The Chili Bowl Midget Nationals is dirt racing’s version of the WWE Royal Rumble.
In the Rumble, 30 professional wrestlers periodically enter the ring over the course of an hour, with eliminations taking place as a result of one participant sending another over the top rope.
In the Chili Bowl, instead of 30 participants, there’s more than 350, and eliminations occur when competitors fail to finish brief sprint races within the highest percentage of the field.
The first main elimination race, typically lettered ‘O’ or ‘P’ starts at 10:30 in the morning, Eastern Time, and races continue in reverse alphabetical order throughout the day.
P1
P2
O1
O2
N1
N2
M1
M2
L1
L2 …
You get the picture.
How far a driver has to come back through the Chili Bowl Alphabet Soup has been determined throughout the week during a series of qualifying preliminary nights. The top two finishers from each night’s preliminary featured automatically earned a berth into Saturday night’s main event.
Those 10 drivers have also been entered into the pole shuffle, a series of one-on-one time trials that will determine both the pole-sitter and the starting lineup for the $20,000-to-win main event.
The entire process features an eclectic collection of superstar drivers from every major North American motorsport discipline including USAC, the World of Outlaws, NASCAR and IndyCar. There are even a handful of amateurs who will have rented a cheap Midget for a couple grand just to say they were a part of one of the most prestigious motorsport events in the world.
All told, Saturday at the Tulsa Expo Center Raceway in Oklahoma is one of the most exciting and star-studded events in motorsports. The amount of talent entered into this race is as diverse and impressive as the Rolex 24 in two weeks.
Representing NASCAR are Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse, Chase Briscoe, JJ Yeley and Jesse Love. From IndyCar is Santino Ferrucci. Former World of Outlaws champion Daryn Pittman is in the field. The race is represented by virtually every USAC living legend and championship mainstay. Sammy Swindell is still the GOAT in this building and he’s here too.
The racing is close, and the Golden Driller trophy has become one of the most sought-after prizes in any racing category.
Five things you need to know before tuning-into the action on Saturday can be found below.
Seavey the man to beat but …
Right now, it’s Logan Seavey versus the world but the world has put one over on the defending Chili Bowl Midget Nationals winner this week.
Seavey has been dealing with a flu bug of sorts for most of the week since winning Race of Champions on Monday.
“Monday, I was a hundred percent and as soon as I left on Monday, I was sick,” Seavey said. “I was sick bad and didn’t come Tuesday at all. Just trying to recover. I felt good on Wednesday but just struggling to ear the past two days. I just don’t want to eat. I feel okay but I don’t want to eat.
“So, I’m like on day three of having half a meal a day so I’m just deficient on a lot of stuff, which isn’t good. You have to eat and drink a lot of things to perform.”
Seavey says he feels gassed inside the car and a little bit of fatigue behind the wheel and that he’s fortunate these races are so short but Saturday’s main event is 55 laps.
This car, which made its debut in the Chili Bowl last year is undefeated. It won its prelim last year, won on Championship Saturday and then won Race of Champions on Monday before winning another prelim on Friday night.
For Seavey, the only weakness to be found when he is healthy, is what he articulates as a general inability to get going at the start of every run. We’ve seen it all week. The field takes the green flag and Seavey either holds serve or even loses a couple of spots.
Give it a handful of laps and he comes to life in a big way.
“That’s one of my traits, whether good or bad, probably more bad than anything,” he said. “I feel like I lose more spots on restarts than anybody in the world.
“For whatever reason, I need a little bit of time to get going. I don’t know if I don’t keep my tires hot enough under yellow but rarely do you see me go green and pass someone in the first turn. I would love to but I don’t know how. It sucks for a race like (Friday) that has a lot of yellows because I just keep losing my momentum and it takes me a couple of laps to get it back.”
What Seavey does have going for him, beyond the best car in the building, is that this race historically favors multi-year runs over the past decade.
Seavey defeated Tanner Thorson last year.
Thorson defeated Chirstopher Bell in 2022.
Bell and Kyle Larson won five straight from 2017-2021.
Rico Abreu won two in a row in 2015 and 2016.
Kevin Swindell won four in a row from 2010-2013.
Swindell says he has learned even more about their car with a second year of racing it and what they have since learned at Race of Champions.
“The only thing that’s a little nerve wracking is I don’t want us to look silly and make last year look like a fluke,” he said.
So the trends suggest that this race should run through some combination of Seavey and Thorson, both who will start someone inside the top-10 after locking in on their respective preliminary nights.
Seavey just needs to overcome that stubborn flu on a day in which he could sleep in until dinnertime when it’s time for the pole shuffle.
New pole shuffle format
Event promoter Emmett Hahn continues to tinker with how the top-10 starters get decided before the main event.
Instead of a series of one-on-one match races or four-car rumbles, the format is now a series of mano a mano time trial efforts.
Here’s how it works: The No. 10 seed and the No. 9 seed will hit the track at the same time with the green flag coming out with both contenders on opposite sides of the track. They will both turn a qualifying lap with the fastest time moving on to face the No. 8 seed where they will compete in the same manner.
This will continue over and over until the winner to that point will face the No. 1 seed to determine who gets the pole.
Pole shuffle seeding
10. Jake Swanson
9. Hank Davis
8. Shane Golobic
7. Ryan Timms
6. Tanner Thorson
5. Spencer Bayston
4. Buddy Kofoid
3. Corey Day
2. Tanner Carrick
1. Logan Seavey
Seavey is down for the format change.
“I think it’s cool,” he said. “I like it more than the races because it’s hard to get two lines and everyone went to the bottom. By the last session, the top got cleaned up enough that I was able to go by one car.
“I think it’s just hard to race because it’s two laps, the best cars in the field and everyone knows where to go. Head-to-head didn’t work either because, same thing, one guy got out front and drove away. I personally love qualifying and if I were a fan, I would love this. It’s the best way to do it.”
Of course, he’s the number one draw so the worst he can start on Saturday night is second so that’s a perk for him too.
However.
“There is also an advantage for the guy who just came off the track so might see some guys rip off a couple in a row. You can go eighth to ninth to first or whatever. Getting their tires hot will help, seeing if there’s a cushion.”
Corey Day is not in favor.
“I suck at qualifying so we got some work to do,” he said.
Ryan Timms has never been a part of any format so he’s open to whatever.
“I saw the (World of) Outlaws do this timed deal at Huset’s for the High Bank Nationals and I think I like it better because you’re going up against the best guys in the building,” Timms said after finishing second to Seavey on Friday.
“I like my chances better going off times with the track being more hooked up and my car is fast when it’s hooked up.”
Buddy Kofoid said he liked it.
“I mean, I like qualifying but also, now the worst I could start is fifth.”
The Soup
Unlike in 2019, when a series of unfortunate events forced USAC legend and NASCAR mainstay JJ Yeley to start the very first race and begin methodically working his way through the alphabet soup, there are no surprises early this Saturday morning.
That’s fortunate for this year’s contenders, because it’s virtually impossible to start at an P-Main and work your way up from the back in every single race.
Well, maybe, with one exception, according to Chase Briscoe.
“I don’t think anyone will ever do it, maybe (Christopher) Bell could because he’s that good,” Briscoe said. “But you need to catch the cautions at the right time. It’s not even a matter of speed, oftentimes. You’re starting at the back, and when you advance, you just turn right back around and go down the ramp.
“It can be mentally exhausting more so than physical.”
Ask Larson based on what happened when he had to start his Friday prelim run from the pole of a C Main. He made it to the feature but crashed with seven laps to go after reaching 11th in the running order.
This year, the drama doesn’t start until F1 when Kaylee Bryson will lead the field to green in pursuit of her third consecutive Championship Saturday feature appearance.
Ricky Stenhouse will begin from E1. Jesse Love will begin his soup run from dead last in E2. Justin Grant starts 13th in D2.
There lies the biggest potential for some deep soup runs towards the main event.
Kris Carroll broke the record for number of mains contested in a single Championship Saturday when he participated in seven features from N to H. He broke a record set by Yeley in 2004 when he came out of the F Main to advance all the way to the Championship Feature.
Anyone can make that kind of history from the P to the F so that’s a reason to watch all day and night.
As for Stenhouse, he says it’s a matter of catching breaks and he is waking up hungry for soup on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s more about catching the breaks,” Stenhouse said. “I know the car is fast and I’m more than capable. You have to catch cautions at the right now. You’ve got to get good starts.
“I think back to when I came from a F and got to a transfer spot in a B and got moved on the last lap. I got really good starts and then a caution would come out. That happened a few times. It takes luck and the cards falling your way.”
If anyone can make a deep run it would be Grant from a D because this is one of the best drivers here in one of the best cars. He crashed from third in the closing laps of the Friday prelim feature.
“I think we can make a run, yeah,” Grant said. “I think we could. We’re back in a D. That’s before the (track) rework so we should be able to race through that. The C is always tough because the track will be wet and heavy.
“But I think we can. We have a good race car. We had speed tonight. It was just a tough deal that happened to us.”
Starting lineups
P-Features: Top 6 advance to the corresponding O-Feature
Lineup P Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 9X-Zac Millikin; 2. 8X-Jeff Schindler; 3. 21R-Chase Young; 4. 5H-Casey Hicks; 5. 72J-Sam Johnson; 6. 9P-Kevin Cook; 7. 16R-Kyle Jones; 8. 6W-Colin White; 9. 11C-Mike Woodruff; 10. X-Charlie Louden; 11. 8L-Kurt Blackaby; 12. 75A-Bryan Stanfill; 13. 6C-Rayce Rudy
Lineup P Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 0J-Kevin Carl; 2. 2F-Casey Friedrichsen; 3. 57B-Zach Boden; 4. 15F-Brandon Dean; 5. 71M-Paul May; 6. 92-Slater Helt; 7. 45T-Christopher Townsend; 8. 22C-Corey Brink; 9. 7JR-JD Black; 10. 98B-Joe Boyles; 11. 12-Beau Gastineau; 12. 66-Harry Elzo
O-Features: Top 6 advance to the corresponding N-Feature
Lineup O Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 18K-Billy Rayburn; 2. 251-Johnny Brown Jr; 3. 715-Robert Bell; 4. 35S-Isaiah Vasquez; 5. 7D-Josh Bilicki; 6. 20S-John Sarna; 7. 14E-Joseph Wray IV; 8. 28J-Joe Perry; 9. 130-Chase Osterhoff; 10. 53R-Sean Robbins
Lineup O Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 23T-Tristan Lee; 2. 6X-Anthony Esberg; 3. 70K-Tim Kent; 4. 14R-Nathan Smith; 5. 88A-Austin Torgerson; 6. 218-Robert Speak; 7. 96-Cody Brewer; 8. 00S-Jamie Speers; 9. 17X-Kurt Stellhorn; 10. 31-Kyle Beilman
N-Features: Top 6 advance to the corresponding M-Feature
Lineup N Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 35K-Joey Klemish; 2. 21G-John Murdie; 3. 70-Cade Cowles; 4. 7W-Brendon Wiseley; 5. 2R-Matt Rossi; 6. 33W-Rece Wommack; 7. 77B-Bret Klabunde; 8. 17K-Tony Helton; 9. 8M-Kade Morton; 10. 80S-Josh Hawkins
Lineup N Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 84R-Chris Roseland; 2. 19S-Dylan Archer; 3. 121-Steve Glover; 4. 29K-Brian Harvey; 5. 7K-Kolton Gariss; 6. 33B-Mike Bitner; 7. F5-Devin Simmons; 8. 86C-David Camfield Sr; 9. 09-Scott Lawrence; 10. 0-Johnny Murdock
M-Features: Top 6 advance to the corresponding L-Feature
Lineup M Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 47K-Kevin Brewer; 2. 11G-Travis Jenkins; 3. 4H-Caleb Padgett; 4. 22G-Jack France; 5. 2Z-Zach Blurton; 6. 41W-Brad Wyatt; 7. 118-Scott Evans; 8. 7MF-Chance Morton; 9. 1HD-Tommy Colburn; 10. 7B-Cody Beard
Lineup M Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 21K-Gage Rucker; 2. 5F-Danny Frye III; 3. 99K-Robert Carson; 4. 80-Clint Woolbright; 5. 10C-Dalton Camfield; 6. 77R-Jack Wagner; 7. 33-Stanley Kreisel; 8. 35H-AJ Hernandez; 9. 4G-Cole Garner; 10. 31D-Miles Doherty
L-Features: Top 6 advance to the corresponding K-Feature
Lineup L Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 60M-Earl McDoulett Jr; 2. 85L-Lee Nardelli; 3. 17L-Wyatt Rotz; 4. 4C-Cody Jessop; 5. 26J-Jacob Harris; 6. 6-Bill Rose; 7. 30X-Larry Bratti; 8. 81K-Dekota Gay; 9. 08-Brock Berreth; 10. 73T-Tom Dunkel
Lineup L Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 2MD-Marc Dailey; 2. 7F-Blake Green; 3. 7L-Jarrad Warhurst; 4. 11H-Jori Hughes; 5. 20H-Noah Harris; 6. 27G-Steve Gresham; 7. 2-Dave Axton; 8. 49-Dillon Welch; 9. 88J-Joey Amantea; 10. 03-Shayle Bade
K-Features: Top 6 advance to the corresponding J-Feature
Lineup K Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 42-Chris Cochran; 2. 17C-Devin Camfield; 3. 31S-RJ Corson; 4. 19J-Jack Berger; 5. 22-Sean McClelland; 6. 75X-John Egan; 7. 14S-TJ Smith; 8. 25B-Steve Buckwalter; 9. 22P-Brant O’Banion; 10. 17B-Josh Baughman
Lineup K Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 71T-Kyler Johnson; 2. 3V-Jim Vanzant; 3. 08J-Jace McIntosh; 4. 14X-Andy Pake; 5. 17J-Ryan Bickett; 6. 16-Santino Ferrucci; 7. 42K-Kevin Battefeld; 8. M1-Colby Stubblefield; 9. 60-Landon Britt; 10. 80H-Josh Hanna
J-Features: Top 6 advance to the corresponding I-Feature.
Lineup J Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 19X-Brett Becker; 2. 4K-Kayla Roell; 3. 96X-Logan Mitchell; 4. 87-Tanner Holmes; 5. 57A-Daniel Robinson; 6. 19U-Pierce Urbanosky; 7. 8B-Cooper Williams; 8. 80D-Keith Martin; 9. 71E-Mariah Ede; 10. 08M-Dylan Menz
Lineup J Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 1H-Henry Chambers; 2. 0S-Derek Sheaffer; 3. 7DK-Darren Kauffman; 4. 92M-Josh Most; 5. 77-Joey Wirth; 6. 83-Will Armitage; 7. 37P-Logan Prickett; 8. 4F-Chad Frewaldt; 9. 2ND-Jeb Sessums; 10. 22S-AJ Johnson
I-Features: Top 6 advance to the corresponding H-Feature
Lineup I Feature 1 (6 Laps): 1. 17H-Harli White; 2. 55S-Gage Green; 3. 75G-Daniel Whitley; 4. 09T-Timmy Thrash; 5. 27J-Frank Beck III; 6. 38-Jason McDougal; 7. 45J-Jerry Brey; 8. 44B-Branigan Roark; 9. 10M-Darin Naida; 10. 51X-Joe Walker
Lineup I Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 28K-Kory Schudy; 2. 80A-DJ Estes; 3. 22R-Gage Laney; 4. 9A-Blake Bower; 5. 47-Brad Mosen; 6. 5J-Josh Hodge; 7. 8D-Colin Deming; 8. 22J-Zach Hampton; 9. 11K-AJ Bender; 10. 91-Jeff Stasa
H-Features: Top 6 advance to the corresponding G-Feature
Lineup H Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 22T-Don Droud Jr; 2. 23D-Devon Dobie; 3. 08K-Brody Wake; 4. 44-Colton Hardy; 5. 2E-Whit Gastineau; 6. 35-Tyler Robbins; 7. 7-Michelle Decker; 8. 14M-Ben Worth; 9. 77J-John Klabunde; 10. 24S-Rodney Westhafer
Lineup H Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 18-Anton Hernandez; 2. 17M-Jake Scott; 3. 6D-Isaac Chapple; 4. 07-Scout Spraggins; 5. 17D-Cody Trammell; 6. 24T-Glenn James Bratti; 7. 00D-Broc Elliott; 8. 7J-Shawn Jackson; 9. 48G-George Loux; 10. 6K-Austin Nigh
G-Features: Top 5 advance to the corresponding F-Feature
Lineup G Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 21B-Justin Bates; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr; 3. 48N-Wout Hoffmans; 4. 19P-Carson Perkins; 5. 97K-Tom Harris; 6. 77S-Robbie Smith; 7. 50-Daniel Adler; 8. 22X-Steven Shebester; 9. 321-Chad Winfrey; 10. 54C-Chance Hull
Lineup G Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 1P-Terry Nichols; 2. P1-Paul White; 3. 2B-Tanner Berryhill; 4. 116-Claud Estes III; 5. 15-JJ Yeley; 6. 20-Tadd Holliman; 7. 73S-Shon Deskins; 8. 938-Bradley Fezard; 9. 10-Ryker Pace; 10. 71G-Taylor Ferns
F-Features: Top 5 advance to the corresponding E-Feature
Lineup F Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 91K-Kaylee Bryson; 2. 9B-Brian Schwabauer; 3. 23P-Preston Lattomus; 4. 1M-Caden McCreary; 5. 40-Max Adams; 6. 0G-Glenn Styres; 7. 56-Mitchell Davis; 8. 23K-Kyle Simon; 9. 97X-Xavier Doney; 10. 55F-Johnny Kent; 11. 97S-Cam Schafer; 12. 21D-Weston Gorham; 13. 7M-Mike Hess; 14. 22B-Troy Betts; 15. 14A-Cameron Hagin
Lineup F Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 44X-Wesley Smith; 2. 15C-Carter Chevalier; 3. 1-Sammy Swindell; 4. 45H-Robbie Price; 5. 98P-Ryan Padgett; 6. 19A-Hayden Reinbold; 7. 27X-Cody Leonard; 8. 81C-Colten Cottle; 9. 91B-Kevin Bayer; 10. 3-Cole Schroeder; 11. 7R-Stuart Snyder; 12. 15G-Dennie Gieber; 13. 68W-Chance Crum; 14. 28B-Brandon Mattox; 15. 32-Casey Shuman
E-Features: Top 5 advance to the corresponding D-Feature
Lineup E Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 8W-Hunter Schuerenberg; 2. 16C-David Camfield Jr; 3. 15D-Andrew Deal; 4. 20G-Noah Gass; 5. 20C-CJ Sarna; 6. 71R-Ricky Stenhouse Jr; 7. 45S-Caleb Stelzig; 8. 46-Kenney Johnson; 9. 6A-Ricky Lewis; 10. 7E-Cap Henry; 11. 8S-Kyle Steffens; 12. 09X-Bryant Bell; 13. 73D-David Gasper; 14. 1K-Brayton Lynch; 15. 00-Ryder Laplante
Lineup E Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 25K-Taylor Reimer; 2. 87F-Kinzer Edwards; 3. 56E-Tyler Edwards; 4. 8J-Jonathan Beason; 5. 73C-Eddie Tafoya Jr; 6. 2W-AJ Hopkins; 7. 11B-Clinton Boyles; 8. 74-Luke Hall; 9. 19T-Mitchel Moles; 10. 98K-Kyle Larson; 11. 32S-Chase Stockon; 12. 16T-Kevin Newton; 13. 91X-Danny Wood; 14. 19K-Riley Kreisel; 15. 84-Jesse Love
D-Features: Top 5 advance to the corresponding C-Feature
Lineup D Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 36-Michael Hubert; 2. 52-Blake Hahn; 3. 5G-Gavan Boschele; 4. 27-Keith Rauch; 5. 13-Elijah Gile; 6. 5X-Shane Cottle; 7. 25M-Alex Bright; 8. 14F-Jeffrey Newell; 9. 55T-Trevor Cline; 10. 8K-KJ Snow; 11. 11X-Donovan Peterson; 12. 4B-Chelby Hinton; 13. 19M-Ethan Mitchell; 14. 9-Emilio Hoover; 15. 3N-Jake Neuman
Lineup D Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 8-Alex Sewell; 2. 25V-Billy VanInwegen Jr; 3. 14J-Jody Rosenboom; 4. 86-Daison Pursley; 5. 14T-Caden Sarale; 6. 25-Jacob Denney; 7. 1Z-Justin Zimmerman; 8. 45X-Jace Park; 9. 60X-Garet Williamson; 10. 10J-Lane Goodman; 11. 75-Mario Clouser; 12. 55D-Nick Drake; 13. 2J-Justin Grant; 14. 1A-Trey Osborne; 15. 7C-Landon Crawley
C-Features: Top 5 advance to the corresponding B-Feature
Lineup C Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 97-Gavin Miller; 2. 67K-Brent Crews; 3. 87W-Ryan Bernal; 4. 32W-Gary Taylor; 5. 27B-Jake Bubak; 6. 63G-Frankie Guerrini; 7. 5D-Michael Stewart; 8. 02-Ashton Torgerson; 9. 19B-Cole Bodine; 10. 08X-Parker Price Miller; 11. 19-Tim McCreadie; 12. 83M-Rylan Gray; 13. 2D-Matt Sherrell; 14. 41X-Howard Moore; 15. 14P-Kyle Strickler
Lineup C Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 2H-Nick Hoffman; 2. 47X-Zach Daum; 3. 63-Cale Coons; 4. 7X-Jerry Coons Jr; 5. 3J-Parker Jones; 6. 93-Kyle Bellm; 7. 26-Corbin Rueschenberg; 8. 68-Ronnie Gardner; 9. 3W-Brandon Waelti; 10. 54-Matt Westfall; 11. 7P-Kris Carroll; 12. 7S-Jake Andreotti; 13. 95-Chris Andrews; 14. 3G-Kyle Cummins; 15. 9U-Kyle Spence
B-Features: Top 7 advance to the A-Feature
Lineup B Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 11A-Andrew Felker; 2. 1I-Briggs Danner; 3. 31B-Chase Johnson; 4. 5-Chase Briscoe; 5. 58-David Gravel; 6. 68K-Emerson Axsom; 7. 27W-Colby Copeland; 8. 21H-Brady Bacon; 9. 71P-Cannon McIntosh; 10. 7T-Thomas Meseraull; 11. 21-Daryn Pittman; 12. 71-Jade Avedisian; 13. 19R-Ricky Thornton Jr; 14. 51B-Joe B Miller; 15. 55X-Kevin Thomas Jr
Lineup B Feature 2 (20 Laps): 1. 59-Michael Pickens; 2. 7U-Chase McDermand; 3. 40X-Steven Snyder Jr; 4. 5U-Michael Faccinto; 5. 55V-CJ Leary; 6. 89-Chris Windom; 7. 21J-Kameron Key; 8. 81-Bryant Wiedeman; 9. 71K-Kale Drake; 10. 29-Tim Buckwalter; 11. 32T-Trey Marcham; 12. 57W-Landon Brooks; 13. 28-Ace McCarthy; 14. 57-Tyler Courtney; 15. 5CB-Karter Sarff
Pole Dash
Lineup Pole Shuffle (4 Laps): 1. 39-Logan Seavey; 2. 98-Tanner Carrick; 3. 41-Corey Day; 4. 71W-Michael Kofoid; 5. 1S-Spencer Bayston; 6. 88-Tanner Thorson; 7. 67-Ryan Timms; 8. 17W-Shane Golobic; 9. 29S-Hank Davis; 10. 55A-Jake Swanson
Names are made here
In many ways, these past three years have felt like Chili Bowl: The Next Generation with the departure of Kyle Larson, Rico Abreu and Christopher Bell.
As started on Thursday night, those three names are not bigger than this one race and this race certainly has a history of creating names to take over for those that came before. Sammy Swindell and Tony Stewart paved the way for Kevin Swindell who paved the way for the Big Three of Abreu, Bell and Larson.
This now feels like the era of Seavey and Thorson, but who is going to join them?
Certainly, Kofoid is already in that mix and would have been an obvious inclusion if not for his premature elimination last year. Grant has actually been amongst the best in this building for a decade but he is going through the soup on Saturday.
Spencer Bayston is a Race of Champions winner and an established winged Sprint Car star as is Corey Day. If Tanner Carrick wins, it would come off a run of two prelim feature victories in three years. To cap that off with a win would make him feel like one of the new bonafide stars of this era.
Native Oklahoman Hank Davis is back in the feature for a second year in a row and the Turn Two Rowdies love him in the same way they loved Rico Abreu.
All the right ingredients are in place to create the next generation of Chili Bowl legends and that process continues in earnest on Saturday night.
Broadcast and start times
The entire week of Chili Bowl has aired exclusively on the FloRacing subscription platform. The entirety of Championship Saturday, which begins at 10:30 a.m. ET, will also air on FloRacing. There is no longer a televised portion of the event, which previously aired on MAVTV over the past decade.
However, FloRacing now offers a monthly subscription package, for $39.99 or an annual subscription for $149.99.
Both subscription packages actually offer objectively tremendous value for race fans. Subscribers get live and on-demand access to the Chili Bowl, Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series, the High Limit Sprint Car Series, all three USAC national championships, CARS Late Model Tour and NASCAR weekly and regional track coverage.
The latter includes all ARCA races, the Canada Series, the Whelen Modified Tour and the Whelen All American Series.
The complete schedule for Saturday can be viewed below.
