Keith Kunz has been around the Tulsa Expo Center for many years. He's never witnessed a driver win a race at the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl and flip after the checkered flag. 

That's exactly what happened Monday night when Tanner Carrick, one of the 15 drivers racing for Keith Kunz Motorsports this week, scored the biggest victory of his young career. 

After charging from sixth to second in his heat race and fifth to second in his qualifier, Carrick started the 25-lap main event from the third position. He rode patiently in third as polesitter Mitchel Moles and Jerry Coons, Jr. swapped the lead twice in the first half of the race. 

Carrick's big break came with nine laps to go when Moles flipped on the frontstretch and into turn one while leading the race. At the same time, Coons suffered a mechanical failure. This handed the lead over to Carrick and he never relinquished it from there. 

"It means the world to me," Carrick said of the win. "I know we were close last year until I hit the start cone when we were charging through the field pretty good. We had got up to third before that happened. Coming back this year I knew I had a chance to win. Keith gives me a good car. I've been fast every time I've been here, I've just put myself in bad spots every single time in the main event. I told myself this year I'm not doing that, I'm finishing the race."

Finish he did. On a preliminary night that many considered to be wide open and up for grabs, Carrick did what he needed to in order to lock himself into Saturday's A-Main event. 

"My main goal was just to lock in on Saturday, and I didn't want to do it running second," he said. "I wanted to win it. I had enough [passing points] running second in the heat race and the qualifier coming from sixth and fifth. I should've won both of those, I just took too long getting to the front being careful because I didn't want to put myself in a bad spot again. I knew if I kept moving forward and putting myself in a good spot, I'd have a chance at winning the thing."

VIDEO: Tanner Carrick took the checkered flag and then flipped Monday at the Chili Bowl.

Carrick's biggest adversity came after the checkered flag when his No. 98 Midget flipped unexpectedly in turn one. As his car was towed back to the pit area, the driver walked to victory lane to celebrate his big win. 

"To be honest, I really don't know what happened," Carrick said with a laugh. "I know I was using the brakes a lot there towards the end. I was dragging them a bunch trying to get the car to turn around the bottom because the rubber was getting tough. I kept trying to reach for the shock adjusters to tie them down, but I just didn't want to take my hands off the wheel. I was like, I know there's only a couple laps left so I'm just going to have to use the brake pedal. After I let off the brakes and went through the checkered and used them to slow down, there were no brakes. They just went straight to the floorboard. By that time it was too late to make the turn, so I just hit the wall and tipped it over."

2021 FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions champion Tyler Courtney once again locked himself into Saturday's A-Main with a runner-up finish. Chase Johnson enjoyed the best run of his Chili Bowl career by rounding out the podium. 

World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series star David Gravel charged from 12th to finish fourth, while Modified ace Nick Hoffman impressed with a march from 14th to 5th. 

Preliminary action continues Tuesday night in Tulsa with a stacked field of drivers battling for two transfer spots to Saturday's main event. Race fans can watch Chili Bowl preliminary action all the way up to the C-Mains on Saturday live on FloRacing. The C-Mains, B-Mains and A-Main will be live on the MAVTV Motorsports Network. 

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