Larson wins second consecutive Chili Bowl Midget Nationals
It took 13 years for Kyle Larson to win his first Chili Bowl Midget Nationals. It took only a year to win his second.
Larson led all 55 laps of the A Feature inside the River Spirit Expo Center to pickup his second consecutive Golden Driller trophy late Saturday night before a reduced crowd because of COVID-19 restrictions.
Larson said his second title means even more to him than his first one.
“It means a lot to add my name to the banners one more time,” Larson said. “There have been a lot of great drivers win this event, and only a handful have won more than one.”
Larson took the lead away from fellow Californian Justin Grant after an openinglap restart, but Grant stayed with striking distance, looking for an opportunity that never materialized.
“That race was not easy by any means ,” Larson said. “I felt like I had pressure on me the whole time.
“Last year I was able to catch (Christopher) Bell and pass him and chill out a little bit. This year it was not the case.”
With nine laps remaining, Bell, from Norman, charged around Grant and chased down Larson. But with two laps togo, Bell caught the edge of the cushion in turn three and flipped end- over- end. He was not hurt and ended up finishing 14th.
“He was on me so hard early, then once I was able to migrate up (the banking) then made couple of mistakes and brought him back to me,” Larson said of Grant, who briefly challenged. “Then Bell got by him and he was really good until he made his mistake. That gave me a sigh of relief.”
Grant finished second ahead of Nevada driver Tanner Thorson. Cannon McIntosh, a 17- year old driver f rom Bixby, took fourth with Daryn Pittman of Owasso fifth.
Larson returns to NASCAR when the season opens this
February in Daytona and will drive for Hendrick Motorsports after a serving a suspension handed out by NASCAR for using a racial slur on national TV during a iRacing event last spring when racing was suspended because of COVID-19.
“It has been a long road. I am extremely thankful. I thought I would never get another chance,” Larson said .“I want to take advantage of it and do a good job and show people I belong there.”