Christopher Bell dominated Night 3 of the Chili Bowl at the River Spirit Expo Center in Tulsa, OK, on Thursday and gave Keith Kunz Motorsports its third trip to Victory Lane in as many nights.

"It's just good race cars,” Bell said about Kunz’s clean sweep. “That's what it really boils down to. All my teammates have been really fast all week long. Keith just brings really, really good cars here."

Bell hopes to become only the third driver to win back-to-back Chili Bowls in its 32-year history, along with Rico Abreu, who won Wednesday night’s preliminary, and Kevin Swindell. The Oklahoma native Bell got his title defense off to a great start by winning his heat, starting on the pole, and leading the 25-lap event flag-to-flag.

In fact, the race was not even close. Bell rocketed from the grid and had a straightaway lead by lap four when the first caution waved. He shot out again and had a 4.760-second lead 10 laps later when the yellow rag was unfurled for a second time.

That left the remainder of the field to fight over the final two transfer spots.

With eight laps to go, Shane Golobic worked his way around Chase Johnson and tried to track Bell down. He ran the cushion while Bell protected the bottom groove. As the field exited turn four looking for the white flag, they saw the yellow instead. Golobic had one more shot to upset Bell.

He might have been able to make a little headway, but Golobic tapped the concrete retainer and lost nearly a second in just two trips around the track. Golobic settled for second, and Johnson was third. However, both of those drivers have the consolation of knowing they are locked into Saturday’s A-Main.

The reward for the most persistence belonged to Michael Pickens and Tanner Thorson. Struggling early in their heats, both drivers were forced into the D-Main. They progressed into the C, then the B, and ultimately tagged the end of the field. Thorson earned the Hard Charger award by finishing 11th after passing a whopping 37 cars during the program. Pickens finished 14th with 39 notches on his belt.

Top 10 Finishers
1. Christopher Bell
2. Shane Golobic
3. Chase Johnson
4. Tracy Hines
5. Caleb Armstrong
6. Ryan Bernal,
7. Billy Pauch Jr.
8. Matt Sherrell
9. Tim Crawley
10. Jerry Coons Jr.