Logan Seavey’s bid for a Chili Bowl Nationals three-peat is very much alive after the talented racer clawed his way from a seventh-place starting spot in Friday night’s Chili Bowl A-Main Prelim to win in a dramatic battle in the closing laps with Gavin Miller.
Coming to three laps to go, Seavey put a slider on Miller for the lead, and as he did, Miller jumped the cushion and lost his momentum.
? Defending @cbnationals Champion @Logan_Seavey wins Friday night at the #ChiliBowl powered by @NosEnergyDrink! @Gavin_Miller97 also locks in to the Saturday finale! pic.twitter.com/n7kjBvE6yo
— FloRacing (@FloRacing) January 18, 2025
When Seavey made the race-winning pass, he said he could feel the electricity flowing in the Tulsa Expo Raceway through the wild reaction from the crowd.
“Yeah, this is the one place in the world where when the race gets interesting you feel it and you see it for sure. These fans are absolutely out of control,” Seavey said. “The Rowdys were going nuts every corner.”
As for the race-winning pass, Seavey wasn’t sure if that was going to be enough for him to win, as he felt like he couldn’t shake Miller.
“I didn’t get off the corner with that slider good enough and I knew he was right on me every corner,” Seavey recalled.
Seavey even says in the final turn of the race, he nearly stalled his car out.
“I don’t know how much you could see it on the replay, but I nearly stalled it in the last corner, I was completely sideways. And completely out of the gas. And I thought it was going to die on me.”
It didn’t die on him, and Seavey bolted across the finish line for the race win. With the win, Seavey will automatically advance to a starting spot in Saturday evening’s Chili Bowl Nationals Championship A-Main.
Fortunately, for Miller, he was able to hang on for the runner-up finish after jumping the cushion coming to three laps to go, and with it he also got the automatic advancement to Saturday’s A-Main.
Tyler Courtney finished the event in third, while Daryn Pittman, and Justin Grant rounded out the top-five finishers on Friday night. Pittman had a late-race incident with Jason McDougal, which ended McDougal’s bid for a solid finish.
After the crash, McDougal shot a middle finger at Pittman as he passed by.
? Jason McDougal had some sign language for Daryn Pittman after contact during the Friday A-Main at the #ChiliBowl powered by @NosEnergyDrink pic.twitter.com/nXa4pO83f4
— FloRacing (@FloRacing) January 18, 2025
“I hate that it happened, honestly,” Pittman said to Matt Weaver after the race. “He passed me clean, and I went down there and slid across. But honestly, it was a pretty slow slider. I honestly thought he was going to drive around me. And I feel like I woahed up my pace enough, and he never showed up.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got into a bit of a scuffle with Seavey earlier in the evening in a post-race crash in their qualifier race prior to the A-Main.
? Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Logan Seavey had a moment at the end of their Qualifier friday night at the #ChiliBowl powered by @NosEnergyDrink @cbnationals pic.twitter.com/S6tWEw0rHl
— FloRacing (@FloRacing) January 18, 2025
While Seavey would get the last laugh, Stenhouse, who won the NASCAR Cup Series event at Talladega Superspeedway last Fall, would admirably work his way from the 15th starting spot to finish eighth in Friday’s A-Main.
Stenhouse started the night off by winning Heat Race 4, and he’ll look to work his way into the Championship A-Main on Saturday through the Soup Heat Races.
Ryan Timms had a heartbreaking evening as he started from the pole position, and appeared to have the car to beat early in the race. However, with just 13 laps remaining, Timms received a nudge from Miller, his teammate, which sent him spinning from the race lead.
? Heartbreak for leader Ryan Timms at the #ChiliBowl powered by @NosEnergyDrink!@cbnationals pic.twitter.com/ktC6lVtrFe
— FloRacing (@FloRacing) January 18, 2025
Timms would wind up finishing 15th on the night.
Chili Bowl Nationals Friday A-Main Prelim Results
| Fin | No. | Driver | Laps | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 39 | Logan Seavey | 30 | -- |
| 2 | 97 | Gavin Miller | 30 | 0.221 |
| 3 | 23C | Tyler Courtney | 30 | 1.934 |
| 4 | 21 | Daryn Pittman | 30 | 2.003 |
| 5 | 87 | Justin Grant | 30 | 2.88 |
| 6 | 56E | Tyler Edwards | 30 | 3.825 |
| 7 | 5U | Michael Faccinto | 30 | 4.949 |
| 8 | 86X | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 30 | 5.145 |
| 9 | 72J | Sam Johnson | 30 | 5.506 |
| 10 | 11A | Andrew Felker | 30 | 5.899 |
| 11 | 14J | TJ Smith | 30 | 6.881 |
| 12 | 19A | Hayden Reinbold | 30 | 6.961 |
| 13 | 57A | Daniel Robinson | 30 | 7.334 |
| 14 | 31B | Dominic Gorden | 30 | 7.714 |
| 15 | 67 | Ryan Timms | 30 | 7.873 |
| 16 | 54Z | Michael Pickens | 30 | 8.159 |
| 17 | 63F | Frankie Guerrini | 30 | 8.989 |
| 18 | 40M | Chase McDermand | 30 | 8.997 |
| 19 | 48H | Wout Hoffmans | 30 | 9.409 |
| 20 | 8W | Kaleb Montgomery | 30 | 10.875 |
| 21 | 7P | Jason McDougal | 18 | 12 laps |
| 22 | 2P | Cameron La Rose | 13 | 17 laps |
| 23 | 45V | Cole Vanderheiden | 5 | 25 laps |
| 24 | 16R | Kyle Jones | 1 | 29 laps |
Kyle Busch Finishes Second in First Chili Bowl Heat Race, Struggles in Qualifier Race
Kyle Busch had an up-and-down opening night in his Chili Bowl Nationals career. The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion looked like a dirt racing prodigy in his initial Heat Race as he clawed from the seventh starting spot to fourth in the first set of Turns of the race.
However, he was caught in a multi-car melee before the end of the lap, which stalled his progress. But Busch wouldn’t be denied as he would continue to climb through the field on his way to a runner-up finish in the Heat Race.
? @KyleBusch rebounds from an early incident for a 7-to-2 Heat Race in his debut at the #ChiliBowl powered by @NosEnergyDrink!@cbnationals pic.twitter.com/03nuYID4Uq
— FloRacing (@FloRacing) January 17, 2025
The solid finish set Busch up with a front-row starting spot in a qualifier race later in the evening, but Busch suffered from an ill-handling car that didn’t appear to want to work low, or high, and he would fade to a seventh-place finish in the 10-car field. As such, Busch failed to advance to the A-Main.
