TULSA, Okla. — The final Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals qualifying night takes center stage Friday as a number of top competitors look to lock themselves in to Saturday’s finale inside the Tulsa Expo Center.
Chief among them is Justin Grant, the defending Friday night qualifying night feature winner, who returns to the seat of the No. 2j for RMS Racing. Grant’s preliminary night win last year led to a runner-up finish in the Chili Bowl main event to Kyle Larson.
Among his top challengers will be Kyle Cummins, who raced to a runner-up finish last year during Driven2Save Lives Qualifying Night. Cummins will drive a midget co-entered by himself and Glenn Styres.
Another likely threat is Logan Seavey, who will once again pilot the No. 39 Swindell Speedlab midget as a teammate to five-time Chili Bowl champion Sammy Swindell. Daryn Pittman, who has a best finish of second at the Chili Bowl and finished fifth last year, returns in his own Pittman Motorsports mount.
Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne, who each have 18 NASCAR Cup Series wins, are also on the entry list for Friday. Newman is a part of the Clauson Marshall Racing squad while Kahne will pilot a midget for Reinbold Underwood Motorsports.
They’ll be joined by JTG Daugherty Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who raced to a seventh-place finish last year in the Chili Bowl feature. He’ll once again pilot a Clauson Marshall Racing midget.
Bryant Wiedeman, the reigning POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series champion, will compete Friday as part of the Keith Kunz Motorsports squad. This will be his first Chili Bowl. Cory Eliason, who finished second in the All Star Circuit of Champions standings last year, will pilot a Rudeen Racing midget.
Other notable entries include Andrew Felker, IndyCar and NASCAR driver Santino Ferrucci, micro sprint star Frank Flud, NTT IndyCar Series star Conor Daly, Matt Wood Racing’s Ryan Bernal, USAC regular Ethan Mitchell and dirt late model competitor Ricky Thornton Jr.
Driven2SaveLives Qualifying Night Entry List
No. 0 – Johnny Murdock (Kaufman, Texas)
No. 0Z – Landon Crawley (Benton, Ark.) – Rookie
No. 00J – Jamie Speers (New Holland, Pa.)
No. 01K – Bryant Wiedeman (Colby, Kan.) – Rookie
No. 1F – Ryan Thomas (Indianapolis, Ind.) – Rookie
No. 1H – Brad Wyatt (Kearney, Mo.)
No. 1P – Terry Nichols (Delano, Calif.)
No. 1UK – Tom Harris (Banbury, United Kingdom)
No. 1X – Anthony Esberg (Kelseyville, Calif.)
No. 1Z – Justin Zimmerman (Athens, Texas) – Rookie
No. 2B – Brett Becker (Odessa, Texas)
No. 2J – Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.)
No. 3C – Bryon Walters (Spread Eagle, Wis.)
No. 3G – Kyle Cummins (Princeton, Ind.)
No. 4T – Trey Gropp (Lincoln, Neb.)
No. 6X – Jesse Denome (Escanaba, Mich.)
No. 7R – A.J. Hopkins (Brownsburg, Ind.)
No. 7Z – Wes Benson (El Paso, Texas) – Rookie
No. 08M – Jace McIntosh (Bixby, Okla.)
No. 9C – Colten Cottle (Kansas, Ill.)
No. 10J – Lane Goodman (Broken Arrow, Okla.)
No. 11A – Andrew Felker (Carl Junction, Mo.)
No. 11B – Clinton Boyles (Greenwood, Mo.)
No. 11G – Mike Goodman (Broken Arrow, Okla.)
No. 11X – Donovan Peterson (Brookings, S.D.)
No. 12 – Corbin Gurley (Hebron, Ind.) – Rookie
No. 12M – Jeff Champagne (Westfield, Mass.)
No. 14 – Zack Morgan (Springfield, Mo.)
No. 14J – Jody Rosenboom (Rock Rapids, Iowa)
No. 14U – Austin Torgerson (Medford, Ore.) – Rookie
No. 16 – Santino Ferrucci (Woodbury, Conn.)
No. 19F – Frank Flud (Tulsa, Okla.)
No. 19M – Ethan Mitchell (Mooresville, N.C.)
No. 19S – Kasey Kahne (Enumclaw, Wash.)
No. 19U – Pierce Urbanosky (North Richland Hills, Texas)
No. 20 – Tadd Holliman (Murray, Neb.)
No. 20W – Shawn Wicker (Sand Springs, Okla.) – Rookie
No. 21 – Daryn Pittman (Owasso, Okla.)
No. 23S – Kyle Simon (Covington, Ohio)
No. 26E – Cory Eliason (Visalia, Calif.)
No. 27A – A.J. Burns (Norman, Okla.)
No. 27K – Tucker Klaasmeyer (Paola, Kan.)
No. 28 – Ace McCarthy (Tahlequah, Okla.)
No. 31B – Kyle Beilman (Los Angeles, Calif.)
No. 31M – David Budres (Janesville, Wis.)
No. 32W – Casey Shuman (Rattlesnake Bend, Ariz.)
No. 33 – Jackie Burke (Houston, Texas)
No. 39 – Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.)
No. 40M – Chase McDermand (Springfield, Ill.)
No. 44D – Ty Hulsey (Owasso, Okla.)
No. 44X – Wesley Smith (Nixa, Mo.)
No. 45H – Logan Calderwood (Goodyear, Ariz.) – Rookie
No. 46 – Kenney Johnson (Bethany, Conn.)
No. 47D – Conor Daly (Indianapolis, Ind.)
No. 47S – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Olive Branch, Miss.)
No. 50S – Rocky Silva (Kapolei, Hawaii)
No. 51R – Ricky Thornton Jr. (Adel, Iowa) – Rookie
No. 51Z – Zach Boden (Cambridge, Wis.) – Rookie
No. 53 – Brett Wilson (Coweta, Okla.)
No. 56M – Garrett Thomas (Ewing, Ill.) – Rookie
No. 57A – Jack Routson (Waterman, Ill.) – Rookie
No. 68 – Ronnie Gardner (Corona, Calif.)
No. 68S – Corby Scherb (Decatur, Texas)
No. 71H – Bob Schaeffer (New Castle, Colo.) – Rookie
No. 72J – Sam Johnson (St. Peters, Mo.)
No. 73 – Dylan Ito (Ventura, Calif.)
No. 75B – Ryan Newman (South Bend, Ind.)
No. 75J – Jett Hays (Fort Worth, Texas) – Rookie
No. 77X – Wayne Johnson (Oklahoma City, Okla.)
No. 79M – Keith Martin (Burleson, Texas)
No. 84 – Michael Faccinto (Hanford, Calif.)
No. 87F – Johnny Kent (Kiefer, Okla.)
No. 87W – Ryan Bernal (Hollister, Calif.)
No. 88W – Dustin Weland (Parker, Colo.)
No. 93 – Kyle Bellm (Nixa, Mo.)
No. 95 – Chris Andrews (Tulsa, Okla.)
No. 97R – Ryan Ellis (Fairfax, Va.)
No. 101 – Chuck McGillivray (Madison, S.D.)
No. 117 – Ray Seeman (Jetmore, Kan.)