Despite His Dramatic Late Entry, Kyle Larsons’ Chili Bowl Thrills “Likely” to Be Over Before the Main Event

The surprise last-minute Chili Bowl entry for Kyle Larson is not going the way he expected it to be. Two accidents on Thursday night’s qualification race have now seemingly ended his hopes to lock on to win his third A-Main Chili Bowl event at the SageNet Center. Failing to finish his race after the back-to-back accidents during the qualifier, he was credited with a 24th-place finish.

Larson does have a chance to make it to the main event by contesting in the soup games. However, the 31-year-old had already confirmed that he would only return on Saturday if he locked into the Chili Bowl A-Main by finishing either first or second in the qualification race. But there is no rest for him as he has another racing commitment.

Kyle Larson will now look ahead to the Wild West Shootout

After a long two-year absence, Kyle Larson finally returned to the Tulsa Expo Raceway. Riding a spare car of his former team owner Keith Kunz, the 31-year-old was genuinely hopeful to be among the favorites to win the event. All it took was a quick call and quicker travels, to mark his surprise entry at Chili Bowl Nationals.

In a race where spaces are at a premium, very few racers can overthrow the lead car ahead of them but Larson gave his all. He was lucky to avoid getting caught up in the pile-ups at the start of the race but he soon found himself in trouble after the restart, resulting in his first flip. The margins for error in midget car racing are very fine and a wreck can certainly end a driver’s race. This was the case for Larson as well.

The No.98 KKM car suffered not one but two accidents, the second being the catastrophic one, as it ended Larson’s hope to clinch the series. Following the second flip, he and his midget car had to be escorted out of the track by the officials. This was certainly not how he planned to make his comeback at one of his favorite events.

Read More: “It’s Hard to Appreciate” – Kyle Larson Opens Up About His Tony Stewart Comparisons and His Emulation in His Career

Larson can make a comeback as Chili Bowl allows a driver to compete for a chance at the main event through the placement races after the qualifiers. Unfortunately for Larson, he won’t be able to feature at these races as he has already confirmed his entry at the Wild West Shootout in New Mexico. On top of it, he had another mishap this week.

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Yung Money labels himself an ‘idiot’ after forgetting his gear bag

The 31-year-old HMS No.5 is looking to run a packed schedule for the 2024 season. He is looking to attempt the Indy500 and Coca-Cola 600 events in the same week. Adding to his schedule he will also feature at Wild West Shootout in Vado, New Mexico. Having skipped out on Chili Bowl Nationals, in a major turn of events he marked his surprise entry at the 38th Chili Bowl Nationals.

All of this back and forth in schedules and travels led to chaos that took its toll on Larson. Having made it to the Tulsa Expo Center for a Chili Bowl return after two years, the driver realized he left his gear bag behind in Vado, New Mexico. A frustrated Larson took to X and called himself out for a rookie mistake. “Guess who the idiot is who left his gear bag in Vado NM”.

Despite the disappointment at the Chili Bowl, Kyle Larson will be eager to make the most of the challenges he has lined up ahead for the 2024 season.