It wasn’t until the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals that you could see the expressions on the podium’s faces after the preliminary final and make sense of them.
Kyle Larson won the race and just quietly got out of the car and waved to the crowd. It was a sort of dull expression. Briggs Danner finished second and was happier than the winner. Cannon McIntosh was third and appeared to have crashed.
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In this race, expectations versus results creating a can-do attitude at the end of each night, all leading up to championship Saturday.
There was a previous version of this week where opening night was called “Monday Night McIntosh” because the eponymous pilot had won three times in five years. Now, instead of thinking about how to win the race, he finds himself simply thinking about how to do it.
“Probably the most frustrated I’ve ever been here,” McIntosh said in the post-race press conference. “You just hear ‘Mr. Monday Night’ and all that. It’s just… I don’t know. It’s just frustrating to make mistakes like that.
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“I just wish I was just the underdog and went unnoticed. I feel like I put more pressure on myself when it’s… I wish I got to the top a lap earlier, the race could have been different.”
The best McIntosh who can now start on Saturday is on pole for a B-Feature, and therefore 11th in the main event if he wins it. That’s not what the reigning USAC national midget champion expects on Sunday.
In contrast, it was completely different for Danner, with his second-place finish leading to his first preliminary night lock-in. He surpassed his previous record in his third-place preliminary round two years ago.
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He even had a few opportunities to drag Larson, but chose not to, a reflection of what happened last year when he crashed and derailed his pursuit of a Golden Driller before it could even begin.
So, he was delighted.
“Last year, the car that was given to me, I kind of threw it away,” Danner said. “I probably thought about it every day for the last year and kept telling myself that second or third is way better than ending up destroyed.
“It feels really good to lock away and it makes the rest of the week really enjoyable.”
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So how do you explain Kyle Larson winning a ninth Chili Bowl preliminary game, but having such a muted response? It’s business as usual for “Yung Money.”
“I think for me, prelim nights are just work for me,” Larson said. “You know what you have to do and I’m not here to have fun. I’m here to win. It’s all about getting yourself ready for Saturday, so yeah, I’m happy.
“It was also a simple race. It wasn’t the most exciting or the craziest from my seat. But I feel good. We executed all night and improved our car. The goal is still not achieved. And I think that’s why the emotion is more contained. These nine of them, but I want to win a lot more than just preliminary nights.”
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So here we are, after only one night of preliminary racing, and the familiar narrative presented itself again.
Bell vs. Larson
Larson erased 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 also winning the Race of Champions.
Feature results
Kyle Larson Briggs Danner Cannon McIntosh Shane Golobic Jerry Coons Jr. Justin Peck Kameron Key Tanner Carrick Jakeb Boxell Nick Hoffman Gary Taylor Trey Marcham Trey Zorn Gaige Weldon Jake Andreotti Dillon Welch Joe B. Miller Zach Hampton Ryder McCutcheon Alex Sewell Noah Harris Nick Drake Todd Kluever Tanner Berryhill Also Read:
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