Dirt Racing
A-OK for Axsom in Chili Bowl Finale
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]
MECHANICSBURG, PA (June 5, 2026): Troy Wagaman, Jr. cashed in on the opportunities given to him to win the Lynn Paxton Classic at Williams Grove Speedway. The second win of the season for the defending track champion and current points leader was his first ever with the All Stars Circuit of Champions, which celebrated fifty-five years of competition at the famed oval. Wagaman received $8,000 for his efforts, matching his payday from the Tommy Classic held earlier in the season.
Wagaman benefitted from two miscues by Danny Dietrich, who had led from the start of the non-stop thirty lapper. The first came on lap fifteen, when Dietrich narrowly avoided disaster coming off turn two. The other came ten laps later when Dietrich slid out of the groove between turns three and four.
“I don’t know if I would have gotten him,” Wagaman said modestly.
He was trailing Dietrich by nearly 1.6 seconds in the middle of the race, but Wagaman squeezed between Dietrich, a lapped car, and the backstretch guard rail to take the lead. Preston Lattomus nearly spun at the exit to turn two, Dietrich came up on him quickly, made slight contact, and almost spun as well, but there was just enough room for Wagaman to scoot by. “I thought he missed it, got too close to the lapped car,” Wagaman explained.
Wagaman then built up a slight lead of his own, which evaporated in traffic. Dietrich drove under both Wagaman and the lapped car between turns three and four on lap twenty-four, but Wagaman came storming back on the next lap to regain the lead. Dietrich slid off the bottom in the same area, and Wagaman pounced. “Danny showed me the bottom. I was struggling on the top and I got down to the bottom after that.”
Wagaman, from Hanover, dedicated the win to his ailing grandmother, adding that he will get to see her on Sunday afternoon.
The starting line-up had a last minute shuffle when Lance Dewease got a flat while the cars were getting into formation. Dewease pitted for a fresh tire, but forfeited his second starting position. He rejoined the field for the start, and put in on an impressive drive to fourteenth from the rear of the twenty-six car field.
Dietrich thus moved to the front row, joining the Dash winner, Cale Thomas. Wagaman and Brady Bacon made up the second row, followed by Doug Hammaker and Kasey Kahne. Brock Zearfoss and T.J. Stutts came next. Chase Dietz and Parker Price Miller were in row five, and Austin Bishop was paired with Ryan “Fig” Newton in row six.
Dietrich wasted no time blasting into the early lead up on the cushion in turns one and two. Wagaman used a more conservative line to reach second. Thomas fell into line in third, ahead of Hammaker, Bacon, Stutts, and Kahne.
Dietrich seemed to have the race under control through the first half of the event. However, things changed suddenly on lap fifteen. He avoided a crash, but lost the lead. Dietrich wasn’t done quite yet, though.
Wagaman was still running the top in turns three and four despite having trouble getting past a lapped car. That allowed Dietrich to flash by on the inside to take the lead away. However, Wagaman came back to lead lap twenty-five when Dietrich slid up the track in almost the same place on the track.
Wagaman changed lines for the remainder of the race, and he paced himself off of the lapped cars, figuring that Dietrich would have to drive around them all if he were to make another bid for the win. However, Wagaman took the checkers 1.120 seconds ahead of Dietrich, who was driving his back-up car after crashing at Selinsgrove Speedway the night before.
Bacon, Stutts, and Dietz completed the top five. Zearfoss, Hammaker, Kahne, Price Miller, and Newton were the next five finishers.
J.J. Loss was the hard charger, advancing seven spots to finish thirteenth.
Kalib Henry, the current All Stars points leader and defending series champion, was the highest finisher from the tour, at seventeenth.
Hammaker, Dewease, Dietrich, and Kahne were the heat winners. Freddie Rahmer, Jr. won the B Main. Stutts was the fastest qualifier, lapping in 17.112 seconds in Group A. Dietrich was the best in Group B. His lap was 17.290 seconds. Thirty-eight cars checked in, including ten All Stars points chasers.
Ageless Steve Wilbur added another Wingless Sportsman victory to his resume. He led Tony Jackson for all twenty laps. “Tony’s hard to beat wherever we go, and to hold him off all of those laps was something,” Wilbur said. “It just feels so good to beat Jackson. I didn’t come all the way from Mechanicsburg to get my a$$ kicked,” he added with a laugh.
Wilbur claimed to use an old right rear tire dating back to his days at Silver Spring Speedway, which closed in 2005.
Cliff Brian, Jr. was third, one spot ahead of the hard charger, Brett Perigo. Brandon Shearer, Derek Shaffer, Brian Nace, Scott Smith, Curt Stroup, and John Edkin were fifth through tenth in the non-stop affair.
Jackson and Wilbur split the heat race wins. There was no B Main necessary for the nineteen car field.
Next Friday, Williams Grove Speedway will present fan appreciation night. All in attendance will get to mingle with the 410 and 358 Sprint Car racers in the front pit area before the start of the action. There will be free potato chips and candy during the pit party. Fireworks will also be part of the fun.
FRANKLIN, PA (May 31, 2026): A.J. Flick claimed his third championship in the Western Pennsylvania Speedweek. His first two titles came in 2023 and 2024.
“This whole week is so cool,” he said. He added, “I think consistency is important and I think that helped me.”
Flick started the week out very strongly, with wins at Michaels Mercer Raceway and Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway. He was fourth at Lernerville Speedway and fifth in the finale at Tr-City Raceway Park. His worst finish of the week was ninth at Sharon Speedway on Saturday night.
Flick was especially happy with his fifth place finish in the final round because he was not very comfortable in the car.
Other race winners during Speedweek were: Dale Blaney, at Lernerville, Logan Wagner, at Sharon, and Brandon Spithaler, at Tri-City.
Flick’s total earnings for the week were $14,750, which included the $3,000 championship stipend.
One other driver earned more than $10,000. That was Spithaler, who grossed $10.175.
Flick was one of sixteen drivers to enter all five events comprising Western Pennsylvania Speedweek. A total of sixty-one racers competed in at least one round of Speedweek.
The top ten drivers in the point standings shared the point fund, as follows:
- A.J. Flick, 452 points, $3,000
- Mark Smith, 412 points, $2,500
- Brandon Spithaler, 406 points, $2,000
- Jeremy Weaver, 393 points, $1,500
- Carl Bowser, 371 points, $1,000
- Michael Bauer, 368 points, $900
- Adam Kekich, 344 points, $800
- Brandon Matus, 338 points, $700
- Ricky Peterson, 320 points, $600
- Jacob Begenwald, 302 points, $500
Interestingly, one driver in the top ten in points missed a show along the way. Ricky Peterson was absent from Sharon because he had another commitment. He won the FAST on Dirt Sprint Car Series event at Skyline Speedway instead.
FRANKLIN, PA (May 31, 2026): Brandon Spithaler saved his best Speedweek performance for the final night of the five race series. The victory at Tri-City Raceway Park, his first of the season, netted the driver from Renfrew, PA a cool $6,000. He also finished third in Speedweek points, adding another $2,000 to his stash. Spithaler’s total winnings for the week amounted to $10,175, second only to the Speedweek champion, A.J. Flick.
Spithaler noted that “2026 hasn’t been very kind to us. We lost a motor, we trashed a car, we switched chassis. I think we’ve hit on something now.”
He added, “I felt like I was better than him, Ricky (Peterson, who finished a distant second). I was worried when he got by Logan (McCandless, the early leader), but I kept plugging away and I got by him (Peterson).”
Spithaler was especially good in traffic. He explained, “I am a fan of traffic. If we get a long run, I like picking my way through.”
Peterson, who held on for second place, had an opposite opinion about the traffic conditions. “I was really good early. I had issues with the lappers. I think I left a lane open for Brandon, and he got away from us.”
Mark Smith put on a strong charge in the second half of the race to grab the third position. He noted that it was a challenging night and that he changed some things around on his car between the heat and the feature. “We got it going, but it was a little too late. Maybe we needed 35 laps.”
The first ten positions in the starting line-up were reserved for the four heat winners and six of the fastest qualifiers.
Logan McCandless drew the pole position. He was joimed on the front row by the professor, Michael Bauer. Matt Farnham and A.J. Flick pulled the second row, followed by Peterson and Spithaler. Smith and Jeremy Weaver landed in row four. Then came Jared Zimbardi and D.J. Christie. Row six belonged to Tim Shaffer and John Jerich.
The initial start was waved off due to a crash between turns one and two, which claimed Jerich and Christie. Both cars tumbled, but neither driver was injured.
When the field was realigned for the start, Shaffer moved to the outside of row five and Bob Felmlee and Cody Bova became the new sixth row.
McCandless surged into the early lead, followed by Farnham, Bauer, Flick, Peterson, Spithaler, Weaver, Smith, Shaffer, Felmlee, and Zimbardi.
McCandless was exceptionally strong through the first half of the race. His lead grew to more than 1.8 seconds over Farnham through the first nine laps. Peterson moved into second position on lap ten. Gradually, he cut into McCandless’ advantage. On lap fifteen, the margin dwindled to just under a half a second.
Moving into the second half of the contest, McCandless began to have difficulty navigating through the traffic. Peterson narrowed the gap even further over the next few laps. On lap eighteen, Peterson drove by McCandless for the lead.
Meanwhile, Spithaler was closing in on both Peterson and McCandless. Spithaler moved ahead of McCandless on lap nineteen. Just one lap later, he passed Peterson in traffic.
In the final ten laps of the race, Spithaler was clearly superior to Peterson. The lead continued to grow with each lap. He was more than four seconds ahead of Peterson by lap twenty-six. The margin reached 5.338 seconds on the final lap.
Smith cracked the top five on lap sixteen. He held fourth from lap sixteen through lap twenty-nine. On the final trip around the big half mile, Smith moved into third.
McCandless held on for fourth, one spot ahead of Flick, who clinched the Speedweek championship with a steady performance. He was in or just outside the top five for the entire race.
Shaffer edged Farnham for sixth. Greg Wilson, Bauer, and Bova completed the top ten.
Flick, Weaver, Zimbardi, and Peterson won the heat races. Tyler Esh copped the B Main.
Brandon Matus was the night’s fastest qualifier. He topped Group A with a lap of 17.622. However, his night went downhill after that. While running in a transfer position on the last lap of his heat race, Matus flipped hard between turns three and four. His crew thrashed to get the car ready for the B Main with assistance from Spithaler and Weaver, among others. However, Matus finished fifth, with only four cars making the A Main.
Spithaler was the fastest member of Group B. His time was 17,796.
Blaze Myers took the lead on lap six of the RUSH Sprint Car feature and he cruised to an easy victory over Luke Mulichak. The early leader, Zach Morrow, finished in third. Brayden Blackshear and Samantha Priest were fourth and fifth. Lucas Roessner, Devon Deeter, Logen Lockhart, Grayson Bayle, and Ricky Tucker, III, rounded out the top ten. Myers and Roessner took the preliminaries.
The nightcap for the Mini Stock division went to Camden Franz. There was a constant three car battle for second throughout the fifteen lapper. Sheriff Tim Callahan prevailed, with Jordan Wheeler and Justin Forsyth following. Fifth went to Andy Thomson. Kevin Dotten, Michael Phillipson, Andrew Thompson, Ben Aley, and Jacob Wheeler were sixth through tenth.
Alex Palou wins fourth straight pole position at World Wide Technology Raceway
Rough day for Wright at Michigan
Opportunistic Wagaman Wins at Williams Grove
Heim holds off Honeycutt to win Truck race at Michigan
Flick is Speedweek King
Alex Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing win the pole position for the 110th Indianapolis 500
Alexander Rossi, Pato O’Ward and Romain Grosjean involved in multi vehicle crash during Indy 500 practice
New York Dog wins the Wienie 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
NASCAR community mourns the loss of champion driver Kyle Busch
