Avedisian Makes History in Chili Bowl Debut, while Bayston Leads Toyota On Night Two

Action keeps getting hotter as the first two nights of the Chili Bowl are history and four more nights remain

TULSA, Okla. (January 10, 2023) – Spencer Bayston placed second to advance to Saturday’s A Main feature event, while Jade Avedisian placed third in the highest finish ever by a woman in a preliminary feature to lead Toyota in Tuesday night’s 30-lap Warren CAT Qualifying Night feature at the 37th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals.

Tuesday’s finish marks the third time that Bayston has advanced directly to Saturday’s A Main after previously placing second in 2018 and third in 2015. He earned a career-best feature showing of third in 2018.

Tuesday's third-place showing marks the latest run to history for the 16-year-old Avedisian. She became the first driver to win multiple races in the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series, as well as the first woman to win multiple national midget features during the 2022 season. Her first win came at age 15.

In the early going, it looked like Buddy Kofoid would be celebrating his second consecutive Tuesday preliminary win. The two-time USAC National Midget champion led Laps 2 through 7 and had a comfortable lead before his night came to a sudden end when two cars got together in front of him, leaving him with no place to go. He would hit the wall, ending his run and eventually finishing 20th.

Overall, nine of the 13 Toyota-powered drivers advanced to Tuesday’s A Main with five finishing in the top seven. In addition to Bayston and Avedisian, Jonathan Beason placed fifth, Kaylee Bryson was sixth and Chase Crum brought it home in seventh.

After the first two preliminary night qualifiers, two Toyota-powered drivers have advanced directly to Saturday’s A Main.

This year’s Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals features 370 entries - each fighting for one of the 24 openings in Saturday night’s “A Main” feature event. Qualifying continues for each of the next three nights.

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Quotes:

Jade Avedisian, Toyota: “This means the world to me. I can’t thank Chad Boat and everyone at CBI enough, as well as Toyota Racing. I wish I was one spot better, so I didn’t have to work my way out of the B. We’ll see what we have on Saturday and try to make it to the feature. I had one of the best cars on the track but made a few mistakes. I’m just glad to be on the podium. This is just insane and I’m very grateful to be here.”

Spencer Bayston, RMS Racing Toyota: “Early in the race, the leaders were dropping like flies, and we were able to capitalize on that. I felt really good in our car. I got to Hank on a long run and felt I was a bit faster. I thought if I could get in front of him on a restart I could out-run him, but he did a great job. I just couldn’t quite close it. I had to get back to what was working. Congrats to Hank.”

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RESULTS:

Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire
Tulsa Expo Raceway - Tulsa, Okla.
Tuesday, January 10, 2023
Warren CAT Qualifying Night

Car Count: 66
Event Count

OERB Heat Races: Top 40 in passing points advance to Qualifiers.

OERB Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 71-Kaylee Bryson[1]; 2. 71W-Michael Kofoid[9]; 3. 71G-Damion Gardner[5]; 4. 44-Colton Hardy[7]; 5. 23-Patrick Ryan[6]; 6. 19K-Riley Kreisel[3]; 7. 75X-Alex Vande Voort[8]; 8. 46-Adam Andretti[4]; 9. (DNF) 11H-Jori Hughes[2]

OERB Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 15F-Kinzer Edwards[3]; 2. 5LK-Jordan Kinser[8]; 3. 39T-Tim McCreadie[5]; 4. 26-Chance Crum[7]; 5. 7C-Josh Bilicki[1]; 6. 51-Curtis Jones[4]; 7. 34C-Cameron Willhite[2]; 8. 21B-Trey Burke[6]; 9. 7TX-Anthony Pope[9]

OERB Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1S-Spencer Bayston[3]; 2. 1K-Brayton Lynch[2]; 3. 71E-Mariah Ede[4]; 4. 4X-Michael Pickens[9]; 5. 21A-Austin Langenstein[5]; 6. 45S-Shon Deskins[6]; 7. 17L-Cody Trammell[8]; 8. 251-Johnny Brown Jr[7]; 9. 19X-Dylan Archer[1]

OERB Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 57W-Devon Borden[2]; 2. 29S-Hank Davis[5]; 3. 8R-Randi Pankratz[3]; 4. 22B-Troy Betts[1]; 5. 1Z-Justin Zimmerman[7]; 6. 31B-Kyle Beilman[4]; 7. 11N-Nick Baran[8]; 8. 6D-Isaac Chapple[9]; 9. 80-Jarrod Jennings[6]

OERB Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 55X-Alex Bowman[5]; 2. 84-Jade Avedisian[6]; 3. 3P-Darin Naida[4]; 4. 14X-KJ Snow[3]; 5. 4G-Drake Edwards[1]; 6. 23S-Steve Irwin[7]; 7. 96-Cody Brewer[8]; 8. 68S-Corby Scherb[2]

OERB Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 27B-Jake Bubak[1]; 2. 118-Scott Evans[4]; 3. 22G-John Murdie[3]; 4. 00G-Braedon Enos[8]; 5. 715-Robert Bell[2]; 6. 12H-Jared Hood[5]; 7. (DNF) 6K-Jesse Denome[7]; 8. (DNF) 14R-Brody Petrie[6]

OERB Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 88J-Jonathan Beason[7]; 2. 7B-Cody Beard[1]; 3. 23P-Preston Lattomus[4]; 4. 7W-Brendon Wiseley[5]; 5. 2ND-Jeb Sessums[8]; 6. 71H-Austin Ervine[2]; 7. 28M-Gray Leadbetter[3]; 8. 84S-Shaun Shapel[6]

OERB Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 19A-Daison Pursley[4]; 2. 21J-Kameron Key[5]; 3. 7U-Kyle Jones[8]; 4. 47-Zach Daum[6]; 5. 5V-AJ Bender[1]; 6. 37X-Blake Edwards[7]; 7. (DNF) 7E-Joseph Wray IV[3]; 8. (DNF) 22P-Marcus Kennedy[2]

C-Features: Top 4 advance to corresponding B-Feature.

C Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 19K-Riley Kreisel[6]; 2. 4G-Drake Edwards[1]; 3. 45S-Shon Deskins[2]; 4. 21B-Trey Burke[10]; 5. 28M-Gray Leadbetter[8]; 6. 51-Curtis Jones[5]; 7. 11H-Jori Hughes[13]; 8. 34C-Cameron Willhite[9]; 9. 75X-Alex Vande Voort[3]; 10. 7TX-Anthony Pope[12]; 11. 22P-Marcus Kennedy[11]; 12. (DNF) 6K-Jesse Denome[7]; 13. (DNF) 11N-Nick Baran[4]; 14. (DNS) 84S-Shaun Shapel

C Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 5V-AJ Bender[1]; 2. 17L-Cody Trammell[3]; 3. 71H-Austin Ervine[6]; 4. 96-Cody Brewer[4]; 5. 6D-Isaac Chapple[7]; 6. 251-Johnny Brown Jr[9]; 7. 14R-Brody Petrie[10]; 8. 80-Jarrod Jennings[13]; 9. 31B-Kyle Beilman[5]; 10. 7E-Joseph Wray IV[8]; 11. 68S-Corby Scherb[12]; 12. 19X-Dylan Archer[14]; 13. 46-Adam Andretti[11]; 14. (DNS) 12H-Jared Hood

Team Toyota Qualifiers: Top 16 in combined passing points advance to the A-Feature.

Toyota Qualifier 1 (10 Laps): 1. 4X-Michael Pickens[3]; 2. 19A-Daison Pursley[5]; 3. 1S-Spencer Bayston[4]; 4. 26-Chance Crum[1]; 5. 88J-Jonathan Beason[6]; 6. 3P-Darin Naida[7]; 7. 14X-KJ Snow[9]; 8. 8R-Randi Pankratz[8]; 9. 23S-Steve Irwin[10]; 10. (DNF) 00G-Braedon Enos[2]

Toyota Qualifier 2 (10 Laps): 1. 29S-Hank Davis[4]; 2. 71W-Michael Kofoid[6]; 3. 84-Jade Avedisian[5]; 4. 23P-Preston Lattomus[7]; 5. 71G-Damion Gardner[2]; 6. 118-Scott Evans[3]; 7. 37X-Blake Edwards[10]; 8. 23-Patrick Ryan[9]; 9. 22G-John Murdie[8]; 10. (DNF) 1K-Brayton Lynch[1]

Toyota Qualifier 3 (10 Laps): 1. 71-Kaylee Bryson[3]; 2. 21J-Kameron Key[4]; 3. 39T-Tim McCreadie[2]; 4. 7U-Kyle Jones[5]; 5. 5LK-Jordan Kinser[6]; 6. 47-Zach Daum[7]; 7. 7W-Brendon Wiseley[8]; 8. 22B-Troy Betts[9]; 9. 7B-Cody Beard[1]; 10. 715-Robert Bell[10]

Toyota Qualifier 4 (10 Laps): 1. 27B-Jake Bubak[3]; 2. 57W-Devon Borden[4]; 3. 55X-Alex Bowman[6]; 4. 1Z-Justin Zimmerman[8]; 5. 71E-Mariah Ede[1]; 6. 15F-Kinzer Edwards[5]; 7. 44-Colton Hardy[2]; 8. 7C-Josh Bilicki[10]; 9. 21A-Austin Langenstein[9]; 10. (DNF) 2ND-Jeb Sessums[7]

Dave.com B-Features: Top 4 advance to the A-Feature.

Davecom B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 47-Zach Daum[4]; 2. 26-Chance Crum[2]; 3. 39T-Tim McCreadie[1]; 4. 7W-Brendon Wiseley[5]; 5. 19K-Riley Kreisel[13]; 6. 8R-Randi Pankratz[7]; 7. 45S-Shon Deskins[15]; 8. 21B-Trey Burke[16]; 9. 118-Scott Evans[3]; 10. 23S-Steve Irwin[11]; 11. 22B-Troy Betts[8]; 12. (DNF) 44-Colton Hardy[6]; 13. (DNF) 4G-Drake Edwards[14]; 14. (DNF) 21A-Austin Langenstein[12]; 15. (DNF) 7B-Cody Beard[10]; 16. (DNF) 7C-Josh Bilicki[9]

Dave.com B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 3P-Darin Naida[3]; 2. 71G-Damion Gardner[2]; 3. 5V-AJ Bender[13]; 4. 71E-Mariah Ede[4]; 5. 17L-Cody Trammell[14]; 6. 2ND-Jeb Sessums[10]; 7. 1K-Brayton Lynch[11]; 8. 715-Robert Bell[12]; 9. 23-Patrick Ryan[7]; 10. 96-Cody Brewer[16]; 11. 14X-KJ Snow[5]; 12. 37X-Blake Edwards[6]; 13. 00G-Braedon Enos[9]; 14. 15F-Kinzer Edwards[1]; 15. 71H-Austin Ervine[15]; 16. (DNF) 22G-John Murdie[8]

A-Feature: Top 2 advance to Saturday's A-Feature.

Warren CAT A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 29S-Hank Davis[3]; 2. 1S-Spencer Bayston[12]; 3. 84-Jade Avedisian[9]; 4. 7U-Kyle Jones[14]; 5. 88J-Jonathan Beason[11]; 6. 71-Kaylee Bryson[7]; 7. 26-Chance Crum[19]; 8. 39T-Tim McCreadie[21]; 9. 47-Zach Daum[17]; 10. 21J-Kameron Key[6]; 11. 5LK-Jordan Kinser[13]; 12. 19A-Daison Pursley[2]; 13. 27B-Jake Bubak[8]; 14. 1Z-Justin Zimmerman[16]; 15. 71E-Mariah Ede[24]; 16. 23P-Preston Lattomus[15]; 17. 5V-AJ Bender[22]; 18. (DNF) 7W-Brendon Wiseley[23]; 19. (DNF) 71G-Damion Gardner[20]; 20. (DNF) 71W-Michael Kofoid[1]; 21. (DNF) 4X-Michael Pickens[5]; 22. (DNF) 57W-Devon Borden[10]; 23. (DNF) 55X-Alex Bowman[4]; 24. (DNF) 3P-Darin Naida[18]

Lap Leader(s): Daison Pursley 1; Buddy Kofoid 2-7; Hank Davis 8-30
Hard Charger: Tim McCreadie +13