Stewart 2nd in Chili Bowl on Friday UPDATE wins on Saturday: Cory Kruseman compared driving a midget at the Chili Bowl to driving a Sprint Car on the tight quarter mile at Ventura, CA. Maybe it was that experience that helped him drive his No. 47 Andy Bondio-owned entry to a victory on Friday night in the final preliminary night of the 16th Annual Chili Bowl Midget Nationals. On the ninth lap of the race, Kruseman, the 1999 Chili Bowl champion, took advantage of Jason Leffler holding up Tony Stewart on the bottom to drive from third to first on the high side of turns one and two and lead the rest of the way in the 25-lap main event at the Tulsa Expo Raceway. After Kruseman passed Stewart he pulled away from the field to take the victory, even though he almost lost the race by hitting the brakes hard in Turn 2 to avoid a lapped car. Stewart finished second, with Leffler third and Dave Darland edging Jerry Coons Jr. at the finish line for fourth.(Chili Bowl Site)(1-12-2002) UPDATE: Tony Stewart won a race-long battle with Kevin Doty as the two swapped the lead six times over the Chili Bowl’ final 16 laps with Stewart taking the lead for good on Lap 49. Stewart pocketed more than $22,000 for his efforts, which included the $10,000 winner’ share for the purse, more than $1,000 in lap bonus money and an $11,000 bonus for winning with a Mopar engine. Doty finished second, with Cory Kruseman third, Critter Malone fourth and Dave Darland fifth. Kasey Kahne finished sixth, with Danny Lasoski coming from 16th to seventh, Greg Luecker eighth, Tony Elliott ninth and J.J. Yeley drove from 23rd to 10th. Yeley earned the Rich Vogler hard charger award for his run, while Davey Ray, who finished 11th, was named the Chili Bowl’ Top Rookie. Ray received a $1,000 from Ark Wrecking in Tulsa.(Chili Bowl Site)(1-13-2002)
