Matt Weaver
And here is another last-minute Chili Bowl Midget Nationals surprise entry.
It’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
The reigning Daytona 500 winner had the itch to race all week, and Justin Grant even pushed for him to drive a third car out of the RMS Racing stable, but Jerry Coons Jr. ended up in it before Stenhouse could fully commit.
Then came Kyle Larson making the last-minute decision to join Keith Kunz Motorsports, which in turn led to a conversation with Stenhouse.
“I was texting with Larson,” said Stenhouse, “telling him, the same time you were trying to get your deal together, I was trying to get a deal together.
“He said to call Keith, which I’ve run for him one other time at the Chili Bowl, and I didn’t really perform the way I wanted to, so I wasn’t sure if he would let me back in one of his cars, but I shot him a text, and he said, let me get on that, so here we are.
“Obviously, Keith has the best cars out there, and they show every night, so I’m looking forward to getting back in a Midget at the Expo to see what we can do.”
Stenhouse will attempt to qualify in the Friday night preliminary in a NOS Energy Drink sponsored No. 71K. It will be his 17th effort at the Tulsa Expo Center. He will be seeking his ninth appearance in the Championship Saturday main event.
He has three overall top-10 finishes.
“Really looking forward to getting back to Chili Bowl,” Stenhouse said. “Obviously, took last year off and I missed it. I was sitting on the couch watching this week, and my wife looked at me and said, I can tell you really want to go; just go.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.
