TULSA, Okla. — A dream came true for Emerson Axsom, as the 21-year-old from Franklin, Ind., parked the Kevin and Jo Swindell No. 39a midget in victory lane for the first time in the 40th annual Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy Drink.
“I won’t believe this until next year, or until I see my name on that trophy with everyone else that’s won this race,” stated Axsom.
Chasing Kyle Larson through the first four laps, Axsom carried a wave of momentum into the first and second turns as the pair worked Lap 4. Racing through traffic with 39 laps to go, Larson came upon a slowing C.J. Leary at the exit of the second turn, which resulted in Larson flipping his No. 1k machine.
Putting Swindell-backed cars first and second, Logan Seavey had company quickly with Justin Grant throwing sliders, until one nearly wrecked his night with 24 laps to go.
Getting tighter among the top three with 16 go to, Seavey looked low with nothing there, but in turn opened the door for Grant to take over second.
Down the final eight laps, Grant was in second, and in the hunt with a massive slide through turns one and two, only to have a caution appear, and restack the field. Working through several cautions in the closing laps, the runner-up spot was again in the mix, with the caution flying for Grant getting tipped in Turn 3.
Setting up a green-white-checkered finish, Axsom and Seavey could not fend off the charge that was coming.
White flag and one final trip: the battle was far from over as 18th-starting Kevin Thomas rolled the inside line. Right there as the pair came to the final turns, Axsom made a quick adjustment to his line, keeping the Four-King Racing No. 14k at bay. Hank Davis slipped by for third, with Seavey and Briggs Danner completing the top five.
The 40th annual Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy Drink drew a record-breaking field of 387 drivers to the SageNet Center. Through five preliminary nights of action, the field settled into the Saturday soup with the first green flag flying for the O-Features, after the Q-Features were cut due to lack of entrants. Those who did make the call simply moved up.
Along with a record-breaking car count, the Saturday soup again produced legendary runs with Ohio’s Mack Leopard and Michigan’s Darin Naida each advancing through nine features. Naida’s run ended in the first G Feature, with Leopard going into the first F Feature.
The 2026 Chili Bowl Rookie of the Year is Jett Barnes, who was the only event rookie to make the 24-car field.
The finish:
Feature (55 Laps): 1. 39A-Emerson Axsom[2]; 2. 14K-Kevin Thomas Jr[18]; 3. 29S-Hank Davis[8]; 4. 39-Logan Seavey[4]; 5. 55I-Briggs Danner[7]; 6. 86-Daison Pursley[6]; 7. 71K-Cannon McIntosh[11]; 8. 21CB-Christopher Bell[5]; 9. 1S-Spencer Bayston[20]; 10. 88-Tanner Thorson[22]; 11. 21-Daryn Pittman[19]; 12. 52-Blake Hahn[3]; 13. 55X-CJ Leary[10]; 14. 51-Gavan Boschele[23]; 15. 27W-Colby Copeland[14]; 16. 26-Corbin Rueschenberg[15]; 17. (DNF) 87-Justin Grant[9]; 18. (DNF) 87W-Ryan Bernal[13]; 19. (DNF) 39G-Kyle Cummins[21]; 20. (DNF) 17W-Shane Golobic[16]; 21. (DNF) 1A-Jett Barnes[12]; 22. (DNF) 29-Tim Buckwalter[17]; 23. (DNF) 1K-Kyle Larson[1]; 24. (DNF) 14J-Wout Hoffmans[24]
