Spencer Bayston earned the pole position and then led all 30 laps to win Victory Fuel Qualifying Night and advance to Saturday’s A Main feature at the 38th annual Chili Bowl Nationals Presented by NOS Energy Drink.
Bayston is the third Toyota-powered driver to win in the first four preliminary night features, joining Tanner Carrick and Buddy Kofoid. Tonight, also marks the fourth time that Bayston has been able to qualify directly into the A Main in 10 Chili Bowls.
Bayston opened up his night by going from ninth to first in his heat race to earn the pole position heading into the feature.
In the A Main, he would quickly pull away from the field and started to catch lapped traffic before the midway point of the race. He was up to the challenge, though, and stretched out a comfortable lead until a caution came out with seven laps remaining to bunch the field. On the restart, Bayston quickly took control and was never seriously challenge on the way to the checkered flag in earning the victory.
Overall, six Toyota-powered drivers advanced to tonight’s feature event with Brady Bacon finishing fifth to give Toyota two of the top-five finishers on the night.
This year’s Chili Bowl Nationals features 374 entries – each fighting for one of the 24 openings in Saturday night’s “A Main” feature event. Qualifying wraps up tomorrow night with 10 more Toyota-powered drivers expected to attempt to qualify.
Quotes:
Spencer Bayston, RMS Racing Toyota: “Going off the front row was a huge help. I’m not always a fan of starting upfront because you can’t see what’s happening behind you. Tonight, it worked out in my favor. It feels really, really good. The Race of Champions win was special last year, but it’s not a preliminary night. To put together three good performances isn’t easy. We’ll kick back and relax tomorrow and get ready for race day. It’s been really great running with Dave Estep and the RMS team. It’s tough to win these nights. When it comes to the A Main on Saturday everyone in the field is very competitive, so just getting the boost to start from near the front of the back is really crucial.”
Toyota Racing PR
