Sand Springs, OK native Hank Davis stunned the national competitors by winning Tuesday night’s A-Main at the 2023 Chili Bowl Midget Nationals.
As contender after contender eliminated themselves from the 30-lap feature, Davis kept his composure to bring the No. 29S machine to victory lane at the Tulsa Expo Center.
Daison Pursley led the first lap from outside the front row but promptly spun in the third turn on the second lap of the race. That spin collected Alex Bowman who started fourth.
Several top contenders in trouble early! @Lucas_Oil @cbnationals
Presented by Lucas Oil pic.twitter.com/akDi03khV0
— FloRacing (@FloRacing) January 11, 2023
Bowman’s crew could not fix the No. 55X in the work area and the race resumed. There would be a few cautions for early accidents, including one for Michael Pickens’s No. 4X machine who flipped after contact from Davis.
Perhaps the race’s most stunning moment was in an accident on the race’s seventh lap. While Pursley and Damion Gardner were both stopped in the high side of the third turn, Kofoid tried to squeeze his car between Gardner, Pursley and the wall.
The resulting contact bent the front end of Kofoid’s car, eliminating the 2022 Chili Bowl Tuesday night A-Main winner and relegating the California native to a 20th place finish, relegating him to a D-Main on Saturday.
? It is chaos in Tulsa, your leader is out of this one! | @Lucas_Oil @cbnationals
Presented by Lucas Oil pic.twitter.com/MdAYby7vUZ
— FloRacing (@FloRacing) January 11, 2023
After the ensuing restart, Davis held off the rest of the field to win the A-Main, clinching a spot in Saturday night’s 55-lap A-Main over Spencer Bayston and Jade Avedisian, who set a record as the highest-finishing female driver on a preliminary night in Chili Bowl history.
Davis was very happy about the result, but maybe not at how it came to be.
“I promise you I couldn’t even have dreamed of this day,” Davis said in victory lane. “I really feel bad for getting into Pickens there, I had checked up for him a little earlier in the race so I really apologize to him and all those guys, I don’t want to tear up any race cars. Man, I really can’t believe it.”
