TULSA, Okla. — The result of Wednesday’s preliminary action at the 38th annual Chili Bowl Nationals provided a new flood of storylines to follow throughout the week.
With Corey Day pulling off a victory in the No. 41 for Factory Kahne Racing, the streak of California drivers sweeping the prelims in 2024 has continued — Tanner Carrick (Monday) and Buddy Kofoid (Tuesday) are also natives of the Golden State.
Other than the Golden Driller that Day collected in the restricted class at the Tulsa Shootout in 2018, Wednesday’s win was his first major triumph in the SageNet Center.
The 18-year-old joins Carrick, Shane Golobic, Kofoid, Hank Davis and Jake Swanson on the list of drivers locked into Saturday’s $20,000-to-win A main.
Alex Bowman Racing Becomes A Threat
Wednesday was a good night — if not a great night — for Alex Bowman and his crew.
With Swanson at the helm of the No. 55a midget, the team won a heat, placed second in a qualifier and scored a runner-up finish in the feature to lock the California racer into Saturday’s A main.
“We made a lot of improvements on the race car. They were subtle, but nonetheless, they were all the right direction,” Swanson said. “I’ve got a good bunch of guys with me. Alex (Bowman) is really smart with midgets, C.J. (Leary) and all these guys — we’re kind of sprint car guys, but for the most part, we know how to work on race cars.”
During Tuesday’s prelim, Kevin Thomas Jr. finished eighth in the No. 55x ABR entry. On Thursday, Leary will take command of the Ally-sponsored ship in the No. 55v midget.
Compared to last year, when not a single ABR car made Saturday’s A main and instead wound up wrecked, 2024 has been a massive improvement.
Pole Shuffle Format Altered
Chili Bowl officials have changed the pole shuffle on Saturday to a time-trial format according to Day, which he says is unfortunate news.
“I suck at qualifying, so we’ve got work to do,” Day said. “Job’s not done.”
Courtney Making The Most Of Tulsa Return
If Tyler Courtney didn’t know how to pass cars on the quarter-mile track inside the SageNet Center before, he certainly knows now.
After starting 16th in Wednesday’s preliminary feature, “Sunshine” maneuvered the No. 57 Abacus Racing entry all the way up to eighth, setting himself up for a B main appearance on Saturday.
“We have a pretty good race car, it’s just the last few times we’ve been on the track, we’ve had something bent or broke,” Courtney said. “We had a bent right-front shock in the qualifier, which put us behind the eight-ball for the feature.”
He also bent the drag link on the car during the feature after getting caught in an incident early on in the 30-lapper, which didn’t make things much easier.
Courtney has still made the most of his return trip to Tulsa after sitting out the Chili Bowl in 2023.
“We rallied to eighth, put ourselves in a B main on Saturday, which is all you can really ask for at this moment,” Courtney said. “We’re going to have to make something happen if we want to get in the show on Saturday.”
All three Abacus Racing entries — including Courtney, David Gravel and Michael Pickens — will be starting in a B main on Saturday.
Other Notes
- After making a big push from sixth to second in her qualifier, Jade Avedisian struggled to gain ground in the A feature. She finished seventh in the No. 71 Keith Kunz Motorsports midget.
- Jerry Coons Jr. made a little history and tied Dave Darland by making his 24th consecutive trip to a preliminary A main. He finished 10th in Dave Estep’s No. 7x midget.
- Chili Bowl rookie Kale Drake finished sixth in his prelim, which marks his second national midget feature start. He’s piloting the No. 71k for KKM this week.
- Eddie Tafoya Jr. will return to the Chili Bowl for the first time since 2021 as a last-minute replacement for the Josh Ford Motorsports team. Tafoya will run on Thursday night.