Tanner Thorson dominates Thursday's qualifying at Chili Bowl - plus full results

Thorson bounces back from early spin in heat race to roar to the win.

TULSA, Okla. -- Putting things in overdrive for Saturday night, Tanner Thorson served notice with an absolutely dominating performance on Thursday's John Christner Trucking Qualifying Night at the 37th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire.

What looked like a rocky start to his night with a spin in his OERB Heat Race, Thorson immediately bounced back to win his opening laps of competition. Sixth to second in his Team Toyota Qualifier, from there, it was lights out for the Maestro Classic/Bob Hurley RV No. 88.

“I thought my prelim night was over at the start of that Heat Race. I was just kind of waiting to get hit, luckily enough I didn’t and was able to keep going,” stated Thorson on the start of his night.

Working the top of the Tulsa Expo Raceway at all ends, the No. 88 went unchallenged through four cautions, with each one keeping the leaders from contending with traffic. Slowing down for the final time on Lap 24, the gap over second grew to 1.376-seconds at the finish.

Chased the entire 30 laps by Emerson Axsom, the AME Electric No. 19t was solidly in second the entire race. A battle through several restarts for the show position, the spot finally went to fifth, starting Brady Bacon, who made the pass on Lap 24. Tim Buckwalter made it to fourth from ninth, with Tanner Carrick rolling from eleventh to fifth.

Racing third from the start, the race with Bacon slipped Sarff out of his groove and slipped him back to sixth. Chase Johnson, in seventh, was pursued by California’s Ryan Bernal, who came from 17th to eighth. Dominic Gorden and Joe B. Miller made the top ten.

John Christner Trucking Qualifying night included 72 drivers, bringing the event count to 289 for the week.

The 2023 Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire, takes place January 9-14, 2023, atop the clay of the Tulsa Expo Raceway. The event is contested under the massive roof of the SageNet Center in Tulsa, Okla.

The offices of the Chili Bowl Nationals are open Monday-Friday from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. (CT). Pit Passes are sold at the event and can be purchased for single or consecutive nights.

Fans unable to attend the 37th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire will be able to watch every lap live on http://www.floracing.com.

For continued updates on the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire, fans can follow along on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with @CBNationals. All official press, updates, and results on the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire can be found online at http://www.chilibowl.com.

Story by Bryan Hulbert

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Results:

Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire
Tulsa Expo Raceway - Tulsa, Okla.
Thursday, January 12, 2023
John Christner Trucking Qualifying Night

Car Count: 72
Event Count: 289

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

OERB Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40-Max Adams[2]; 2. 3N-Jake Neuman[6]; 3. 29-Tim Buckwalter[7]; 4. 77W-Joe Wirth[8]; 5. 71T-Keith Rauch[4]; 6. 20H-Noah Harris[9]; 7. 11K-Joey Klemish[5]; 8. 84J-Jesse Shapel[3]; 9. (DNF) 78M-Merle Scherb[1]

OERB Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 86-Chase Johnson[1]; 2. 2D-Matt Sherrell[6]; 3. 7MF-Chance Morton[3]; 4. 1A-Jacob Allen[5]; 5. 4C-Cody Jessop[9]; 6. 17C-Devin Camfield[7]; 7. 14T-Dylan Bloomfield[4]; 8. 45-Kyle Hammer[2]; 9. 2MD-Conner Morrell[8]

OERB Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Tanner Thorson[2]; 2. 98B-Joe Boyles[1]; 3. 7M-Shane Cockrum[6]; 4. 55D-Nick Drake[9]; 5. 17K-Garth Kasiner[4]; 6. 91-Jeff Stasa[8]; 7. 83T-Herman Carrier[3]; 8. (DNF) 4M-Brody Fuson[5]; 9. (DNF) 55V-CJ Leary[7]

OERB Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 19T-Emerson Axsom[3]; 2. 75-Mario Clouser[4]; 3. 22T-Don Droud Jr[2]; 4. 82-Landon Crawley[7]; 5. 37T-Chet Gehrke[1]; 6. 72X-Caden McCreary[5]; 7. 47W-Dylan Westbrook[9]; 8. 27J-Frank Beck III[6]; 9. 21D-Justin Dickerson[8]

OERB Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 58-Dillon Welch[2]; 2. 7G-Gavin Miller[4]; 3. 21H-Brady Bacon[6]; 4. 3B-Zach Blurton[5]; 5. 25B-Steve Buckwalter[7]; 6. 22L-Lucas Scherb[8]; 7. 15C-Carter Chevalier[3]; 8. (DNF) 7-Frankie Guerrini[9]; 9. (DNF) 139-Todd Bertrand[1]

OERB Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 15D-Andrew Deal[1]; 2. 57R-Daniel Robinson[4]; 3. 00-Anton Hernandez[6]; 4. 87W-Ryan Bernal[7]; 5. 51Z-Zach Boden[2]; 6. 3F-Tim Barber[3]; 7. 15M-Shane Morgan[8]; 8. 5K-Ben Worth[5]; 9. 4R-Ryan Bickett[9]

OERB Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 51J-RJ Johnson[1]; 2. 98-Tanner Carrick[2]; 3. 21S-Karter Sarff[7]; 4. 51X-Joe Walker[3]; 5. 4A-Kyle Steffens[6]; 6. 2G-JJ Yeley[9]; 7. 35L-Cody Ledger[4]; 8. 17X-Jadon Rogers[8]; 9. 33B-Mike Bitner[5]

OERB Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 32W-Casey Shuman[1]; 2. 71K-Dominic Gorden[3]; 3. 53R-Sean Robbins[4]; 4. 4-Taylor Ferns[5]; 5. 51B-Joe B Miller[9]; 6. 93-Kyle Bellm[8]; 7. 10X-Trevor Serbus[6]; 8. 14E-Tom Dunkel[2]; 9. 2E-Whit Gastineau[7]

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

Toyota Qualifier 1 (10 Laps): 1. 71K-Dominic Gorden[1]; 2. 21S-Karter Sarff[5]; 3. 7MF-Chance Morton[8]; 4. 3N-Jake Neuman[6]; 5. 4C-Cody Jessop[7]; 6. 7M-Shane Cockrum[3]; 7. 55D-Nick Drake[4]; 8. 15D-Andrew Deal[2]; 9. 4-Taylor Ferns[9]; 10. (DNF) 51X-Joe Walker[10]

Toyota Qualifier 2 (10 Laps): 1. 82-Landon Crawley[1]; 2. 21H-Brady Bacon[3]; 3. 51J-RJ Johnson[2]; 4. 51B-Joe B Miller[7]; 5. 75-Mario Clouser[4]; 6. 2D-Matt Sherrell[6]; 7. 25B-Steve Buckwalter[9]; 8. 22T-Don Droud Jr[8]; 9. 4A-Kyle Steffens[10]; 10. 40-Max Adams[5]

Toyota Qualifier 3 (10 Laps): 1. 88-Tanner Thorson[5]; 2. 19T-Emerson Axsom[6]; 3. 87W-Ryan Bernal[1]; 4. 00-Anton Hernandez[3]; 5. 32W-Casey Shuman[2]; 6. 7G-Gavin Miller[4]; 7. 1A-Jacob Allen[8]; 8. 20H-Noah Harris[9]; 9. 91-Jeff Stasa[10]; 10. 98B-Joe Boyles[7]

Toyota Qualifier 4 (10 Laps): 1. 98-Tanner Carrick[1]; 2. 86-Chase Johnson[3]; 3. 77W-Joe Wirth[2]; 4. 29-Tim Buckwalter[6]; 5. 2G-JJ Yeley[9]; 6. 58-Dillon Welch[5]; 7. 57R-Daniel Robinson[4]; 8. 3B-Zach Blurton[8]; 9. 22L-Lucas Scherb[10]; 10. (DNF) 53R-Sean Robbins[7]

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

C Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 47W-Dylan Westbrook[3]; 2. 17K-Garth Kasiner[2]; 3. 10X-Trevor Serbus[6]; 4. 11K-Joey Klemish[7]; 5. 37T-Chet Gehrke[4]; 6. 35L-Cody Ledger[8]; 7. 2E-Whit Gastineau[15]; 8. 5K-Ben Worth[11]; 9. 15M-Shane Morgan[5]; 10. 15C-Carter Chevalier[9]; 11. 21D-Justin Dickerson[13]; 12. 14E-Tom Dunkel[14]; 13. 27J-Frank Beck III[10]; 14. (DNF) 84J-Jesse Shapel[12]; 15. (DNF) 93-Kyle Bellm[1]

C Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 55V-CJ Leary[14]; 2. 17C-Devin Camfield[2]; 3. 72X-Caden McCreary[4]; 4. 7-Frankie Guerrini[6]; 5. 51Z-Zach Boden[3]; 6. 4R-Ryan Bickett[11]; 7. 71T-Keith Rauch[1]; 8. 4M-Brody Fuson[10]; 9. 14T-Dylan Bloomfield[7]; 10. 45-Kyle Hammer[13]; 11. 139-Todd Bertrand[16]; 12. 2MD-Conner Morrell[12]; 13. 3F-Tim Barber[5]; 14. 33B-Mike Bitner[15]; 15. 17X-Jadon Rogers[9]; 16. 83T-Herman Carrier[8]

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

Dave.com B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 87W-Ryan Bernal[1]; 2. 15D-Andrew Deal[7]; 3. 47W-Dylan Westbrook[13]; 4. 40-Max Adams[9]; 5. 7G-Gavin Miller[4]; 6. 75-Mario Clouser[2]; 7. 25B-Steve Buckwalter[6]; 8. 11K-Joey Klemish[16]; 9. 98B-Joe Boyles[11]; 10. 22T-Don Droud Jr[8]; 11. 4A-Kyle Steffens[10]; 12. 10X-Trevor Serbus[15]; 13. 55D-Nick Drake[5]; 14. (DNS) 17K-Garth Kasiner; 15. (DNS) 53R-Sean Robbins; 16. (DNS) 58-Dillon Welch

Dave.com B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 4C-Cody Jessop[1]; 2. 32W-Casey Shuman[3]; 3. 2G-JJ Yeley[2]; 4. 57R-Daniel Robinson[5]; 5. 4-Taylor Ferns[9]; 6. 7M-Shane Cockrum[4]; 7. 72X-Caden McCreary[15]; 8. 20H-Noah Harris[7]; 9. 22L-Lucas Scherb[11]; 10. 1A-Jacob Allen[6]; 11. 51X-Joe Walker[12]; 12. 7-Frankie Guerrini[16]; 13. 17C-Devin Camfield[14]; 14. 91-Jeff Stasa[10]; 15. 3B-Zach Blurton[8]; 16. (DNF) 55V-CJ Leary[13]

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

John Christner Trucking A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 88-Tanner Thorson[1]; 2. 19T-Emerson Axsom[2]; 3. 21H-Brady Bacon[5]; 4. 29-Tim Buckwalter[9]; 5. 98-Tanner Carrick[11]; 6. 21S-Karter Sarff[3]; 7. 86-Chase Johnson[7]; 8. 87W-Ryan Bernal[17]; 9. 71K-Dominic Gorden[6]; 10. 51B-Joe B Miller[12]; 11. 4C-Cody Jessop[18]; 12. 82-Landon Crawley[10]; 13. 2G-JJ Yeley[22]; 14. 2D-Matt Sherrell[16]; 15. 51J-RJ Johnson[13]; 16. 00-Anton Hernandez[15]; 17. 77W-Joe Wirth[14]; 18. 47W-Dylan Westbrook[21]; 19. 7MF-Chance Morton[8]; 20. 40-Max Adams[23]; 21. 57R-Daniel Robinson[24]; 22. (DNF) 32W-Casey Shuman[20]; 23. (DNF) 3N-Jake Neuman[4]; 24. (DNF) 15D-Andrew Deal[19]

Lap Leader(s): Tanner Thorson 1-30
Hard Charger: Ryan Bernal +9

Submitted by Bryan Hulbert