The Chili Bowl multitude of emotion on full display after Monday

Only at the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals could you see the expressions on the podium’s face after the preliminary feature and have it make sense.

Kyle Larson won the race and simply climbed out of the car softly and waved to the crowd. It was kind of a muted expression. Briggs Danner finished second and was happier than the winner. Cannon McIntosh was third and looked as if he crashed out.

In this race, expectations versus results create a dynamic attitude at the end of each night, all leading towards Championship Saturday.

There was a previous version of this week where Opening Night was referred to as ‘Monday Night McIntosh’ as the eponymous driver won three times in five years. Now, instead of thinking about how to win the race, he is left thinking about how to simply make it.

“Probably the most frustrated I’ve been here,” McIntosh said during the post-race press conference. “You just hear ‘Mr. Monday Night’ and all that stuff. It’s just … I don’t know. It’s just frustrating to make mistakes like that.

“I just wish I was just the underdog and flew under the radar. I feel like I put more pressure on myself when it’s … I wish I had just gotten to the top one lap sooner, the race may have been different.”

The best McIntosh can now start on Saturday is on the pole of a B-Feature, and thus 11th in the main event if he wins it. That is not the expectation the reigning USAC National Midget Champion had unloading on Sunday.  

On the other hand, it was completely different for Danner, with his second-place leading to his first preliminary night lock-in. It topped a previous best-finish in his prelim of third two years ago.

He even had a couple of chances to slide Larson, but chose not to, a reflection of what happened last year when he crashed out and derailed his pursuit of a Golden Driller before it could even start.

Thus, he was ecstatic.

“Last year, the car I was given, I kind of threw it away,” Danner said. “I probably thought about that every day over the last year and I kept telling myself that second or third is a lot better than ending up wrecked.

“This feels really good to lock in and it makes the rest of the week really enjoyable.”

So how do you explain Kyle Larson, winning a ninth Chili Bowl prelim, but having such a muted response? This is just business as usual for ‘Yung Money.’

“I think for me, prelim nights are just all business for me,” Larson said. “You know what you have to do and I’m not here for fun. I’m here to win. It’s all about setting yourself up for Saturday so yeah, I am happy.

“It was a straightforward race too. It wasn’t the most exciting or crazy from my seat. But I do feel good. We executed all night and made our car better. The goal still isn’t complete. And I think that is why the emotion is more contained. This nine of them but I want to win way more than just prelim nights.”

 So here we are, after just one night of preliminary races, and the familiar narrative has once again presented itself.

Bell v Larson

Larson stripped a tie he shared with Bell, Rico Abreu and Sammy Swindell. Of course, Bell could retake the record on Thursday night and looks more than capable after winning Race of Champions too.

Feature results

1. Kyle Larson
2. Briggs Danner
3. Cannon McIntosh
4. Shane Golobic
5. Jerry Coons Jr.
6. Justin Peck
7. Kameron Key
8. Tanner Carrick
9. Jakeb Boxell
10. Nick Hoffman
11. Gary Taylor
12. Trey Marcham
13. Trey Zorn
14. Gaige Weldon
15. Jake Andreotti
16. Dillon Welch
17. Joe B. Miller
18. Zach Hampton
19. Ryder McCutcheon
20. Alex Sewell
21. Noah Harris
22. Nick Drake
23. Todd Kluever
24. Tanner Berryhill