TULSA, OK (January 18, 2025): There is an old adage in racing that goes something like this: “It is better to be lucky than good.” That statement accurately summed up Kyle Larson’s Chili Bowl win. Larson collected a cool $20,000 for his effort.

Larson survived two incidents on his way to a third Chili Bowl crown. The first came in the middle of the race when he ran over a disabled car between turns three and four. The other came with just three laps to go when he climbed the front stretch wall but drove off before a caution was called for debris.

“It just was a very difficult race track to run the line that I was running,” Larson observed. “It comes with a lot of reward with the risk that you’re taking. I messed up on the straightaway a couple of times. I’m glad that I kept going there because that caution really, really saved me and allowed it to be a little bit easier run to the finish. I think if we stayed in traffic, Daison (Pursley) would have had a lot of opportunities to throw stuff at me.”

Perhaps Larson’s good luck even started before the drop of the green. Larson started on pole.

The ten cars that locked into the A Main participated in the Pole Shuffle. The Pole Shuffle was a series of head-to-head timed laps. The faster driver continued on and the slower one was eliminated. Larson drew the number one, so he was assured of a front row starting spot regardless of how he timed.

The second bit of pre-race luck was that Daison Pursley ran out of fuel one round too soon. Pursley showed consistent speed throughout the Pole Shuffle. He won the first several rounds. When he squared off against Landon Brooks in the penultimate round, his car sputtered to a stop. Brooks advanced to the final round by default.

So, the front row of the finale belonged to Larson and Brooks. Pursley and Logan Seavey were in row two. The third row consisted of Tanner Thorson and Emerson Axsom. Row four paired Gavin Miller and Shane Golobic. The last two members of the Pole Shuffle were in row five, Ryan Bernal and Brenham Crouch. The B Main winners, Corbin Rueschenberg and Christopher Bell, made up row six.

As expected, Larson scooted out to the early lead, followed by Brooks, Pursley, Seavey, Thorson, and Golobic. The leaders ran in formation at the top of the track through the first caution, which came on lap nine for a crash by Jonathan Beason in turn two. Beason was the only racer to transfer into the A Main from a C Main.

The caution nullified Thorson’s pass for fourth.

Larson led the parade after the restart. Pursley began to press Brooks for second. On lap thirteen, Pursley’s slider in turn three improved his position by one. He then chased Larson as the leaders started to work their way through traffic. Thorson picked off Seavey as the race approached the midpoint.

As the laps clicked off, the traffic intensified, Larson maintained his lead, but it was shrinking. Brooks, Thorson, and Seavey remained in the top five.

The first bit of drama occurred on lap twenty-two. Jacob Denney and Brenham Crouch tangled between turns three and four. Denney continued, but Crouch stopped in the middle of the track. His nose was slanted toward the infield. Larson had no place to go. He drove over the left front of Crouch’s car. Larson’s car stalled while in mid air. It refired when all four wheels returned to the track. Because Larson was able to keep moving, he was not called as part of the caution.

Larson’s car sustained no apparent damage. He was able to maintain the lead when the race resumed. Pursley kept pace with Larson. Brooks was still third, but after two laps, Golobic gained two positions. Thorson slipped back to fifth.

As Larson ran alone out front, Brooks was stalking Pursley. He took over second pn lap thirty-one, but Pursley regained second within a couple of laps. He then resumed his chase of the leader.

Pursley climbed the front stretch wall with about five laps to go. There was a large accumulation of dirt along the wall that acted as a ramp. It took a deft hand to pull the car down from the wall and to keep it straight. In the process, though, Pursley loosened a sponsor banner that was attached to the wall.

Larson tore the banner off on lap thirty-seven when he, too, climbed the wall. Larson climbed higher than Pursley, as the undercarriage was visible to the fans in the stands. Larson careened off the wall toward the infield. As he regained control, Pursley was coming. They entered the first turn side by side. Larson cut a better corner and kept the lead.

As Larson and Pursley raced off turn two, the caution light came on for debris, which was the banner that was now strewn across the middle of the track.

Larson kept the point for the final restart. He got away cleanly. Pursley stayed close. He tried a slider in turn four but he did not have enough momentum to get his nose ahead.

At the checkers it was Larson over Pursley. Pursley had mixed emotions afterwards. “I tried to pace Kyle for forty laps. It was a very technical track where you’d make room in one corner and then give it back the next.” He added, “it’s unfortunate. I really wanted to win this one, but there’s nothing to hang your head about when you’re racing against the likes of Kyle Larson. I’ve been coming here since I was little, so this really means a lot to me.” He concluded, “I thought we might have had the chance when the yellow came out due to the banner, but there’s so many woulda, coulda, shoulda’s that happen in this building, that’s what makes it so tough to win here.”

The Matt Wood team of Pursley, Golobic, Bernal, and Brooks completed the top five. While much attention was directed to the fleet of cars entered by Keith Kunz Motorsports, the accomplishments of the smaller Matt Wood Racing cannot be overstated. Golobic, who also acted as the crew chief for the entire team, gave props to Wood, who keeps the cars idle throughout the season. Golobic explained that they did not get a chance to knock the rust off because one of the Fall’s big events was rained out.

Positions six through ten went to Buddy Kofoid, Seavey, Miller, Axsom, and Bell.

Tim Buckwalter was the hard charger, racing from twenty-second to thirteenth.

TULSA, OK (January 17, 2025): Logan Seavey, a two-time and defending Chili Bowl Champion, was confident throughout the Friday preliminary event, and it showed even when his car did not perform up to his lofty expectations. “I ran a little bit of an ugly race but when it mattered I ran good laps, and my car was good enough to do it,” he explained. He stuck a hard slider to take the lead on lap twenty-seven and he led the remaining laps to lock into the Saturday A Main. “I could see Gavin (Miller) and there’s like two laps where he made mistakes and those were probably my two fastest laps of the race. I got off two really good and just went for it.”

“I’m always confident,” Seavey added. “Even today where I didn’t feel as good as I have in the past, still had speed, could still keep up with guys, lost a little balance to be able to maneuver as good as I needed to in traffic. When I could get up against the cushion by myself I could make a tin of speed. Finally in the feature, I could crawl the bottom and make speed early. We definitely got going in the right direction which helped. I feel like I made a lot of ugly laps there, and fortunately I happened to make them at the right times. When I did make good laps, it was really when I needed them.”

The first three cars in the starting line-up were fielded by Keith Kunz Motorsports. The drivers in the front row were Ryan Timms and Michael Pickens. In third spot was Gavin Miller. Tyler Edwards was his dance partner. Daryn Pittman started in row three, along with Jason McDougal. Seavey and Justin Grant took up row four, followed by Andrew Felker and Cole Vanderheiden. Michael Faccinto and Tyler Courtney made up row six.

The KKM triumvirate took the top three spots at the drop of the green, with Edwards and McDougal looking on. The action was slowed a couple of times, most notably when Pickens suddenly stopped in turn two on lap two. Timms and Miller took off again when the race resumed. McDougal, Pittman, and Seavey took up the chase.

An engine failure caused an extended caution on lap six so the oil could be worked into the surface.

The next ten laps under the green had Timms continuing out front, but Miller was staying close to his teammate. McDougal, Pittman, and Seavey battled for third, with Seavey and Pittman shuffling McDougal back in the running order.

Seavey did piece together a couple of competitive laps and he was making a bid for the second position. Miller picked up his pace as well.

Unfortunately, the leader, Timms, was hard on his brakes entering turn three and Miller was unable to check up. There was contact, and Timms spun to the inside, ending his chance for a win.

Miller was apologetic for the incident. “I was just racing very hard with Logan there, and Ryan kind of slowed up a lot towards the middle of that race. Me trying to cross back Logan there, Ryan went to the bottom I really didn’t think he was going to slow up that much. I kind of locked up the brakes, just slid too far, kind of hooked his bumper. Apologized to him, talked to him back at the trailer, it wasn’t anything I really meant to do, it was just hard racing.”

Nonetheless, Miller assumed control for the lap sixteen restart. Seavey and Pittman were battling for second. McDougal came upon them quickly and he made contact with Pittman. McDougal spun from contention on lap eighteen.

Pittman made a good restart and took over second with a power move on the inside of turn two. Within a couple of laps, however, Seavey drove by Pittman for second.

Seavey started to stalk Miller. Seavey got a good run off turn two with three laps remaining. He entered turn three with a lot of momentum. His slider came up a bit short, and there was contact with Miller. Miller checked up and Seavey drove away with the lead.

Miller drove conservatively for the final laps to ensure his transfer into the Saturday A Main.

Tyler Courtney closed fast to get third ahead of Pittman and Justin Grant. Edwards, Faccinto, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Sam Johnson, and Felker completed the top ten.

Nine heat races started the night. The winners were Timms, Chase McDermand, Felker, Stenhouse, McDougal, Miller, Vanderheiden, Grant, and T.J. Smith. Grant, Miller, Pittman, and Edwards prevailed in the qualifiers. Ronnie Gardner and Taylor Courtney topped the D Mains. Gardner and Don Droud, Jr. captured the C Main victories. The B Mains went to Hayden Reinbold and McDermand.

TULSA, OK (January 16, 2025): After regaining the lead from Christopher Bell with five laps to go, Tanner Thorson had to survive a frantic two-lap dash to the finish with Bell and Ryan Bernal to capture the fourth preliminary night victory at the Chili Bowl.

“I felt good there that last bit kind of tracking down Bell and then the yellow came out and Bell is the last person I wanted behind me on a restart. I’m looking for my guys to tell me where to go. I didn’t know where to go, I about gave it away. I thought it was going to be Bell on my inside, and it’s Bernal, I’m like, ‘Holy Crap,’ we’re about to get our doors blown off.”

Bernal made the most of the last caution and the final restart. He explained, “the white flag came up and those two (C.J. Leary and Parker Jones) got together and (I) literally did monster truck() over both of them. I was like “well, we’re in third now,’ and now green, white, checkered and I’m looking up at Shane (Golobic) and he (was) telling me to be smart, and come around again he says be smart again and just go to the bottom because I didn’t run a consistent lap all night on the top. It worked out great. I missed the bottom miserably coming to the checkered but we are locked in.”

Bell became the odd man out in the final two laps. He took the green in second–a transfer spot–but could not hold on to it. One might have thought that he would be disappointed with the outcome. But, surprisingly, he was enthused. “The last green, white, checkered was just cat and mouse. (It) was wherever Tanner went I was going to go opposite, and I felt like I was really in a good spot coming off turn two, he ran the bottom I ran the up and I had momentum on him. Bernal plugged the bottom and blocked my line. Once Bernal blocked the bottom, it was pretty . . . I (thought) I was going to be OK and Bernal snuck by on the bottom and made us three wide and it was a great race!”

Thorson started the feature from the pole position. His running mate was Karter Sharff. C.J. Leary and Christopher Bell were in row two, followed by Ryan Bernal and Parker Jones. Shane Cottle and Matt Westfall made up row four, with Matt Sherrell and Kyle Spence in row five. Jacob Denney and Bradley Fezard were next in line.

Thorson took the lead at the drop of the green, but on lap three, Sharff executed a slider in turn four to take the lead. Leary, Bell, and Bernal were looking on.

On the next trip around, there was a six-car tangle in turn three.

After the race resumed, Sharff was still the leader, but Thorson regained the lead one lap later. He held control for a couple of laps, but he was being challenged by Sharff and Bell. Bell got the inside line working, and he made a bid for the lead in turn one on lap seven. He could not pull off the pass, but he persisted. He went two-for-one in turn four to take the point on lap ten.

Bell continued to lead through the next caution, on lap twenty-one. During his time out front, he began searching for a quicker line, as Thorson was pressing him for the lead. Bell moved to the top and he seemed to be comfortable up there.

However, on the restart, Bell went back to the bottom. That worked for several laps. But the outside line was open for Thorson. He went upstairs and passed Bell with five laps to go. Thorson explained that he was able to adjust his shocks under the caution.

Soon thereafter, a caution was displayed for a flip by Casey Shuman.

When the green light flashed on again, Bell was chasing Thorson. Behind them, the action was heating up. Things boiled over on lap twenty-nine, when three cars running in the top five got together in turn two. Eliminated from the race were Leary and Sharff. Jones was able to continue. The biggest beneficiary of this development was Bernal, who drove through the carnage and moved into third for the restart.

This incident set up a green-white-checkered finish. On the restart, Thorson and Bell went high into turn one. Bernal got a great restart, and he entered turn one on the bottom.

The three-car battle for the lead intensified after the white flag came out. The contestants were three abreast! Bernal was on the bottom, Bell was in the middle, and Thorson was on the cushion. Bernal and Thorson got a slight advantage on Bell coming through turn two. Bell got a good run into turn three, and he tried the high line. Thorson came off the top to try to thwart Bernal’s inside charge. Bell was charging on the outside, but his car faltered coming off turn four.

At the checkers, it was Thorson over Bernal by less than a car length. Bell was a close third. Westfall and Denney completed the top five. Frank Flud, Spence, Shane Cottle, Brody Fuson, and Brady Bacon were sixth through tenth.

There were nine heat races. Bradley Fezard, Jeff Stasa, Cottle, Sharff, Bacon, Thorson, Bell, Chris Windom, and Bernal were the victors. Thorson, Sharff, Sherrell, and Bernal won the qualifiers. The pair of D Mains went to Elijah Gile and Jeffrey Newell. C Main wins belonged to Cade Morton and Spencer Bayston. Drake Edwards and Casey Shuman split the B Main honors.