Mr. Monday Night at the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals is now very much an open ended question.
In five years, the only person to deny Cannon McIntosh a victory on Opening Night is Tanner Carrick and now he has done it twice.
Carrick jumped all over McIntosh on a restart at the halfway point and led the rest of the way. With that said, he did have to earn it, with Shane Golobic, Chase Briscoe and Michael Pickens all taking shots at the lead while battling amongst themselves.
But this is an especially dangerous Carrick this week in Tulsa. He just seems especially ‘on-kill.’
From the moment he walked into the Tulsa Expo Center on Sunday, there was an extra gear of intensity, and he drove like it too.
He found something, either with team owner Keith Kunz serving directly as his crew chief since the USAC West Coast swing where they picked back up, or within himself.
But again, this Carrick is on kill, and in more than just a cliché way.
“Leaving the west coast swing in a Midget gave me a little more confident and momentum, and even if we didn’t win a race, we had really good car speed and it made me feel way more confident in a Midget than I have in the last five years,” Carrick told Sportsnaut after the race.
“I was like, ‘Man, I’m ready for Chili Bowl.’ I’m working seven days a week and I really needed something different. I’m going back home to work until Thursday afternoon and come back on Friday to go to the rodeo with Keith to watch his daughter in Oklahoma City.”
Carrick owns a hunting and fishing guide service company.
“I love everything about what I do but I especially felt ready for this week and I’ve just been really excited and felt confident.”
Kunz sees that there is something different under the surface too.
“I think he’s really matured, you know, as a person and as a race car driver,” Kunz said. “He runs Sprint Cars out west all the time and we’ve become really close the past few years. We go hunting all the time so we have such a personal relationship that I wanted to crew chief for him here and out of California.
“I just feel like, we’ve been really good this last little bit and he’s driving really good and we have a good feel for the track right now and really feel like we can race for this thing.”
He finished fifth in 2022, the other year he won on Monday night, and believes the ceiling is just much higher this time around.
There’s also a bit of a swagger because they thought they were in the Race of Champions until they suddenly weren’t. Kunz even built a one-off car for Race of Champions since Carrick also qualified on Monday.
“I had to tell Keith it was fine,” Carrick said. “So what if you built the car. If we win, you can just leave the car here under a car cover until next year. We’ve had that kind of fun since we all got into the building. The attitude everyone has towards trying to win this race. …
“I don’t think people realize how hard Keith and Pete (Willoughby) work. I wanted to make this show for them the most and their guys. I wanted to come here and do my best, and not let them down, and give us a reason to want to come back and do it again.”
Now they have a chance to come back on Saturday and win the ultimate prize — the Golden Driller.
And regardless of what happens on Saturday, they’re in the Race of Champions too, and Kunz can absolutely leave that car here if he wants.
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.