Twenty-one-year-old Emerson Axsom used a fast race car, aggressiveness behind the wheel and a little luck to win the 40th running of the Chili Bowl Nationals inside the SageNet Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Axsom, who drove Kevin Swindell’s No. 39A midget, was the last driver standing at the end of six nights of racing for a record 387 competitors.
Sharing the front row with three-time Chili Bowl winner Kyle Larson, Axsom took the fight to the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion from the green flag and grabbed the point on lap four.
Axsom led the rest of the way, while Larson flipped his machine when trying to avoid slowing C.J. Leary on lap 15.
Axsom took advantage of several timely caution flags over the remainder of the 55-lap event to give Swindell his third victory in the past four years as a team owner. Swindell also won four consecutive Chili Bowls as a driver from 2010 through 2013.
