Tanner Thorson Bests Christopher Bell for Thursday Prelim Win; Bernal Knocks Bell From Lock In Position

The track conditions at the Tulsa Expo Raceway were not conducive to wildly exciting racing on Wednesday night. On Thursday night, it was the complete opposite as Tanner Thorson took the win in an entertaining slugfest with Christopher Bell and a hard-charging Ryan Bernal.

Thorson started Thursday’s Prelim A-Main from the pole position, and looked to have a solid No. 88 car in the early portion of the 30-lap event. He would lose the lead to Karter Sarff, but would charge back to the lead on Lap 5.

However, Thorson would make a mistake with 21 laps to go, which would provide Bell, the NASCAR star, the path he needed to work his way to the front of the field.

While it looked like Bell was going to cruise to the finish from there, Bell started to lose the handle on his No. 71W machine, and with five laps to go, Thorson got back up alongside Bell to take the lead just before Casey Shuman went for a wild tumble to bring out a late-race caution.

“It felt like I got in a really good rhythm on the top, and I was struggling to pass the lap cars. Then I saw Tanner throw his nose in there, I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m going to get back down,’ I started feeling pretty good on the bottom, and then Tanner circled me,” Bell explained.

After his dramatic win, Thorson said the Shuman caution allowed him to adjust his shocks, which allowed him to find the handling he needed to win the A-Main.

“Yeah, man, the curb was so tough tonight, and it’s badass that it’s this way, but it took me a yellow to get tuning on my shocks,” Thorson explained. “I couldn’t quite get to them under green. So, I was just kind of riding there, and honestly hoping for a yellow. Once I got tuning on the shocks a little bit, I was able to kind of plow the curb a lot harder.”

On the ensuing restart, Thorson easily had Bell covered, but a multi-car melee involving C.J. Leary and Karter Sarff with two laps to go gave Bell, and the rest of the field a chance to cool their jets and have one last shot at Thorson.

And boy, what a finish it was.

OH. MY. GOODNESS!@Tanner_Thorson the winner, as @bernal_ryan steals the final Saturday A-Main lock-in spot from @CBellRacing!

What a way to cap off Thursday at the #ChiliBowl powered by @NOSEnergyDrink. pic.twitter.com/c4Srj5g23L

— FloRacing (@FloRacing) January 17, 2025

Thorson would hold on, but the win was very much in doubt over the final two circuits as Bell had an incredible run on the high side of the track down the backstretch on the restart. However, Bernal would find enough room to the inside of Bell to apply pressure, and as Thorson collected the win, Bell was nipped by Bernal for the runner-up position.

As a result, Thorson and Bernal automatically advance to the Chili Bowl Nationals Championship A-Main on Saturday, while Bell will now have to work his way in through the B-Main. After climbing from his No. 87W entry, Bernal felt a mixture of emotions about the runner-up run. On one hand, he was elated, on the other, he was upset he missed out on the Prelim win.

“I don’t know, I just committed. I looked up at Shane and he’s just telling me to use my head, I mean, there’s two [laps] to go, right? I think if I stuck the bottom, I win the race, but I missed the bottom. So, I’m super bummed about it, but I’m so happy, and so proud of this Matt Wood team,” Bernal said.

Despite the bitterly close miss on securing his place into the A-Main field for Saturday’s race, Bell was pumped about the action he was a part of on Thursday night.

“This place just never ever disappoints,” Bell stated enthusiastically with a smile on his face. “It’s called Expo magic, and it happens every year at the Chili Bowl. If you’re watching at home, you need to get your ass here for next year. I honestly don’t know what happened on that last lap.”

While Bell didn’t secure an automatic slot in the field for Saturday’s Chili Bowl Nationals A-Main, he did secure plenty of respect from Thorson in the way he raced his competitor throughout Thursday’s race.

“Yeah, man, that was awesome. Hats off to Christopher [Bell], he could have probably slid me pretty hard a couple of times, and he raced me clean like I do to him as well. So, hats off to him,” Thorson said.

Matt Westfall finished in fourth place, directly behind the incredible three-man battle for the win, and Jacob Denney rounded out the top-five finishers in Thursday’s Prelim A-Main.

Chili Bowl Nationals Thursday Prelim A-Main Results