TULSA, OK (January 17, 2026) – At the ripe old age of twenty-one, Emerson Axsom is a Chili Bowl Champion. “This is like a dream, it’s the best day of my life,” he said after scoring his first national-level win. “I won’t believe this until next year, or until I see my name on the trophy or T-shirt with everyone else that’s won this race.”

The talented driver from Franklin, IN almost missed this year’s event. He found out during the summer that his ride in the Keith Kunz Motorsports stable was in jeopardy. “Last year, I drove Keith’s personal car, and he said that he wasn’t bringing it back. He said that I could still have a seat in one of the other cars, but I wouldn’t have had him as my chief mechanic.” Instead, Axsom would have been in the hands of one of KKM’s army of crew members. Axsom was not pleased with that development, but he stayed calm, hoping that something better would fall into place.

It did. Later in the summer, he got a text message from Kevin Swindell inquiring whether he would be interested in joining his team. That was followed by a telephone call, during which Swindell informed him that he “was going to do this right” by bringing four cars. All would be equipped the same as Logan Seavey’s two-time championship ride for Swindell Speedlab. Axsom jumped at the chance.

Axsom did not get much of an opportunity to talk with Swindell about the car before they arrived in Tulsa. He did talk briefly with him during the Tulsa Shootout, which is THE EVENT for Micros. “He was busy with his Micro stuff,” Axsom explained. They did go out for dinner in the break between the Shootout and the Chili Bowl and they were able to compare some notes at that time.

Swindell has figured out how to make cars fast at the Chili Bowl. In addition to Axsom’s winning car, the team fielded cars for Seavey (fourth), Kyle Cummins (nineteenth), and rookie of the race Jett Barnes (twenty-first). Fourteen-year-old Barnes was also feted as the rookie of the race. No other team had as many cars make the exclusive A Main line-up in 2026.

Axsom’s strategy for the race was simple. He was going to pass Kyle Larson, the pole-sitter, as early as he could and he was going to set his own pace. That way, he figured, Larson would have to press to regain the lead and, maybe, just maybe, he would make a mistake. The plan could not have been better conceived, or better executed.

Axson followed Larson for the first few laps of the race. He got the opportunity to take the lead coming off turn two on lap four. Axsom began to separate himself from the rest of the field. Larson was still in second place when misfortune struck. He came upon a slower car coming off turn two on lap sixteen. He checked up, but another competitor turned him. Larson nosed into the wall and turned over midway down the back stretch. Axsom’s biggest threat was gone.

Not that he had smooth sailing for the rest of the way, mind you. Axsom had a good string of laps in the middle portion of the race. For most of that time, Seavey was lurking in second, looking for an opportunity to pass. But, nothing appeared. Around lap thirty, Justin Grant began to assert himself. He was batting hard with Seavey for second place, and everybody in attendance knew that, if Grant got into second, he would press Axsom much harder that Seavey was doing. Well, Grant did manage to reach second and he did slide Axsom for the lead on lap forty-eight. But, fate intervened. Cummins came to a stop before the lap was completed, so the pass was nullified.

When the race resumed, Axsom darted out to the lead. The battle raged for second place. Seavey regained the position but Grant was persistent. On lap fifty-four, Grant went four wheels above the cushion in a desperate attempt to pass Seavey. There was contact, and Grant tumbled.

That set up a green-white checkered finish, with Swindell’s cars first and second.

The gravity of the situation came to Axsom with eleven laps remaining in regulation. “I looked up (at the scoreboard) it was lap fourty-four. I was like ‘Holy crap, there’s elevent to go. This could be real.’” Axsom concentrated on getting good restarts. “I needed to protect to keep myself from getting slid.”

Axsom was feeling some jitters as the laps clicked off. He was starting to struggle with the big curb that developed coming off turns two and four. He explained that the track was slick up to the berm. “I had to slide up to it,” he said, adding “it’s not my forte to enter above the cushion” like Larson and Daison Pursley were apt to do. He admitted that he made some mistakes, but he was always able to recover.

“Every time I saw a guy’s nose, I just defended.” That accounted for a little rub with teammate Seavey who tried to turn under him when Axsom bobbled coming off turn two.

On the final laps, Kevin Thomas, Jr. got a good run on Seavey to take over second. He made an attempt to pass Axsom coming off turn four on the final round, but he came up a bit short. “I saw KTJ on the bottom. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to slide myself, so I just stayed on the bottom.”

Thomas noted that the rash of late cautions was a big benefit to him. “I stuffed a piece of mud under my throttle pedal. I got to the bottom by mistake, and the mud went away. It was an old man’s game down there. The long run was not my play. The caution every four laps was good.”

Thomas joked that he may have taught his protege, Axsom, a few too many tricks of the trade. “He stayed on the bottom. He’s smarter than I thought,” he said as he nudged Axsom in jest.

Local favorite, Hank Davis, charged into third at the end of the race. He was aboard the Seymour car once again, a car that he rode to a preliminary night victory in a previous Chili Bowl attempt. “I fell back to twelfth or thirteenth, and I got pissed off,” he said. He added that he started trying to make adjustments on the car. Whatever he did worked, as the long runs helped him to regain lost position.

The pole shuffle set the starting order for the A Main, which was scheduled to go fifty-five laps. Larson and Axsom earned the front row, followed by Blake Hahn and Seavey. Christopher Bell and Daison Pursley were in row three, with Briggs Danner and Davis next in line. Grant and C.J. Leary were the last of the preferred starters. Then came Cannon McIntosh, the lone KKM driver in the field, and Barnes. Three of the next four cars were from the Wood stable, Ryan Bernal, Colby Copeland, and Shane Golobic. Nestled in that bunch was Corbin Reuschenberg. Tim Buckwalter and Thomas made up row nine. Daryn Pittman, Spencer Bayston, Kyle Cummins, Tanner Thorson, Gavan Boschele, and Wout Hoffmans completed the field.

It took two attempts to get the race started. The original effort was washed out by Copeland’s miscue in turn one.

On the second try, Larson took the lead, with Axsom, Hahn, Seavey, and Bell in tow. Axsom made his move on lap four to grab the lead. Larson remained in second, followed by Seavey, Hahn, and Bell. Grant joined the top five by lap ten, nudging Bell off the scoreboard.

A pivotal moment occurred on lap sixteen, when Larson got jammed up in traffic and tipped over midway down the back stretch.

Axsom maintained the lead over Seavey in the middle of the race despite several cautions for minor incidents. The hometown crowd was disappointed during the lap twenty-six caution when Hahn’s car suddenly stopped on the track, ending his bid for Chili Bowl glory.

Following that caution, a spirited duel developed between Seavey and Grant for second position. That continued through lap fifty-four, when Grant went all in to try to regain second from Seavey.

On that restart, Pursley was penalized for jumping the start. He was sent back two positions, which moved Thomas into contention in third. He took over second immediately and showed his nose to Axsom.

Axsom applied the lessons learned from his mentor, Thomas, and remained steady in the bottom groove to preserve his victory.

Following Axsom, Thomas, and Davis on the bonus lap were Seavey and Briggs Danner, who ran a quiet but steady race. Pursley, McIntosh, Bell, Bayston, and Thorson rounded out the top ten.

The 2026 Chili Bowl Rookie of the Year is Jett Barnes, who was the only event rookie to make the 24-car field.

The 2027 Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy Drink will take place January 11-16, 2027, inside the SageNet Center at Expo Square. Fans unable to attend the Chili Bowl Nationals can watch every lap live at http://www.floracing.com.

For continued updates on the Chili Bowl Nationals, fans can follow along on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with @CBNationals.

RACE RESULTS:

40th Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy Drink
Tulsa Expo Raceway (Tulsa, Okla.)
Driller Day presented by QuikTrip
Saturday, January 17, 2026

Event Count: 387

JST Motorsports A-Feature:

A Feature 1 (55 Laps): 1. 39A-Emerson Axsom[2]; 2. 14K-Kevin Thomas Jr[18]; 3. 29S-Hank Davis[8]; 4. 39-Logan Seavey[4]; 5. 55I-Briggs Danner[7]; 6. 86-Daison Pursley[6]; 7. 71K-Cannon McIntosh[11]; 8. 21CB-Christopher Bell[5]; 9. 1S-Spencer Bayston[20]; 10. 88-Tanner Thorson[22]; 11. 21-Daryn Pittman[19]; 12. 52-Blake Hahn[3]; 13. 55X-CJ Leary[10]; 14. 51-Gavan Boschele[23]; 15. 27W-Colby Copeland[14]; 16. 26-Corbin Rueschenberg[15]; 17. (DNF) 87-Justin Grant[9]; 18. (DNF) 87W-Ryan Bernal[13]; 19. (DNF) 39G-Kyle Cummins[21]; 20. (DNF) 17W-Shane Golobic[16]; 21. (DNF) 1A-Jett Barnes[12]; 22. (DNF) 29-Tim Buckwalter[17]; 23. (DNF) 1K-Kyle Larson[1]; 24. (DNF) 14J-Wout Hoffmans[24]