Vitriol and triumph on Chili Bowl Friday; Championship Saturday next

There was a palpable mix of vitriol and jubilation in the Tulsa Expo on Friday night.

But gosh was there a great deal of vitriol.

Logan Seavey won his third consecutive Friday night Chili Bowl Midget Nationals preliminary feature but it took an aggressive slider on Gavin Miller to secure the seventh-to-first drive. For his part, Miller was in little position to complain because he spun out teammate Ryan Timms from the lead just past the halfway point earlier in the race.

Seavey, by the way, made a similar move to the one he used on Ricky Stenhouse Jr. during a qualifier race. That resulted in Stenhouse driving into the back of and over Seavey after the checkered flag.

“I got used up by Seavey and was gonna repay my frustrations with a tag to his rear bumper,” Stenhouse said afterward. “When he slowed down, I caught his left rear. Not ideal. Not what I was expecting to do. Was just gonna give him a shot to the rear bumper. Wasn’t really thrilled with – I thought he’s good enough here that he’d hit the bottom and not use me up for fourth. I don’t know. Watched all week. I should’ve expected it, I guess.

“I’d gotten back around him, but my angle was so far off for where he was, and my only option was over the curb. That gave us up a spot there coming into line, which is crucial. Wasn’t real thrilled about that, and not ideal after the race. More of was going to be a tag in the rear bumper.”

Seavey conceded it may have been an aggressive move but that Stenhouse should also be embarassed and subject to penalty from the event organizers and sponsor NOS Energy Drink.

“I don’t know if they’re doing anything,” Seavey said. “I don’t know anything about it. There’s a lot of eyes on this race – probably more than ever. We’ve got a professional race car driver here. In reality – obviously, he wants to win this race – but he’s here for fun, like a lot of us. Nobody’s getting rich here. I get it. Everyone’s emotional at this race.

“I’m not fully justifying myself and saying I’m clearing myself by any means. But to whatever happens after the checkered is not cool. … I hope he’s embarrassed. I’m embarrassed to even be part of the situation. It’s just a bad light on all of dirt racing, on the Chili Bowl. It’s just unacceptable to drive into somebody’s cockpit after the race.”

Back to the feature, Daryn Pittman connected with Jason McDougal, both running inside the top-5 and challenging for a podium or lock-in, but only the former survived to the top-5.

McDougal wanted no part of the sympathy or potential apology from the 2013 World of Outlaws champion.

But through it all, this race continues to run through Seavey, Kevin Swindell and Bertand Motorsports until someone takes it from them. Friday night was not that night.

Seavey has a new engine in the car, one that hasn’t quite given him the throttle response he is seeking, but they have also continued to fine-tune it and have a tremendous chance to claim the Golden Driller for a third consecutive January.

“You know, we didn’t feel great after the qualifier, speed wise but a lot better now after the feature because we have more speed and just got to get it driving better,” Seavey said. “Keep saying the same thing right? Said it when we talked Sunday and Monday.

“We’ve made gains on it but we have to keep getting it driving better. Erik (Milholland) and everyone at Stanton (Engines) will make the right changes for me. We’ve gone in the right direction. We’ve gone in the right direction but just have to keep going further just to get it driving smoother for me.”

This is the same car that remains undefeated in every race of consequence since it was built ahead of 2023 race.

More on the Championship Saturday dynamic in a minute.

Timms also very much felt like he should have been in the mix on Championship Saturday and felt robbed by Miller — in a fellow Keith Kunz Motorsports car — for the second time this past year. The incident sent Timms from a chance to start the main event from the front row to starting Saturday from the front row of D1.

And all Miller could do was apologize for it while acknowledging the opportunity that lies ahead of him on Saturday.

Now, all that remains is to race it out for one of the biggest prizes in dirt track racing.

A pill draw set up a series of head-to-head time trial duels to determine the top-10 starting positions on Saturday night. They will race in order from 10 v. 9, the winner of the previous match versus 8 and so forth, each elimination setting the top-10:

10. Brenham Crouch
9. Daison Pursely
8. Ryan Bernal
7. Shane Golobic
6. Gavin Miller
5. Emeron Axsom
4. Tanner Thorson
3. Logan Seavey
2. Landon Brooks
1. Kyle Larson

Championship preview

Obviously, the 10 drivers above earned their status as event favorites and their resumes largely support it too. Larson is a two-time winner, so is Seavey, Thorson won the race in 2022.

Brooks has a shared background to Larson, Seavey and Thorson, who ran the same roads in Northern Carolina while Axsom is a legit rising dirt open-wheel prospect while Miller, Golobic, Bernal and Crouch all have big teams behind them.

Pursely, by god, drove to fourth last year after starting from a D-Main and now he just has to pass around 4-9 cars instead of 100.

But the Bs may have never been as stacked as they are this year with the likes of three-time winner Christopher Bell headlining a group trying to race their way in that also includes 2023 podium earner Corey Day and perennial contenders Buddy Kofoid and Cannon McIntosh.

Feature Lineups

So of course, there is the day long alphabet soup, the results from this past week setting up eliminations throughout the day until only the 24 main event starters are left to take the green flag.

P-Features Top 6 advance to the corresponding N-Feature

Lineup P Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 14T-Connor Speir; 2. 27G-Steve Gresham; 3. 13-Brandon Boggs; 4. 3N-Jake Neuman; 5. 8X-Jeff Schindler; 6. 15W-Danny Burke; 7. 17B-Ryan Bickett; 8. 21B-Frank Beck III; 9. 19-Greg Dennett; 10. 85J-Joshua Lewis; 11. 92M-Josh Most; 12. 71G-Bill Balog; 13. P92-Alex Cogley; 14. 19S-Chase Porter; 15. 96-Cody Brewer; 16. 99K-Robert Carson; 17. 57R-Shelby Bosie; 18. 19X-Brenden Hires

Lineup P Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 0L-Kevin Carl; 2. 19U-Pierce Urbanosky; 3. 4F-Chad Frewaldt; 4. 22G-Jack France; 5. 19F-Joshua Shipley; 6. 84J-Jesse Shapel; 7. 22M-Marc Dailey; 8. 20M-Malyssa Perkins; 9. 21D-Justin Dickerson; 10. 48-Eric Webber; 11. 33M-Charlie Louden; 12. 4E-Maverick Elkins; 13. 5M-Donnie Steward; 14. 70-Cade Cowles; 15. 57F-Blake Green; 16. 98B-Joe Boyles; 17. 39M-Cole Murray

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

Lineup O Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11X-Donovan Peterson; 2. 17E-Cody Beard; 3. 715-Robert Bell; 4. 18K-Billy Rayburn; 5. 33W-Rece Wommack; 6. C71-Carter Jensrud; 7. 4H-Steve Padgett; 8. 2ND-Darren Kauffman; 9. 17K-Tim Creech II; 10. 12-Katherine Legge

Lineup O Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 64-Andy Pake; 2. 22S-AJ Johnson; 3. 14G-Gordy Gundaker; 4. 14F-Conner Morrell; 5. 84R-Chris Roseland; 6. 11K-Cole Parker; 7. 21R-Myles Tomlinson; 8. 121-Jason Bennett; 9. 1P-Terry Nichols; 10. 20G-Jay Mallory

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

Lineup N Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11J-Todd Jackson; 2. 25J-Nathan Moore; 3. 21T-Justin Bates; 4. 11C-Mike Woodruff; 5. 77K-Kevin Cook; 6. 22-Troy Betts; 7. 68B-Blain Petersen; 8. 07-Tim Kent; 9. 75X-Leroy Boone; 10. 4-Adam Bolyard

Lineup N Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 84S-Shaun Shapel; 2. 77R-Robbie Smith; 3. 28J-Joe Perry; 4. 5Z-Oliver Billingsley; 5. 8H-Dakota Highley; 6. 20X-Kyle Hawse; 7. 80S-Josh Hawkins; 8. 29K-Brian Harvey; 9. 60M-Earl McDoulett Jr; 10. 97L-Brandon Lewis

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

Lineup M Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. K9-Jameson Spies; 2. 48G-George Loux; 3. 56X-Mark Chisholm; 4. 31K-Kyle Beilman; 5. 80A-Steve Miller; 6. 73B-Ryan Timmons; 7. 11H-Jori Hughes; 8. 15-Travis Miniea; 9. 26J-Jacob Harris; 10. 77B-Bret Klabunde

Lineup M Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 15K-Nathan Kilwine; 2. 28B-Brandon Mattox; 3. 47R-Ray Brewer; 4. 17H-Henry Chambers; 5. 17D-Gunnar Pike; 6. 15J-Jack Potter; 7. 7Z-Brian Peterson; 8. 00P-Broc Elliott; 9. 81G-Tony Helton; 10. 32J-Jason Tessier

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

Lineup L Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 3V-Jim Vanzant; 2. 3K-Todd Kluever; 3. 0-Johnny Murdock; 4. 17L-Braxton Cummings; 5. 57H-Autumn Criste; 6. 68E-Eric Blumer; 7. 91B-Kevin Bayer; 8. 20-Tadd Holliman; 9. 75G-Cole Garner; 10. 22J-Zach Hampton

Lineup L Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 2NP-Bill Johnson; 2. 71J-Jeremy Huish; 3. 7C-Chance Morris; 4. 10X-Trevor Serbus; 5. 251-Johnny Brown Jr; 6. 42K-Kevin Battefeld; 7. 7F-Joshua Tyre; 8. 0B-Jason Botsford; 9. X-Dan Bennett; 10. 111-Keith Zimmerman

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

Lineup K Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 14K-Brandon Carr; 2. 321-Chad Winfrey; 3. 51W-Curtis Jones; 4. 53-Sean Robbins; 5. 20C-CJ Sarna; 6. 00-Brecken Reese; 7. 72W-Tye Wilke; 8. 09T-Timmy Thrash; 9. 11L-Landon Crawley; 10. 42-Matt Carr

Lineup K Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 15C-Carter Chevalier; 2. 97W-Alex Karpowicz; 3. 36-Taylor Courtney; 4. 54C-Chance Hull; 5. 35-Tyler Robbins; 6. 5F-Danny Frye III; 7. 2WI-Tommy Colburn; 8. 16-Santino Ferrucci; 9. 1DM-Elijah Gile; 10. 23T-Tristan Lee

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

Lineup J Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 86C-David Camfield Sr; 2. 44-Colton Hardy; 3. 95-Chris Andrews; 4. 10H-Ryder Laplante; 5. 22A-Lonnie Oliver; 6. 80-Kade Taylor; 7. 4T-Brandt Twitty; 8. 7K-Kolton Gariss; 9. 17X-Gage Laney; 10. 81C-Colten Cottle

Lineup J Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 66J-Jayden Clay; 2. 80D-Corey Smith; 3. 17C-Devin Camfield; 4. 10C-Dalton Camfield; 5. 75A-Todd Hobson; 6. 2H-Nick Hoffman; 7. 95K-Mitch Fabish; 8. 98P-Ryan Padgett; 9. 35S-Ben Schmidt; 10. 26P-Preston Lattomus

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

Lineup I Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11G-Hayden Mabe; 2. 92-Mike Hess; 3. 20S-Landon Simon; 4. 77J-John Klabunde; 5. 10J-Gage Rucker; 6. 8L-Cooper Miller; 7. 28K-Austin Wood; 8. 5J-Josh Hodge; 9. 41W-Brad Wyatt; 10. 2F-Casey Friedrichsen

Lineup I Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 6B-Brylee Kilmer; 2. 22P-Brant O’Banion; 3. 0G-Glenn Styres; 4. 80H-Josh Hanna; 5. 14L-Luke Drotschie; 6. 16T-Kevin Newton; 7. 7W-Brendon Wiseley; 8. 49-Cole Tinsley; 9. 17A-Tom Dunkel; 10. 7J-Shawn Jackson

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

Lineup H Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 5X-Jacob Dykstra; 2. 3D-Darin Naida; 3. 21K-Austin Nigh; 4. 1A-Cole Bodine; 5. 44B-Branigan Roark; 6. 97X-John Barnard; 7. 23S-Kyle Simon; 8. 83H-Sam Henderson; 9. 17-Sye Lynch; 10. 84Y-Alex Yankowski

Lineup H Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 40B-Josh Bilicki; 2. 7R-Jadon Rogers; 3. 22T-Don Droud Jr; 4. 14D-David Gasper; 5. 46X-Joe Kata; 6. 17M-Logan Prickett; 7. 50C-Dane Culver; 8. 74-Luke Hall; 9. 8M-Kade Morton; 10. 60-Landon Britt

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

Lineup G Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 51Z-Zach Boden; 2. 32L-Connor Lee; 3. 44K-Brody Wake; 4. 7N-Kris Carroll; 5. 4D-Dustin Smith; 6. 9B-Brian Schwabauer; 7. 88A-Austin Torgerson; 8. 05-Alex Midkiff; 9. 00K-Scott Kreutter; 10. 37-Ayden Gatewood

Lineup G Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 9-Emilio Hoover; 2. 81-Ty Gibbs; 3. 8S-Kyle Steffens; 4. 45H-Robbie Price; 5. 21C-Colby Stubblefield; 6. 23D-Devon Dobie; 7. 12A-AJ Bender; 8. 7-Shannon McQueen; 9. 51X-Joe Walker; 10. 11-Lane Goodman

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

Lineup F Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 94-Hayden Wise; 2. 84K-Tom Harris; 3. 7T-Ronnie Gardner; 4. 71E-Mariah Ede; 5. 83-Will Armitage; 6. 93-Kyle Bellm; 7. 71H-Mason Hannagan; 8. 46-Kenney Johnson; 9. 24S-Rodney Westhafer; 10. 25B-Steve Buckwalter; 11. 50-Daniel Adler; 12. 5A-Adam Trimble; 13. 8D-Jeffrey Abbey; 14. 27X-Michael Hubert; 15. 40-Max Adams

Lineup F Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 2Z-Zach Blurton; 2. 45S-Caleb Stelzig; 3. 45X-Jace Park; 4. 55F-Johnny Kent; 5. 77-Joe Wirth; 6. P1-Paul White; 7. 19K-Riley Kreisel; 8. 51-Kyle Busch; 9. 3Z-Trey Zorn; 10. 7B-Garrett Benson; 11. 31-Tanner Holmes; 12. 41J-Nathan Crane; 13. 28-Ace McCarthy; 14. 14E-Jeffrey Newell; 15. 96X-Logan Mitchell

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

Lineup E Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 32-Gary Taylor; 2. 7P-Jason McDougal; 3. 25K-Taylor Reimer; 4. 11B-Clinton Boyles; 5. 55V-CJ Leary; 6. 2W-Luke Storer; 7. 45V-Cole Vanderheiden; 8. 8K-KJ Snow; 9. 3T-Brad Sweet; 10. 21X-Casey Shuman; 11. 20H-Noah Harris; 12. 71P-Mat Williamson; 13. 63-Cale Coons; 14. 91S-Jordon Mallett; 15. 2B-Tanner Berryhill

Lineup E Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 7MF-Chance Morton; 2. 45B-Bradley Cox; 3. 89-Zach Wigal; 4. 2P-Cameron La Rose; 5. 4B-Chelby Hinton; 6. 1Z-Justin Zimmerman; 7. 5-Karter Sarff; 8. 55I-Briggs Danner; 9. 16R-Kyle Jones; 10. 4P-Kody Swanson; 11. 2MD-Aiden Price; 12. 7U-Zach Daum; 13. 44X-Wesley Smith; 14. 8R-Ryker Pace; 15. 3W-Brandon Waelti

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

Lineup D Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 44A-Reese Nowotarski; 2. 67-Ryan Timms; 3. 7AU-Harry Stewart; 4. 20Z-Stevie Sussex III; 5. 3P-Drake Edwards; 6. 55T-Trevor Cline; 7. 63F-Frankie Guerrini; 8. 1-Sammy Swindell; 9. 73-Hunter Schuerenberg; 10. 41P-Parker Jones; 11. 7E-Carson Bolden; 12. 48H-Wout Hoffmans; 13. 16C-David Camfield Jr; 14. 7X-Thomas Meseraull; 15. 938-Bradley Fezard

Lineup D Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 6G-Garet Williamson; 2. 1S-Spencer Bayston; 3. 7D-Michelle Decker; 4. 54Z-Michael Pickens; 5. 32C-Alex Bright; 6. 55D-Nick Drake; 7. 19M-Ethan Mitchell; 8. 75-Mario Clouser; 9. 40M-Chase McDermand; 10. 91X-Danny Wood; 11. 1R-RJ Johnson; 12. 15D-Andrew Deal; 13. 71T-Kyler Johnson; 14. 8W-Kaleb Montgomery; 15. 22X-Steven Shebester

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

Lineup C Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 32T-Trey Marcham; 2. 72J-Sam Johnson; 3. 3G-Kyle Cummins; 4. 41D-Derek Hagar; 5. 21H-Brady Bacon; 6. 98-Tanner Carrick; 7. 14J-TJ Smith; 8. 40X-Steven Snyder Jr; 9. 19R-Ricky Thornton Jr; 10. 77D-Dalten Gabbard; 11. 45J-Roger Crockett; 12. 57A-Daniel Robinson; 13. 27W-Colby Copeland; 14. 25V-Billy VanInwegen Jr; 15. 91-Jeff Stasa

Lineup C Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 27B-Jake Bubak; 2. 51F-Brody Fuson; 3. 60X-Dillon Welch; 4. 11A-Andrew Felker; 5. 55A-Jake Swanson; 6. 8J-Jonathan Beason; 7. 89X-Chris Windom; 8. 8-Alex Sewell; 9. 19A-Hayden Reinbold; 10. 3J-JJ Yeley; 11. 55X-Kevin Thomas Jr; 12. 2D-Matt Sherrell; 13. 25H-Cap Henry; 14. 31B-Dominic Gorden; 15. 3U-Rylan Gray

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

Lineup B Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 71K-Cannon McIntosh; 2. 23C-Tyler Courtney; 3. 41-Corey Day; 4. 26-Corbin Rueschenberg; 5. 54-Matt Westfall; 6. 67K-Ashton Torgerson; 7. 87-Justin Grant; 8. 97K-Kale Drake; 9. 21J-Kameron Key; 10. 81F-Frank Flud; 11. 51B-Joe B Miller; 12. 5U-Michael Faccinto; 13. 19T-Mitchel Moles; 14. 57-Kaylee Bryson; 15. 7M-Shane Cottle

Lineup B Feature 2 (20 Laps): 1. 71-Michael Kofoid; 2. 71W-Christopher Bell; 3. 71M-Brent Crews; 4. 21-Daryn Pittman; 5. 29-Tim Buckwalter; 6. 43-Gunnar Setser; 7. 67W-Jacob Denney; 8. 85-Jerry Coons Jr; 9. 56E-Tyler Edwards; 10. 52-Blake Hahn; 11. 29S-Hank Davis; 12. 9U-Kyle Spence; 13. 5P-Justin Peck; 14. 86X-Ricky Stenhouse Jr; 15. 4Y-Jett Yantis

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