If you didn’t know the name ‘Brent Crews,’ he made you a little more aware this week at the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals.
The Toyota Racing Development prospect signed with Kevin Harvick Inc. didn’t win the show on Monday night but overcame a heat race flip to go on a spirited alphabet soup run from a C, to a B all the way to fourth in the feature.
It saved his entire week and now he will start Championship Saturday near the front of a B Feature.
“I just want to give a big thanks to all the Chili Bowl Nationals guys for giving me a great race track,” Crews said. “Our heat race was not a really great race track, super hard to get around, and ended up flipping. That’s what led us here.”
So now, Crews has a chance to make a run through the top-10 on Saturday where he will be joined in Bs with the likes of Christopher Bell, Corey Day, Cannon McIntosh and Buddy Kofoid.
But really, Crews has already generated one of the bigger headlines of the week in completing his epic CBA run. It’s a young driver, 16, that has done nothing but generate headlines in his early career. He became the youngest Chili Bowl main event starter in 2023, became the youngest TransAm TA2 champion later that year, won three CARS Tour Late Model Stock races for Harvick and two ARCA races for Venturini Motorsports.
This is what Crews does, wins in everything, and it’s why he is one of the crown jewels of the TR2 development program.
Next, Crews is set to split time between ARCA and the Truck Series, nine starts with Tricon Garage starting at North Wilkesboro in May.
“I’m really happy,” Crews said. “I have two great race teams that I’m able to race for and I couldn’t pick anywhere better than Tricon. I can’t wait to continue my development under their wing.”
And that mostly means learning the aerodynamic game.
“So I ran Daytona a little bit, and that was fun, being able to learn about the air bubble was really neat,” Crews said. “I’ve had a lot of conversations with friends that have done that, and that’s been beneficial for what I’m about to do. They’re better than watching film because you can only learn so much without having a conversation.
“Like Jesse Love, he is a huge help, and someone that has been super successful and traveled the path I’m on now.”
He says CARS Tour, which had some really rough and tumble races this year, ‘taught me to be a dog,’ where ARCA was ‘more about being smooth and calmer.’
Was CARS Tour kind of like a USAC Midget race?
“Honestly, yeah,” Crew said. “I hadn’t thought about those races for a second but the Midget racing prepared me for the aggression of CARS Tour a lot.”
Most importantly, will all the things going on in his career, Crews didn’t have to come back to Chili Bowl but he is here because he loves it and didn’t want to miss the chance to deliver the kind of show he delivered on Monday.
“For one, I love this group of people that’s in this building,” Crews said. “I’ve been able to build a relationship and family across the dirt scene growing up doing this. I knew I could come back here with friends and driving their race car is a blast.
“I spent one full year driving Midgets and that was one of the most fun years of my life. I love dirt racing and I love the Expo Center and they do a great job with this track and event. Being able to race here is just a blessing.”
