TULSA, Okla. (January 16, 2016) For the second time in as many years, the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire was ruled over by California’s Rico Abreu, who wheeled the Keith Kunz Motorsports No. 97 to victory in the 30th edition of the Chili Bowl.

With a packed house of nearly 20,000 in attendance at the River Spirit Expo Center, the chant of “Rico, Rico” soon followed a series of wicked celebratory doughnuts.

Giving chase from the fourth starting spot, Abreu was among the first of the front runners to test the high groove on the freshly prepped Tulsa Expo Raceway as team mate, Christopher Bell, led the charge until contact with a slower car on Lap 9 sent the No. 71 spinning; sending Bell to the tail of the field.

Handing the lead over to Bryan Clauson, the Indiana shoe for Joe Dooling looked poised to back up 2014 performance, pulling to as much as 2.6 seconds over second place, Zach Daum.

Finding traffic near the races midpoint, Daum with Abreu in tow began running down Bryan Clauson. Staying topside, while Clauson wheeled the low groove, the trio were all very evenly matched at this point. Able to again being pulling away, Clauson sat safely as Rico and Zach began exchanging slide jobs prior to the caution on Lap 43 of 55.

Unable to shake the No. 97 on the restart, Rico plotted his attach. Keeping to the cushion, unless absolutely necessary, Rico was able to grab the lead on Lap 45.

“So I think this is one of the toughest tracks to be a leader at and set the pace,” said Rico. “Just because with how much the track changes in a feature or in a race, you can run second or third, and have the advantage of moving around on the surface rather than being the leader and running the line that you started running where you got the lead at.”

Picking up and taking off, Rico was uncontested the reminder of the way, despite Clauson’s run on the final lap. Bryan Clauson grabbed the runner-up spot with Zach Daum completing the podium.
“It took a lot longer for it widen out,” said Clauson of the track. “As silly as it sounds at that point in the race, I’d have rather been running second or third and hadn’t spent 10 laps trying to maneuver and figure out what I needed because the first lap of the restart I went in where I had been running, it wasn’t very good anymore.”

Asked about his level of competitiveness, Daum replied, “We were decent, we weren’t great. We were way too tight early. Then once we moved to the cushion we were even tighter still. We struggled with side bite all weekend. So when we went to this race we kind of maybe went a little bit overboard. It’s still nothing to be ashamed of we ran third.”

Jerry Coons, Jr. ran fouth in his 13th consecutive A-Feature start with Kyle Larson going from 22nd to fifth. Tim McCreadie crossed sixth with Tyler Thomas, Thomas Meseraull, Tanner Thorson, and Joey Saldana completing the top ten.

Racing 335 drivers though on Saturday starting with double N Features, the weekend ended with a flip count of 59. The 2016 Chili Bowl Rookie of the Year was Missouri’s Joe B. Miller who placed 21st in Saturday’s A-Feature.

The 2017 dates have already been announced with racing action at the 31st annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals taking place January 10-14, 2017. Tickets go on sale the first Wednesday of March, 2016.

Results:
Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire
Tulsa Expo Raceway – Tulsa, Okla.
Saturday, January 16, 2016
Lucas Oil Championship Night
Car Count: 335

RESULTS: 30th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals; Lucas Oil Championship Night; Tulsa Expo Raceway; Jan. 16, 2016

A Feature (55 Laps): 1. 97-Rico Abreu[4]; 2. 63-Bryan Clauson[1]; 3. 5D-Zach Daum[8]; 4. 5-Jerry Coons Jr[6]; 5. 71K-Kyle Larson[22]; 6. 47X-Tim McCreadie[5]; 7. 91T-Tyler Thomas[9]; 8. 2X-Thomas Meseraull[11]; 9. 67-Tanner Thorson[16]; 10. 17-Joey Saldana[7]; 11. 8K-Blake Hahn[19]; 12. 71-Christopher Bell[2]; 13. 67Z-Kasey Kahne[10]; 14. 17G-Shane Golobic[20]; 15. 77B-Alex Bright[3]; 16. 17R-Ricky Stenhouse Jr[14]; 17. 24-Tracy Hines[13]; 18. 1-Sammy Swindell[25]; 19. 71G-Damion Gardner[17]; 20. 99P-Dillon Welch[21]; 21. 3B-Joe B. Miller[24]; 22. (DNF) 71X-Shane Cottle[12]; 23. (DNF) 38-Justin Grant[23]; 24. (DNF) 21-Daryn Pittman[15]; 25. (DNF) 2A-C.J. Leary[18]

Lap Leaders: Bryan Clauson Grid; Christopher Bell – 1-9; Bryan Clauson 10-44; Abreu 45-55.

Hard Charger: Kyle Larson (+17)

B Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 24-Tracy Hines[3]; 2. 21-Daryn Pittman[1]; 3. 71G-Damion Gardner[5]; 4. 8K-Blake Hahn[8]; 5. 99P-Dillon Welch[14]; 6. 3B-Joe B. Miller[11]; 7. 39B-Spencer Bayston[19]; 8. 7B-Austin Brown[4]; 9. 11A-Andrew Felker[10]; 10. 76M-Brady Bacon[16]; 11. 8J-Jonathan Beason[2]; 12. 21K-Cory Kruseman[15]; 13. 27T-Tucker Klaasmeyer[20]; 14. 14W-Matt Westfall[17]; 15. 25-Steve Buckwalter[18]; 16. 5X-Justin Peck[7]; 17. (DNF) 92-Brenden Bright[12]; 18. (DNF) 15X-Chad Boat[9]; 19. (DNF) 05H-Hunter Schuerenberg[13]; 20. (DNF) 57B-Chad Boespflug[6]

B Feature 2 (20 Laps): 1. 17R-Ricky Stenhouse Jr[5]; 2. 67-Tanner Thorson[7]; 3. 2A-C.J. Leary[1]; 4. 17G-Shane Golobic[3]; 5. 71K-Kyle Larson[12]; 6. 38-Justin Grant[9]; 7. 68W-Jake Swanson[10]; 8. 68-Ronnie Gardner[17]; 9. 73X-Jac Haudenschild[11]; 10. 51J-R.J. Johnson[4]; 11. 39S-Kevin Thomas Jr[16]; 12. 15D-Andrew Deal[19]; 13. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[15]; 14. 5S-Chase Stockon[6]; 15. 57D-Daniel Robinson[20]; 16. 8-Alex Sewell[14]; 17. (DNF) 9P-Parker Price-Miller[2]; 18. (DNF) 35M-Matt Sherrell[8]; 19. (DNF) 17H-Harli White[13]; 20. (DNF) 50-Daniel Adler[18]

C Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 21K-Cory Kruseman[1]; 2. 76M-Brady Bacon[3]; 3. 14W-Matt Westfall[2]; 4. 25-Steve Buckwalter[4]; 5. 39B-Spencer Bayston[10]; 6. 27T-Tucker Klaasmeyer[9]; 7. 27H-Tanner Berryhill[11]; 8. 6K-Josh Lakatos[8]; 9. 73-Jason McDougal[16]; 10. 05T-Gary Taylor[12]; 11. 51X-Colby Copeland[20]; 12. 19S-Matt Streeter[19]; 13. 0S-Dylan Westbrook[14]; 14. 14-Trevor Kobylarz[5]; 15. 05S-Dominic Scelzi[7]; 16. 17J-Chase Johnson[6]; 17. (DNF) 51W-Danny Sheridan[13]; 18. (DNF) 37B-Jake Blackhurst[17]; 19. (DNF) 31B-David Budres[18]; 20. (DNF) 55-Nick Knepper[15]

D Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 55-Nick Knepper[2]; 2. 73-Jason McDougal[8]; 3. 37B-Jake Blackhurst[3]; 4. 31B-David Budres[5]; 5. 19S-Matt Streeter[17]; 6. 51X-Colby Copeland[4]; 7. 44X-Wesley Smith[13]; 8. 93-Dustin Morgan[16]; 9. 98D-Clinton Boyles[9]; 10. 15-Tim Siner[1]; 11. 91A-Chris Andrews[16]; 12. 7H-Darren Hagen[10]; 13. 99W-Larry Wight[12]; 14. 7A-Scott Weir[7]; 15. 7XX-Gage Walker[11]; 16. (DNF) 57T-Tyler Edwards[14]; 17. (DNF) 1PW-Paul White[6]

D Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 11-Tyler Courtney[6]; 2. 7JA-Justin Allgaier[1]; 3. 56J-Sheldon Haudenschild[9]; 4. 9K-Kyle Schuett[3]; 5. 0T-Tyler Brehm[4]; 6. 23-Jimmy Light[18]; 7. 73T-Trey Marcham[15]; 8. 100-Shane Stewart[16]; 9. 37F-Bill Balog[17]; 10. 39C-Payton Pierce[10]; 11. 22E-Cameron Hagin[12]; 12. 80-Josh Hawkins[7]; 13. 1-Sammy Swindell[2]; 14. 39-Kevin Swindell[18]; 15. 9$-Kyle Clark[14]; 16. (DNF) 88N-D.J. Netto[11]; 17. (DNF) 91K-Kevin Bayer[13]; 18. (DNF) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[8]

E Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 57T-Tyler Edwards[1]; 2. 93-Dustin Morgan[7]; 3. 91A-Chris Andrews[3]; 4. 19S-Matt Streeter[2]; 5. 3N-Jake Neuman[13]; 6. 33-Davey Ray[15]; 7. 4C-Robert Sellers[6]; 8. 51JR-Ryan Jamison[5]; 9. 1T-Tony Roney[4]; 10. 32D-Danny Jennings[16]; 11. 20-Tadd Holliman[9]; 12. 82M-Steven Shebester[10]; 13. 55B-Alex Bowman[11]; 14. 5H-Tyson Hall[12]; 15. 20S-Shon Deskins[14]; 16. 91N-Austin Nemire[8]

E Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 73T-Trey Marcham[3]; 2. 100-Shane Stewart[1]; 3. 37F-Bill Balog[5]; 4. 23-Jimmy Light[15]; 5. 75-Johnny Herrera[4]; 6. 87F-Brian McClelland[9]; 7. 11B-Travis Berryhill[14]; 8. 7R-Robert Ballou[2]; 9. 29J-Logan Jarrett[13]; 10. 4J-Tim Crawley[6]; 11. 10C-Dalton Camfield[10]; 12. 1A-Kevin Ramey[12]; 13. (DNF) 37X-Anton Hernandez[8]; 14. (DNF) 11C-Chett Gehrke[11]

F Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 3N-Jake Neuman[3]; 2. 20S-Shon Deskins[1]; 3. 33-Davey Ray[9]; 4. 32D-Danny Jennings[5]; 5. 4H-Tom Harris[11]; 6. 05-Brad Loyet[7]; 7. 51S-Logan Scherb[10]; 8. 11S-Sean Watts[6]; 9. 7CM-Chance Morton[16]; 10. 14H-Harley Hollan[15]; 11. 25M-Derrick Myers[13]; 12. 21M-Michele Melton[12]; 13. 77U-Chris Urish[14]; 14. (DNF) 88-Chad Wheeler[2]

F Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 1A-Kevin Ramey[1]; 2. 29J-Logan Jarrett[2]; 3. 11B-Travis Berryhill[16]; 4. 23-Jimmy Light[3]; 5. 19-Jake Bubak[15]; 6. 35F-Michael Faccinto[13]; 7. 55D-Nick Drake[12]; 8. 21S-Johnny Brown[4]; 9. 7E-Cory Eliason[5]; 10. 3C-Raven Culp[11]; 11. (DNF) 35L-Cody Ledger[6]; 12. (DNF) 96-Cody Brewer[7]; 13. (DNF) 24F-Hunter Fischer[9]; 14. (DNF) 3S-Brian Shirley[8]; 15. (DNF) 77D-Dean Drake Jr[14]

G Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 77U-Chris Urish[2]; 2. 25M-Derrick Myers[1]; 3. 14H-Harley Hollan[4]; 4. 7CM-Chance Morton[6]; 5. 88T-Tyler Nelson[3]; 6. 1ST-J.J. Yeley[15]; 7. 6-Bill Rose[5]; 8. 41P-Austin Prock[8]; 9. 99-Kevin Chaffee[7]; 10. 17K-Michael Koontz[10]; 11. 2-Ryan Hall[16]; 12. 88D-Rusty Dukes[9]; 13. 7D-Michelle Decker[14]; 14. 7RS-Merril Lamb[11]; 15. (DNF) 7J-Shawn Jackson[13]; 16. (DNF) 7CH-Chris (Critter) Malone[12]

G Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 77D-Dean Drake Jr[5]; 2. 35F-Michael Faccinto[7]; 3. 19-Jake Bubak[9]; 4. 11B-Travis Berryhill[4]; 5. 51F-Keith Rauch[10]; 6. 11F-Darin Snyder[8]; 7. 11E-Cory Elliott[14]; 8. 3FF-Mason Zeigler[11]; 9. 13-Derek Hagar[13]; 10. 11K-Gavin Harlien[1]; 11. 2K-Kyle Jones[16]; 12. 10J-John Hunt[13]; 13. 6C-Jeff Flesher[3]; 14. (DNF) 91-Jeff Stasa[12]; 15. (DNF) 4RD-Robert Dalby[2]; 16. (DNF) 6A-David Gough[6]

H Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 7J-Shawn Jackson[4]; 2. 7D-Michelle Decker[2]; 3. 1ST-J.J. Yeley[8]; 4. 2-Ryan Hall[11]; 5. 13W-Tommy White[1]; 6. 86-Mark Lowrey[6]; 7. 5F-Rik Forbes[9]; 8. 21D-Justin Dickerson[10]; 9. 0G-Glenn Styres[15]; 10. 35X-Zach Hampton[3]; 11. 27R-Kyle O’Gara[14]; 12. 31E-Evan Sewell[13]; 13. 23A-Hannah Adair[12]; 14. 27K-Billy Lawhead[16]; 15. 19P-Alex Hill[5]; 16. 17E-Blake Edwards[7]

H Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 10J-John Hunt[2]; 2. 11E-Cory Elliott[1]; 3. 13-Derek Hagar[4]; 4. 2K-Kyle Jones[6]; 5. 5$-Danny Smith[3]; 6. 2W-Wyatt Burks[8]; 7. 2ND-Jeb Sessums[9]; 8. 35B-T.J. Smith[12]; 9. 53H-Austin Archdale[7]; 10. 45X-C.J. Johnson[11]; 11. 56-Billy Wease[15]; 12. 57M-Landon Simon[16]; 13. 93K-Riley Kreisel[13]; 14. 87H-Coby Hughes[10]; 15. (DNF) 32-Casey Shuman[14]

I Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 31E-Evan Sewell[2]; 2. 27R-Kyle O’Gara[8]; 3. 0G-Glenn Styres[11]; 4. 27K-Billy Lawhead[4]; 5. 15F-Aaron Farney[1]; 6. 67SF-Sarah Fisher[6]; 7. 14T-Tony Rossi[7]; 8. 11H-Chase Hill[12]; 9. 01J-David Ferguson[5]; 10. 2S-Travis Scott[14]; 11. 11J-Justin Melton[10]; 12. 14S-Steve Schaberg[15]; 13. 74-Zach Merritt[16]; 14. 7M-Anton Julian[9]; 15. (DNF) 8R-Randi Pankratz[13]; 16. (DNF) 3T-Tim Barber[3]

I Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 93K-Riley Kreisel[2]; 2. 32-Casey Shuman[14]; 3. 56-Billy Wease[4]; 4. 57M-Landon Simon[5]; 5. 5C-Colten Cottle[7]; 6. 16K-Chris Dyson[6]; 7. 81-Jerry Hammock[3]; 8. 57-Tyler Seavey[14]; 9. 54-Evan Pardo[11]; 10. 2J-Zach Blurton[10]; 11. 8M-Kade Morton[12]; 12. 1P-Terry Nichols[13]; 13. 15B-Danny Burke[1]; 14. 0-Johnny Murdock[9]; 15. (DNF) 12K-Zac Taylor[11]; 16. (DNF) 22R-Eric Heydenreich[8]

J Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 8R-Randi Pankratz[2]; 2. 2S-Travis Scott[3]; 3. 14S-Steve Schaberg[1]; 4. 74-Zach Merritt[5]; 5. 16C-David Camfield Jr[8]; 6. 11XS-Donovan Peterson[12]; 7. 21H-Harlan Hulsey[15]; 8. 101-Chuck McGillivray[16]; 9. 15A-Ashley Hazelton[13]; 10. (DNF) 7-Shannon McQueen[4]; 11. (DNF) 98-Jarid Blondel[14]; 12. (DNF) 48-Taylor Forbes[9]; 13. (DNF) 46-Kenney Johnson[11]; 14. (DNF) 62-Taylor Simas[10]; 15. (DNF) 7K-Mason Keefer[6]; 16. (DNF) 5J-Jeff Crook[7]

J Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 54-Evan Pardo[2]; 2. 32-Casey Shuman[4]; 3. 1P-Terry Nichols[1]; 4. 57-Tyler Seavey[6]; 5. 9U-Doug McCune[7]; 6. 9E-Rick Shuman[10]; 7. 69J-Jeromy Hefler[16]; 8. 83S-Shane Weeks[9]; 9. 5B-Andee Beierle[5]; 10. 77J-John Klabunde[12]; 11. 21T-Ty Hulsey[14]; 12. (DNF) 20X-Noah Harris[15]; 13. (DNF) 4M-J.J. Ercse[3]; 14. (DNF) 14B-Riley Adair[8]; 15. (DNF) 17KT-Joe Janowski[11]; 16. (DNF) 04-Marcus Thomas[13]

K Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 15A-Ashley Hazelton[2]; 2. 98-Jarid Blondel[3]; 3. 21H-Harlan Hulsey[4]; 4. 101-Chuck McGillivray[5]; 5. 32A-Garrett Aitken[15]; 6. 4F-Chad Frewaldt[8]; 7. 77X-Katlynn Leer[11]; 8. 92S-Isaac Schreurs[13]; 9. 85-Matt Johnson[6]; 10. 313-Mitchell Frewaldt[10]; 11. (DNF) 22D-David Stephenson[9]; 12. (DNF) 118-Scott Evans[16]; 13. (DNF) 10X-Danny Smith[14]; 14. (DNF) 7F-Josh Tyre[12]; 15. (DNF) 9D-Sean Dodenhoff[1]; 16. (DNF) 7SS-Wade Seiler[7]

K Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 04-Marcus Thomas[1]; 2. 21T-Ty Hulsey[7]; 3. 20X-Noah Harris[14]; 4. 69J-Jeromy Hefler[8]; 5. 35MF-Mitchell Faccinto[13]; 6. 12-Chris Sheil[16]; 7. 22B-Troy Betts[10]; 8. 0Z-Joe Rinne[3]; 9. 22-Chase Jones[15]; 10. 2D-Steve Davis[11]; 11. 41-Brad Thompson[6]; 12. 3BX-Aaron Pierce[4]; 13. (DNF) 56Y-Jeremy McCune[12]; 14. (DNF) 86C-Dave Camfield Jr.[2]; 15. (DNF) 1B-Chris Windom[5]; 16. (DNF) 83G-Matt Gilbert[9]

L Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 92S-Isaac Schreurs[2]; 2. 10X-Danny Smith[5]; 3. 32A-Garrett Aitken[11]; 4. 118-Scott Evans[8]; 5. 17W-Justin Henderson[14]; 6. 14E-David McIntosh[6]; 7. 59E-Dex Eaton[9]; 8. 11Y-Travis Young[13]; 9. 76J-David Jones[7]; 10. (DNF) 349-Eric Saunders[10]; 11. (DNF) 51R-Matt Rossi[12]; 12. (DNF) 7S-Pat Schudy[16]; DNS 22H-John Heydenreich; DNS 44J-Jared Sewell; DNS 35W-Nate Wait

L Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 35MF-Mitchell Faccinto[2]; 2. 20X-Noah Harris[1]; 3. 22-Chase Jones[6]; 4. 12-Chris Sheil[13]; 5. 3M-Brent Rees[3]; 6. 1TS-Tyler Shoemaker[5]; 7. 17S-Ryan Secrest[9]; 8. 69P-Colby Estes[14]; 9. 7X-Brian Peterson[10]; 10. 3-Dustin Weland[15]; 11. 5BB-Bobby Brewer[11]; 12. 7JR-J.D. Black[16]; 13. 70K-Kevin Olson[8]; 14. 5R-John Ricketts[12]; 15. 29-Garrett Saunders[4]; 16. (DNF) 10-George White[7]

M Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11Y-Travis Young[5]; 2. 17W-Justin Henderson[4]; 3. 56X-Mark Chisholm[13]; 4. 7S-Pat Schudy[12]; 5. 71.5-Robert Bell[9]; 6. 56Z-Mindy McCord[11]; 7. 27B-A.J. Bruns[8]; 8. GO-Kip Hughes[6]; 9. 6B-Brad Kraus[16]; 10. 30T-Larry Bratti[7]; 11. 50LP-Michael Sosebee[1]; 12. 44D-Philip Dietz[15]; 13. 9H-Holly Porter[3]; 14. 35T-Tyler Robbins[10]; DNS 44C-Chris Stockham; DNS 83-Kurt Blackaby

M Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 12-Chris Sheil[8]; 2. 69P-Colby Estes[5]; 3. 3-Dustin Weland[3]; 4. 7JR-J.D. Black[12]; 5. 37T-Tim Kent[7]; 6. 11R-Ariel Biggs[15]; 7. 9M-Cory Mallo[14]; 8. 3F-Frankie Guerrini[10]; 9. 84-Shaun Shapel[6]; 10. D6-Dakota Gaines[9]; 11. 5M-Sean Murphy[13]; 12. 0K-Don O’Keefe Jr[11]; 13. 31-James Burke[2]; DNS 7T-Jack Hawley; DNS 4D-Shane Sellers

N Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 56X-Mark Chisholm[2]; 2. 83-Kurt Blackaby[8]; 3. 44D-Philip Dietz[5]; 4. 6B-Brad Kraus[1]; 5. 26-Dustin Golobic[6]; 6. 926-Morgan Frewaldt[3]; 7. (DNF) 43-Logan Arnold[4]; 8. (DNF) 7W-Kory Schudy[9]; 9. (DNF) 2RS-Aaron Reutzel[10]; 10. (DNF) 53-Brett Thomas[7]

N Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 7JR-J.D. Black[2]; 2. 5M-Sean Murphy[4]; 3. 9M-Cory Mallo[1]; 4. 11R-Ariel Biggs[8]; 5. 19N-Nick O’Neal[3]; 6. 0M-Mitchell Gladman[5]; 7. 59-Richard Harvey Jr[6]; 8. (DNF) 0B-A.J. Johnson[7]