Kyle Larson just had to one-up Christopher Bell.
Bell, who won Monday’s Race of Champions at the Chili Bowl Nationals, was bested by the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion, who captured the victory in Monday’s Prelim Feature.
Leave it to Larson to do it in an incredible fashion, too.
? @KyleLarsonRacin wins the first prelim Feature of the 2025 #ChiliBowl presented by @NosEnergyDrink!@ShaneGolobic also locks in to the Saturday @cbnationals finale! pic.twitter.com/fFfyKsXGBf
— FloRacing (@FloRacing) January 14, 2025
“It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t a pretty 30 laps, just things didn’t work out early, and kind of had to methodically work my way back forward, and just was able to make it happen really. I didn’t feel that good, we still have a lot of work to do to compete on Saturday but I’m confident Paul [Silva] will figure it out like he always does.”
Driving the FloRacing-sponsored No. 1K, Larson moved in on Shane Golobic in the final laps of Monday’s 30-lap feature, to steal the victory away from the high-points driver.
“I wanted to be kind of smart there on the last restart, although it probably didn’t look like it,” Larson quipped. “You know, you don’t want to give up a locked-in spot, but you also want to win, because you can’t win a Chili Bowl from third row on back.”
For Golobic, the quest for a Preliminary Feature event victory will have to wait until 2026, as for the fifth time in his Chili Bowl Nationals career, the driver finished runner-up.
Both Larson and Golobic will be locked into Saturday’s A-Main in the Chili Bowl Nationals.
Cannon MacIntosh, the winningest driver in Monday Night Prelim history, finished in third place, just missing out on a guaranteed spot in Saturday’s 40-lap feature.
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series part-time Brent Crews made an incredible rally on Monday, advancing from the C-Main to the B-Main and into the A-Main, before driving from the back to finish in fourth.
Ashton Torgerson rounded out the top five.
Jerry Coons, Jr. finished in sixth place, with Joe B Miller in seventh, Justin Peck in eighth, Trey Marcham in ninth, and Dillon Welch completing the top-10.
Welch, who works with NBC Sports as a pit reporter, hasn’t strapped into a racecar since the 2024 Chili Bowl Nationals but will have a decent shot at advancing deep into Saturday’s show.
2nd Opinion Auto Center Qualifying Night A-Feature Rundown. pic.twitter.com/27Z24zcrnG
— Chili Bowl Nationals (@cbnationals) January 14, 2025
Action from the Tulsa Expo Center will continue throughout the week, with the 2025 Chili Bowl Nationals taking place on Saturday, January 18.
