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Kyle Larson passed five cars Monday evening at the Vacuworx Invitational Race of Champions. Jason Grant, however, held him off and took the checkered flag to win the race at the 2022 Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Larson placed in row four for the 25-lap race, featuring 18 cars, and started out with a calm and uneventful first 10 laps. That was until Buddy Kofoid, who was running in third place. got flipped and brought out a caution flag with 15 laps to go.
After the restart, Larson dipped into his bag of tricks and passed both Cannon McIntosh and Logan Seavey in Turns 3 and 4 to slide into second position.
Just a few laps later, Seavey would bring out a caution as his car came to a stop at the top of Turn 3 with 11 laps to go.
Christopher Bell passed Tanner Thorson for the third spot with nine laps to go after starting the race in 11th.
With five laps to go, Kyle Larson started throwing slider after slider at race leader Jason Grant, including one last Hail Mary out of Turn 4. Grant was, however, able to hold him off around the high side to take the checkered flag.
Grant had this to say after the race:
“We were really really good till about eight laps to go and then I kind of lost my entry grip and I was just, then I went to search and try to figure out how to keep some speed going.”
He went on to say:
“We’re gaining on it and hopefully we’ll have something for Kyle and Chris and these guys on Saturday.”
Kyle Larson happy overall with runner up finish
Just after his runner-up VIROC finish, Kyle Larson seemed optimistic in the direction his car was going, heading into the qualifying rounds of the NASCAR 2022 Chili Bowl.
He said:
“I’m really happy with my car, I mean it’s night and day different feeling from where I was earlier in the night. It’s even kind of where we’ve been out on the west coast so definitely happy. Feel like I got a car I can win with now and we’ll keep tweaking it and keep getting it better.”
