NASCAR’s Yeley, Gibbs, and Creed Advanced to Chili Bowl Prelim A-Main on Tuesday

While they didn’t capture the preliminary victory at the Tulsa Expo Center (that honor belonged to Blake Hahn), Tuesday night marked a successful opening night to the Chili Bowl Nationals for NASCAR racers JJ Yeley, Ty Gibbs, and Sheldon Creed, who all advanced to the A-Main of Tuesday night’s preliminary event.

JJ Yeley, who was able to work his way to a runner-up starting spot for the A-Main through points scored on the night in a fifth-place finish in Heat 4, and then a seventh-to-second-place finish in Qualifier 2. It was an impressive evening for Yeley, but in the A-Main, the No. 3J machine lost its handle, and he’d fade to a 10th-place finish in the 30-lap, 24-car feature.

Gibbs, who put in an amazing performance in Heat Race 5, as he drove from the ninth starting spot to a runner-up effort, also finished fifth in Qualifier 1, which allowed him to make it into the A-Main. Gibbs would start the Main Event from the seventh position, but like Yeley, he was never really in contention for the win. Gibbs would be credited with a 14th-place finish.

Yeley and Gibbs will each head to the C-Mains on Saturday, where they’ll look to advance to the Chili Bowl Nationals Main Event.

And then there’s Sheldon Creed, who was unfortunately swept up in an early-race melee in the A-Main, and as a result, suffered a DNF and finished dead last in 24th. While that wasn’t the result Creed was hoping for, the Haas Factory Team driver in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series did showcase some unexpected speed on Tuesday.

Creed gained enough points through the heat races to start from the outside of the front row in B-Main 2. In the B-Main, Creed’s No. 94C machine came to life in the outside lane, and he scooted around Max Adams for the lead, and never looked back. Creed would score the B-Main 2 win, which moved him to the A-Main, where he unfortunately would be involved in a race-ending crash early on.

Due to the 24th-place result, Creed will face an uphill battle into Saturday night’s A-Main, as he’ll try to claw his way to the starting field from the E-Mains on Saturday.

While the NASCAR guys finally found a struggle in the A-Main, the night belonged to Blake Hahn, who in a fabulous finish with Hank Davis, took the win. With the win, Hahn secured a starting spot in Saturday’s Chili Bowl Nationals feature. This will mark the Oklahoma native’s sixth career start in the big event.

“Extremely amazing,” Hahn stated when asked how it felt in his victory interview on FloRacing. “Like I said, this is everything I’ve dreamed of. I’ve always wanted to be on top come Saturday. This is just one step closer. We’ve made the A-Feature, but to be able to lock in like this, it definitely puts our footprint down, and let’s these guys know we mean business this week. We’re just happy to be here, and thankful to all of you fans for coming out.”

Coming to five laps to go, Hahn got around Hank Davis for the lead, and as the two encountered lapped traffic with a couple of laps to go, it provided Davis a last-ditch effort to try to snag the win, an attempt that narrowly failed. But by holding onto the runner-up spot, Davis was able to advance his No. 29S machine into Saturday night’s Chili Bowl Nationals Main Event along with Hahn.

14-year-old Jett Barnes narrowly missed out on locking his position into Saturday’s Main Event, but with a solid third-place result, he’ll be set up well to chase a starting spot in the soup heat races on Saturday ahead of the A-Main.

Zach Daum and Landon Brooks rounded out the top-five finishers on Tuesday night at the Tulsa Expo Center.

Tuesday Night Chili Bowl Nationals Prelim A-Main Results