It's the final day of the Chili Bowl: How we got here

The main event, otherwise known as the A Main, takes place tonight. Who will wind up being the Tulsa King or Queen?

TULSA, Okla. -- A full day of racing lies ahead today and into tonight as the 37th annual Chili Bowl Nationals come to a conclusion. But before the final checkered flag falls, there'll be plenty of action this afternoon and into the week's main event, the A Main championship-deciding event.

Missing this year will be the winners of five of the last six Nationals, as both Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell chose to skip the 2023 edition of this race over a dispute on the size of the race purse.

Larson is in Vado, New Mexico running a dirt late model race - the Wild West Shootout – where he finished sixth or better in his first four nights of the five-night event. Bell, meanwhile, is not racing anywhere this weekend.

While Larson and Bell’s presence is missed (Thursday night’s winner Tanner Thorson mentioned as much in his post-race comments after winning the Qualification Night A Main), their absence has given this edition of the Chili Bowl a slightly more traditional midget feel.

Ten drivers locked into Saturday’s A-Main Feature by finishing first or second in the first five nights of qualification races.

Toyota driver Cannon McIntosh was the first to lock in with his Monday night feature win, followed by local racer Hank Davis on Tuesday, fan-favorite and another Toyota-powered driver, Rico Abreu, on Wednesday, last year’s winner Tanner Thorson, another Toyota driver, who locked in on Thursday, and Logan Seavy who won Friday night’s qualifier.

Finishing second each night and also locking into Saturday's main event are Shane Golobic, Toyota's Spencer Bayston and Mitchel Moles, Emerson Axsom and yet another Toyota-powered driver, Justin Grant.

The remainder of the field will be filled through an accumulation of lettered Mains today, beginning with the O-Main.

Drivers finishing third through eighth in their qualification night will start in one of two B-Mains, giving them the best opportunity to be in the big show.

Notable drivers attempting to advance from these Last Chance Qualifiers include Jade Avedisian [see the Auto Racing Digest story on her], Brady Bacon, Chris Windom, Blake Hahn (grandson of event promoter Emmit Hahn), NASCAR racer Chase Briscoe, Ryan Timms, Taylor Reimer, Brent Crews, Tim McCreadie and Thomas Meseraull.

In addition to Briscoe, there is still a large presence of NASCAR and IndyCar drivers in the overall field:

* Alex Bowman won his heat on Tuesday after starting fifth and went on to finish third in his qualification race. He was caught up in an early incident in the A Main and will start deep in an E Main Saturday night after finishing 23rd.

* Josh Bilicki finished 16th (last) in his B Main on Tuesday and will start in the J Main.

* NASCAR Truck series driver Carson Hocevar won his C Main on Wednesday before finishing 10th in the B. That will seed him into a G Main Saturday night.

* NASCAR veteran JJ Yeley holds the record for making his way into the A Main after racing out of the F Main in 2004. He won’t have to come from quite as far Saturday night. He advanced to the A on Thursday night and finished 13th which places him in the C Main.

* IndyCar driver Santino Ferrucci raced Friday night and finished fourth in his heat. He finished seventh in his qualification race and lined up fifth in the heat. Starting fifth in his B Main, Ferrucci quickly moved to fourth, which would have locked him into Friday’s Main. He pushed wide and scrapped the wall, deflating his right rear tire.

The hidden good news is that Ferrucci got experience in traffic, passing five cars on his way to matching his previous best B Main finish of 10th, earned in 2021. He will start near the front in one of the C Mains

Prior to Thorson’s win last year, the previous seven Chili Bowls were won in streaks of two or three with Abreu winning in 2015 and 2016, Bell from 2017 through 2019 and Larson winning in 2020 and 2021.

Thorson’s dominant win Thursday’s A-Main suggests he can make it two Chili Bowl championships in a row late tonight, but Abreu’s dramatic last-lap pass on Wednesday for the feature win indicates he will likely have something to say about it.

Another pre-event favorite, Buddy Kofoid, crashed on his qualification night and will be forced to advance from deep in the field.

Ashton Torgerson, who was involved in a serious crash Wednesday night that caused him to be ejected from his car, was cleared for release from the hospital as Friday night’s heat began.

Ashton has been CLEARED TO LEAVE the hospital!

-PR

— Ashton Torgerson (@_Torgerson02) January 13, 2023

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Saturday's lineups for General Tire Championship Night

Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire

Tulsa Expo Raceway (Tulsa, Okla.)
Saturday, January 14, 2023
General Tire Championship Night

Event Car Count: 365

A-Feature:

Lap Leaders:
Hard Charger:

#DoItForGrady Pole Shuffle

Lineup Pole Shuffle (4 Laps): 1. 29S-Hank Davis; 2. 39-Logan Seavey; 3. 08-Cannon McIntosh; 4. 88-Tanner Thorson; 5. 24-Rico Abreu; 6. 17W-Shane Golobic; 7. 19T-Emerson Axsom; 8. 89X-Mitchel Moles; 9. 2J-Justin Grant; 10. 1S-Spencer Bayston

B-Features: Top 7 advance to the A-Feature

Lineup B Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 84-Jade Avedisian; 2. 89-Chris Windom; 3. 71M-Brent Crews; 4. 26R-Zeb Wise; 5. 29-Tim Buckwalter; 6. 88J-Jonathan Beason; 7. 5-Chase Briscoe; 8. 5T-Kevin Thomas Jr; 9. 28-Ace McCarthy; 10. 21S-Karter Sarff; 11. 26-Chance Crum; 12. 67-Ryan Timms; 13. 25K-Taylor Reimer; 14. 19-Brian Carber; 15. 87W-Ryan Bernal

Lineup B Feature 2 (20 Laps): 1. 40M-Chase McDermand; 2. 21H-Brady Bacon; 3. 7U-Kyle Jones; 4. 32T-Trey Marcham; 5. 52-Blake Hahn; 6. 47X-Jason McDougal; 7. 98-Tanner Carrick; 8. 71-Kaylee Bryson; 9. 5G-Gavan Boschele; 10. 51R-Ricky Thornton Jr; 11. 87-Jace Park; 12. 86-Chase Johnson; 13. 39T-Tim McCreadie; 14. 67X-Kyle Spence; 15. 7X-Thomas Meseraull

C-Features: Top 5 advance to the corresponding B-Feature

Lineup C Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 47-Zach Daum; 2. 25-Jacob Denney; 3. 55A-Jake Swanson; 4. 01-Bryant Wiedeman; 5. 51B-Joe B Miller; 6. 5LK-Jordan Kinser; 7. 40S-Steven Snyder Jr; 8. 54-Matt Westfall; 9. 14M-Michael Faccinto; 10. 82-Landon Crawley; 11. 27B-Jake Bubak; 12. 81-Tanner Holmes; 13. 4P-Kody Swanson; 14. 00B-Braden Chiaramonte; 15. 2D-Matt Sherrell

Lineup C Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 11B-Clinton Boyles; 2. 71K-Dominic Gorden; 3. 21J-Kameron Key; 4. 50-Daniel Adler; 5. 08G-Trey Gropp; 6. 21-Daryn Pittman; 7. 4C-Cody Jessop; 8. 19A-Daison Pursley; 9. 73B-Tyler Edwards; 10. 57-Daniel Whitley; 11. 11A-Andrew Felker; 12. 2G-JJ Yeley; 13. 1Z-Justin Zimmerman; 14. 03-Ayrton Gennetten; 15. 80S-Kaden Honeycutt

D-Features: Top 5 advance to the corresponding C-Feature

Lineup D Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 71E-Mariah Ede; 2. 41X-Howard Moore; 3. 67K-Cade Lewis; 4. 3G-Kyle Cummins; 5. 00-Anton Hernandez; 6. 5V-AJ Bender; 7. 8-Alex Sewell; 8. 19Z-Hayden Reinbold; 9. 95-Chris Andrews; 10. 47W-Dylan Westbrook; 11. 71G-Damion Gardner; 12. 97K-Tom Harris; 13. 4B-Chelby Hinton; 14. 57A-Shane Cottle; 15. 40-Max Adams

Lineup D Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 19B-Alex Bright; 2. 51J-RJ Johnson; 3. 23P-Preston Lattomus; 4. 2H-Nick Hoffman; 5. 45X-Roger Crockett; 6. 68W-Matt Mitchell; 7. 77W-Joe Wirth; 8. 7W-Brendon Wiseley; 9. 0H-Cap Henry; 10. 2X-Landon Brooks; 11. 97-Brenham Crouch; 12. 7MF-Chance Morton; 13. 71W-Michael Kofoid; 14. 69P-Joey Paxson; 15. 68-Ronnie Gardner

E-Features: Top 5 advance to the corresponding D-Feature

Lineup E Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 4X-Michael Pickens; 2. 22-Sean McClelland; 3. 25M-Jake Andreotti; 4. 23K-Kyle Simon; 5. 32W-Casey Shuman; 6. 55X-Alex Bowman; 7. 7T-TJ Smith; 8. 1I-Ashton Torgerson; 9. 45H-Briggs Danner; 10. 15D-Andrew Deal; 11. 19K-Riley Kreisel; 12. 31K-Danny Stratton; 13. 2W-Tony Bruce Jr; 14. 7G-Gavin Miller; 15. 91X-Danny Wood

Lineup E Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 17B-Austin Barnhill; 2. 57R-Daniel Robinson; 3. 57W-Devon Borden; 4. 85-Jerry Coons Jr; 5. 07W-Corey Day; 6. 19M-Ethan Mitchell; 7. 3N-Jake Neuman; 8. 3P-Darin Naida; 9. 32-Gary Taylor; 10. 17-Travis Berryhill; 11. 17L-Cody Trammell; 12. 44X-Wesley Smith; 13. P1-Paul White; 14. 4-Taylor Ferns; 15. 22X-Steven Shebester

F-Features: Top 5 advance to the corresponding E-Feature

Lineup F Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 8R-Randi Pankratz; 2. 81G-Greyson Springer; 3. 31X-Jeff Champagne; 4. 75-Mario Clouser; 5. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr; 6. 1K-Brayton Lynch; 7. 21K-Dale Curran; 8. 8X-Broc Elliott; 9. 72X-Caden McCreary; 10. 56-Mitchell Davis; 11. 21B-Trey Burke; 12. 37F-Adyn Schmidt; 13. 28Q-Sean Quinn; 14. 11K-Joey Klemish; 15. 80A-Chris Schmelzle

Lineup F Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 2ND-Jeb Sessums; 2. 14J-Jody Rosenboom; 3. 16W-Garet Williamson; 4. 7M-Shane Cockrum; 5. 16C-David Camfield Jr; 6. 45S-Shon Deskins; 7. 1M-Mason Smith; 8. 18L-Logan Scherb; 9. 25B-Steve Buckwalter; 10. 01C-Carson Sousa; 11. 715-Robert Bell; 12. 11X-Donovan Peterson; 13. 91K-Kevin Bayer; 14. 20H-Noah Harris; 15. 56X-Mark Chisholm

G-Features: Top 5 advance to the corresponding F-Feature

Lineup G Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 118-Scott Evans; 2. 77X-Wayne Johnson; 3. 21E-Emilio Hoover; 4. 98B-Joe Boyles; 5. 08K-Karsyn Elledge; 6. 96-Cody Brewer; 7. 16-Santino Ferrucci; 8. 40U-Jace Sparks; 9. 1A-Jacob Allen; 10. 1-Sammy Swindell

Lineup G Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 23-Patrick Ryan; 2. 87F-Johnny Kent; 3. 86C-David Camfield Sr; 4. 22L-Lucas Scherb; 5. 06-Rylan Gray; 6. 23S-Steve Irwin; 7. 80D-Josh Hawkins; 8. 8D-Colby Deming; 9. 22T-Don Droud Jr; 10. 31H-Carson Hocevar

H-Features: Top 6 advance to the corresponding G-Feature

Lineup H Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 22B-Troy Betts; 2. 24T-Glenn James Bratti; 3. 28K-Kory Schudy; 4. 4A-Kyle Steffens; 5. 1G-Justin Peck; 6. 37X-Blake Edwards; 7. 8W-Troy Rutherford; 8. 76-Michael Smith; 9. 7-Frankie Guerrini; 10. 7J-Shawn Jackson

Lineup H Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 14X-KJ Snow; 2. 41W-Brad Wyatt; 3. 5F-Danny Frye III; 4. 51X-Joe Walker; 5. 2B-Tanner Berryhill; 6. 44-Colton Hardy; 7. 14-Cody Hays; 8. 9-Xavier Doney; 9. 10X-Trevor Serbus; 10. 7S-Parker Price Miller

I-Features: Top 6 advance to the corresponding H-Feature

Lineup I Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 4G-Drake Edwards; 2. 11G-Avery Goodman; 3. 9B-Brian Schwabauer; 4. 55D-Nick Drake; 5. 9P-Kevin Cook; 6. 15F-Kinzer Edwards; 7. 56M-Mike Veatch; 8. 3V-Jim Vanzant; 9. 91-Jeff Stasa; 10. 98C-Chad Boespflug

Lineup I Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 00G-Braedon Enos; 2. 12-Corbin Gurley; 3. 47K-Kevin Brewer; 4. 17C-Devin Camfield; 5. 11T-Tyler Baran; 6. 21L-Austin Langenstein; 7. 7P-AJ Hopkins; 8. 6-Bill Rose; 9. 17K-Garth Kasiner; 10. 71L-Charlie Louden

Kevin Studley J-Features: Top 6 advance to the corresponding I-Feature.

Lineup J Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 7B-Cody Beard; 2. 02-Matt Rossi; 3. 18N-Weston Gorham; 4. 53R-Sean Robbins; 5. 3W-Brandon Waelti; 6. 22G-John Murdie; 7. 60M-Earl McDoulett Jr; 8. 7K-Kolton Gariss; 9. 55V-CJ Leary; 10. M1-Colby Stubblefield

Lineup J Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 71H-Austin Ervine; 2. 17H-Harli White; 3. 17M-Jeremy Schnepper; 4. 3B-Zach Blurton; 5. 55C-Angelo Cornet; 6. 7C-Josh Bilicki; 7. 31-David Budres; 8. 36C-Ian Creager; 9. 58-Dillon Welch; 10. 57H-Steve Hix

K-Features: Top 6 advance to the corresponding J-Feature

Lineup K Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 28M-Gray Leadbetter; 2. 36-Kevin Reed; 3. 45K-Kyler Johnson; 4. 37T-Chet Gehrke; 5. 6A-Kalib Henry; 6. 251-Johnny Brown Jr; 7. 19J-Jack Berger; 8. B1-Aaron Sanders; 9. 4R-Ryan Bickett; 10. 25V-Billy VanInwegen Jr

Lineup K Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 6D-Isaac Chapple; 2. 8M-Kade Morton; 3. 12X-Steven Snawder; 4. 51Z-Zach Boden; 5. 73T-Tony Gomes; 6. 51-Curtis Jones; 7. 68B-Jason Martin; 8. 116-Claud Estes III; 9. 35L-Cody Ledger; 10. 60-Landon Britt

L-Features: Top 6 advance to the corresponding K-Feature

Lineup L Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11H-Jori Hughes; 2. 55K-Todd Kluever; 3. 51C-Logan Calderwood; 4. 2E-Whit Gastineau; 5. 14U-Cole Schroeder; 6. 80-Jarrod Jennings; 7. 74-Drew Rader; 8. 8L-Colin Deming; 9. 4M-Brody Fuson; 10. 0G-Glenn Styres

Lineup L Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 14R-Brody Petrie; 2. 19U-Pierce Urbanosky; 3. 45J-Jerry Brey; 4. 71T-Keith Rauch; 5. 35-Tyler Robbins; 6. 34C-Cameron Willhite; 7. 10C-Dalton Camfield; 8. 7F-Roy Entze II; 9. 5K-Ben Worth; 10. 19N-Nathan Byrd

M-Features: Top 6 advance to the corresponding L-Feature

Lineup M Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 75X-Alex Vande Voort; 2. 1W-Bryon Walters; 3. 15G-Dennie Gieber; 4. 15M-Shane Morgan; 5. 77J-John Klabonde; 6. 7E-Joseph Wray IV; 7. 20-Tadd Holliman; 8. 15K-Gage Rucker; 9. 45-Kyle Hammer; 10. 99K-Robert Carson

Lineup M Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 31B-Kyle Beilman; 2. 21X-Justin Bates; 3. 4K-Kayla Roell; 4. 14T-Dylan Bloomfield; 5. 76X-Tom Savage; 6. 7TX-Anthony Pope; 7. 5B-Bobby Brewer; 8. 7R-Casey Burkham; 9. 15C-Carter Chevalier; 10. 23T-Tristan Lee

N-Features: Top 6 advance to the corresponding M-Feature

Lineup N Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 22P-Marcus Kennedy; 2. 22J-Taylor Kuehl; 3. 50T-Keoni Texeira; 4. 21D-Justin Dickerson; 5. 00H-John Heitzman; 6. 19X-Dylan Archer; 7. 73H-Hunter Schuerenberg; 8. 18K-Billy Rayburn; 9. 2MD-Conner Morrell; 10. 7JR-JD Black

Lineup N Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 68S-Corby Scherb; 2. 7D-Michelle Decker; 3. 80H-Joshua Hanna; 4. 139-Todd Bertrand; 5. 2Y-Dave Axton; 6. 6K-Jesse Denome; 7. 5J-Josh Hodge; 8. 36K-Kris Carroll; 9. 14E-Tom Dunkel; 10. 8AJ-AJ Johnson

O-Features: Top 6 advance to the corresponding N-Feature

Lineup O Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11N-Nick Baran; 2. 1T-Tyler Shoemaker; 3. 27J-Frank Beck III; 4. 11C-Mike Woodruff; 5. 7Z-Ryan Powers; 6. 33B-Mike Bitner; 7. 17D-Wyatt Rotz; 8. 87C-Austin Garrett; 9. 93-Kyle Bellm; 10. 37-Ashton Thompson

Lineup O Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 46-Adam Andretti; 2. 98P-Ryan Padgett; 3. 3F-Tim Barber; 4. 8K-Jake Neal; 5. 68B-Jason Martin; 6. 84J-Jesse Shapel; 7. 68C-Ryder Laplante; 8. 66-Harry Elzo; 9. 17X-Jadon Rogers; 10. 10M-Kort Morgan

P-Features: Top 6 advance to the corresponding O-Feature

Lineup P Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 0-Johnny Murdock; 2. 83T-Herman Carrier; 3. 5H-Casey Hicks; 4. 57C-Adam Taylor; 5. 7L-Jarrad Warhurst; 6. 42K-Kevin Battefeld; 7. 84S-Shaun Shapel; 8. 73-Shawn Mahaffey; 9. 59-Richard Harvey; 10. Z8-Max McLaughlin; 11. 70-Cade Cowles

Lineup P Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 4F-Chad Frewaldt; 2. 42-Patrick Prescott; 3. 2C-JR Ewing; 4. 81C-Colten Cottle; 5. 44C-Blake Carrier; 6. 12H-Jared Hood; 7. 78M-Merle Scherb; 8. 130-Larry Bratti; 9. 00S-Jamie Speers; 10. 72W-Tye Wilke

Submitted By: Bryan Hulbert