TULSA, Okla. — Emerson Axsom was on top of the world after winning Wednesday night’s preliminary feature for the 39th Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy Drink.
Steering a Keith Kunz Motorsports Agajanian Curb midget, Axsom took the lead on lap three and held off all comers to win his first Chili Bowl main event inside the SageNet Center.
“It feels amazing. It is like a weight being lifted off my chest. I haven’t really been comfortable,” Axsom acknowledged after the race. “Even in the qualifier, I didn’t feel that great. It came to my style there, and feature tracks usually fit my style better than heat race or qualifier tracks. I figured we would be alright there, especially starting on the front row.
“But I didn’t think we would be that good. I figured (Spencer) Bayston would be good and Corey (Day) would be good. To beat them you have to be really good, so our stuff must be really good.”
Axsom gave team owner and crew chief Keith Kunz credit for preparing the winning No. 68k midget, which was powered by Toyota.
“He (Kunz) kind of told me before the race that he was going to get after it on the car and it would be tight, and I said, ‘Well, you have only won 85 times here, so I am going to let you do your job,’” Axsom said with a smile. “’Don’t listen to me, just give me a race car where I can turn on entry and we’ll be alright.’”
And he was alright, beating Daison Pursley to the checkered flag.
Axsom, 20, is locked into Saturday’s main event for the third time in his short career. Axsom made his Chili Bowl debut in 2021 and made the Saturday feature for the first time in 2023 when he finished fifth. He returned to the main event last year and came home 11th.
“It would probably be the biggest win for the rest of my life. I don’t care if I won the Knoxville Nationals, I mean I do, but Chili Bowl to me at this point in my career is my No. 1 race, maybe because my ability in a midget is by far a lot better than my ability in a winged sprint car right now being so young in my career,” said Axsom, who is a full-time winged sprint car driver these days. “Obviously, my shot to win the Chili Bowl is a lot greater right now than my chances to win the Knoxville Nationals. I feel like I have a shot.
“To me the Chili Bowl is the race and it has gotten away from me a lot. In past prelims, I’ve spun out on my own, got spun out, started 20th and run fifth. There have been a lot of times that I’ve done dumb stuff myself and it feels really good not to not do something dumb tonight.”
