Emerson Axsom Holds Off Pursley for Chili Bowl Wednesday Prelim Win; Day Third, Yeley 12th

Emerson Axsom started from the second position and dominated Wednesday night’s Chili Bowl Nationals Prelim Night A-Main, and in the closing laps, he held off a hard-charging Daison Pursley for the win. Corey Day, a dirt racing prodigy, and current Hendrick Motorsports development driver in the NASCAR world, came home in third.

Axsom, who was driving the No. 68K machine for the legendary Keith Kunz Motorsports team, appeared to be worn out after collecting his first-ever Chili Bowl Nationals Prelim win. The 20-year-old native of Indiana knew he had his work cut out for him as he was matched against some of the best young talents in the sport today.

“Yeah, man, I knew tonight would be hard,” Axsom said. “Corey and Daison are really good on these types of racetracks. I knew with Daison starting on the front row, he was going to be tough to beat, but you know, I’m glad he started there so we could see how good our stuff was. You know, he ran second to [Christopher] Bell in the Race of Champions.”

After holding off Pursley for the win, and keeping Day at bay as well, Axsom is confident in his car, and he feels he discovered some things that will make his No. 68K entry even better for Saturday night’s Championship Main Event.

“He got technical, but Keith [Kunz] brings the best cars in the building. I was a little tight, but I think we found some stuff that could make us better,” Axsom admitted. “I’m worn out, man. It’s not like me.”

Pursley was able to advance to the Championship A-Main with his runner-up finish, but he was a little disappointed to miss out on the prelim win after starting from the pole.

“Yeah, it is what it is. I felt like we had equal cars, and the pace was fast with just me and him up there. It just was kind of whoever got the lead first and jumped up to the top, and he got there first,” Pursley stated. ” So, like you said, just mixed emotions. Losing from the pole is never fun. So, we’ll get back to the drawing board, and I’ll do a little better job come Saturday on my end.”

Day, who started eighth, made a decent rally on a night where passing proved to be quite difficult inside the Tulsa Expo Center. After climbing from his car, Day explained that he actually had an issue with his shock adjuster cable, which made his race even more difficult.

“Yeah, it did. The top just really lipped up, and I was actually making adjustments to my right rear shock, and I guess something hit it and the adjuster cable wasn’t hooked up,” Day said. “So, I really wasn’t helping myself at all.”

Day clawed his way to a podium finish, but he finished one spot shy of the automatic advancement to Saturday’s Championship A-Main. He’ll have to work his way into the big show from the Heat Races on Saturday.

Tim Buckwalter ended the event in fourth while Kale Drake rounded out the top-five finishers.

As far as other NASCAR connections in this event, JJ Yeley, who has made eight Chili Bowl Nationals Feature Appearances in 28 starts, came home 12th in Wednesday night’s Prelim A-Main. If Yeley wants to add a ninth start in the Chili Bowl Nationals Championship A-Main, he’ll have to advance to it from the Alphabet Soup on Saturday, but if anyone can do it, it’s Yeley.

The 48-year-old advanced 69 positions through the soup in 2004, and finished runner-up in the Chili Bowl Nationals A-Main in 2007.

Chili Bowl Nationals Wednesday Prelim A-Main Race Results