MARION, Ill. (October 20, 2018) – Christopher Bell took the lead on lap 13 and led the final 28 circuits to earn his 50th career national midget feature victory at the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League’s Southern Illinois Shootout at the Southern Illinois Raceway in Marion. All 50 of Bell’s victories have come with Toyota.
The 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion has six midget feature wins this season, including his second consecutive Chili Bowl Nationals title. The victory is the 37th national midget feature win for a Toyota-powered driver in 2018.
Zach Daum started from the pole and immediately moved out to the lead with Logan Seavey sliding into second. Daum’s lead would be short-lived, though, after being caught in a lap four incident that would drop him to the tail end of the field, with Seavey assuming the lead and Bell quickly moving into second after starting from the eight spot.
Three additional yellow flags would slow the action down through lap 11 as Seavey continued to lead Bell, followed by Alex Bright and Jonathan Beason.
Seavey maintained his lead on the lap 12 re-start, but Bell stayed right with him and then made his move for the lead on lap 13. As the race passed the midway point, the lead duo eventually pulled away to make it a two-car race. Bell would maintain the top spot, but Seavey stayed right with him.
A late yellow would create a seven-lap dash to the finish, but Bell simply checked out on the restart, opening up a comfortable lead on the way to his milestone 50th win. Seavey would finish second to make it a Toyota one-two finish for the second consecutive night. They were joined in the top 10 by teammates Tanner Carrick in sixth and Holly Shelton in tenth.
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