Rico Abreu wins the second night

of the 2108 Chili Bowl Nationals

 

 

Two-time Chili Bowl Nationals champion Rico Abreu made a triumphant return to racing last night as won the Hard Rock Casino qualifying night A-feature in thrilling fashion. Abreu who had been of a race car since a hard crash at the USAC Four Crown Nationals at Eldora battled Tyler Thomas as the two drivers battled slide jobs throughout the 25 lap feature.

 

Kevin Thomas Jr. finished third with Sammy Swindell fourth edging Chris Windom with whom Swindell battled most of the last half of the race. Abreu won his beat race and his qualifying race and started the feature from the front row.

 

The night's most serious accident occurred on the final lap of the second 10-lap qualifying race when leader Brady Bacon flipped and his car became stuck in the catch fence. The dedicated Chili Bowl track crew worked diligently to extract the car from its precarious position with minimal damage. Bacon was unhurt and returned for his B-feature and advanced into the night's A feature where he finished 13th.