Yahoo Autos Kyle Larson Wins His Second Straight Chili Bowl
The Chili Bowl, an indoor dirt open wheel race in Oklahoma, has only been around since 1987. In that time, it has become one of the most important dirt races in the country. Its place in the very heart of the offseason means that it is the only significant dirt race that NASCAR drivers can attempt every year, leading to a significant annual entry of current Cup Series veterans.
This year was no exception. Though the list also included drivers like rookie Chase Briscoe and recently-retired series veteran Kasey Kahne, the headliners are Kyle Larson, who is returning to NASCAR after a year-long suspension for using a slur on an iRacing broadcast last year, and Christopher Bell, who will be joining Joe Gibbs Racing after a rookie year at the affiliated Leavine Family Racing. Larson and Bell are two of the best dirt racers of their generation, and their busy Cup Series schedules mean that they cannot commit fully to racing on dirt at any other time of the year. In January, however, they can focus an entire month on this one event.
For the past five years, Larson and Bell have found themselves at the very front of the 301-entry field. Bell won three in a row, 2017 through 2019, but Larson finally broke through and took the 2020 race away from him. Both easily made their way through the long and arduous week-long qualifying process to secure a spot in the 55-lap A-Main feature race, and both were inevitably fighting for the win as the laps wound down.
Larson led with 15 laps to go, but two mistakes got Bell within striking distance. Bell struggled to get past Larson, however, and his aggression led to him flipping while battling for the lead with a few laps to go. The race would re-start one more time, Larson would pull away, and he would secure his second Chili Bowl win in a row.
Larson's NASCAR career will resume at next month's Daytona 500, where he will officially join Hendrick Motorsports and replace seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson at the reigning championship-winning team. However, this Chili Bowl win did not erase what forced him out of Chip Ganassi Racing in the first place, and success in the Cup Series will not do so, either. Larson claims to have grown significantly since the incident, and his continued NASCAR career will hinge as much on proving that to be true as it will on wins and losses.
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