Pit Stop Radio News

Kale Drake, making just his second career national midget start, climbed from 12th to sixth to lead Toyota on York Plumbing Qualifying Night and advance to Saturday’s B Main at the 38th annual Chili Bowl Nationals Presented by NOS Energy Drink.

Drake, an Owosso, Oklahoma native, earned his first Chili Bowl start after a strong second place finish at the KKM Giveback caught the eye of team owner Keith Kunz.

Overall, seven Toyota-powered drivers advanced to tonight’s A Main, with Jade Avedisian (seventh), Brent Crews (ninth) and Jerry Coons Jr. (tenth) also earning top-10 finishes.

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 continues for each of the next two nights with 14 more Toyota-powered drivers expected to attempt to qualify on Thursday.

Quotes:

Kale Drake, Keith Kunz Motorsports: “Keith Kunz and the entire team gave me an amazing race car. We were able to put together a really consistent run and keep our nose clean and were able to come home with a good finish. We’ve still got room to get better. To start in the B on Saturday is really phenomenal and we’ve put ourselves in a good starting position. (How was the experience of your first night at the Chili Bowl and running in front of your family and friends) The crowd in this building was just so crazy. I had so many friends and family here tonight. I can’t thank them enough for all of the support. It was a blessing.”

Toyota Racing PR