Golobic Frustrated Despite Another Chili Bowl Lock-In

Shane Golobic finished second in Monday night's preliminary feature at the Chili Bowl Nationals. (Brendon Bauman photo)

TULSA, Okla. – In the wake of Monday’s 2nd Opinion Auto Group Qualifying Night feature, runner-up finisher Shane Golobic wasn’t focused on the fact that he locked into the Saturday finale of the Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy Drink for the 12th time in his career.

Instead, the California veteran could only see the pain of finishing a preliminary night A-main in second place for the third straight year and fifth time in his last eight tries.

Golobic dominated portions of the 30-lap opener, starting on the pole after earning the highest passing point total through heat races and qualifiers and leading the first eight laps before Cannon McIntosh took control at the front.

But Golobic stalked McIntosh through the middle third of the race, making a move to take the lead back with seven laps left and appearing to have the car to beat with his No. 17W NOS Energy Drink-sponsored, SR-11X-powered Spike Chassis.

NASCAR Cup Series star and two-time Chili Bowl champion Kyle Larson had other ideas, however, working his way up to second in the waning moments and eventually making a diving pass for the win on a green-white-checkered restart.

Larson’s bold move left Golobic, who led 14 laps, shaking his head in disbelief after the race. It was another case of “so close, yet so far” for the 33-year-old Matt Wood Racing driver.

“The car was really good all race long; I just kind of mismanaged the early part and let Cannon by,” Golobic reflected. “It’s just not my cup of tea here when there’s a huge curb up top and you have to run the hell out of these things.

“I gave it all I had there through halfway, just trying to keep the car rotating through the center and running it as hard as I could,” he continued. “I drove around sliders and did everything that I could to win, but didn’t quite get the job done.”

As frustrated as Golobic was to come up one spot short, he did acknowledge that making the championship feature is the ultimate goal of any preliminary night, even if that fact was hard to keep in mind in the immediate moment.

“I’m tired of hearing ‘big picture,’ even though the truth is that we are here to win Saturday night,” said a dejected Golobic. “I’m just getting really, really sick of running second in this building.

“(The last caution) wasn’t ideal by any means, to have a yellow coming through (turns) three and four to the checkers. I felt like we had them covered at that point, but it’s not over until it’s over. I just needed to manage those last laps a bit better and I didn’t do that,” he added. “Kyle just sold out after that last restart and made it happen. That’s all there was to that.”

Would Golobic have bumped – or dumped – Larson for the win?

“I probably had an opportunity to just turn him and finish him off there coming into three and four … hook his bumper or something … but I couldn’t do it,” he admitted. “That’s not how I want to win here.

“We’re going to get one in this building,” Golobic affirmed. “It wasn’t tonight, but it will be eventually.”

And as for how Golobic feels his car is going into Saturday night, the veteran wasn’t ready to tip his hand but did offer cautious optimism that he’ll be in the hunt for his first Golden Driller.

“I’m very happy with the way the car felt. It would eat up the curb,” Golobic noted. “I’d go in there and smack it hard, like a rookie, and it would still handle it and keep going strong back down the straightaway.

“It’s a great car for the big picture, but man does the little picture sting right now.”

Action from the Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy Drink continues Tuesday night with Warren CAT Qualifying Night from Tulsa Expo Raceway, while Golobic’s next on-track activity will be Saturday’s #DoItForGrady Pole Shuffle, which sets the starting lineup for the first five rows of the 40-lap finale.

Every lap of Chili Bowl week is available to be streamed through FloRacing.