will begin Saturday’s action in the B Main in his Wilke-Pak Motorsports No. 11w Toyota.
Chili Bowl rookie Dusty Zomer qualified his way into Wednesday’s feature in his #75 Cruz Pedregon Racing Toyota, where he eventually placed 25th to round out the three Toyota-powered cars taking part on Wednesday.
Action at the 24th Annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals resumes with Thursday night’s Bully Dog Qualifier, with racing action set to go green at 7:00 p.m ET. Among the Toyota-powered drivers running on Thursday are 2005 Chili Bowl champ Tracy Hines, NASCAR Nationwide star Jason Leffler, Tanner Swanson and Austin Brown.
This year’s Chili Bowl features more than 250 entries fighting for one of the 24 openings in Saturday night’s “A Main” feature event. Portions of the 24th Annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals will be broadcast on SPEED TV on tape-delayed basis.
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