Seavey Storms Back To Win Final Chili Bowl Prelim

TULSA, Okla. – Leave it to Friday night at the 39th Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy Drink to produce the most spectacular preliminary night stories of the week.

The leading headline was authored by two-time defending Chili Bowl champion Logan Seavey, who rallied from a post-qualifier incident with NASCAR Cup Series star Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to ultimately win on Hard Rock Casino Qualifying Night for the third year in a row.

Seavey started seventh, charged onto the podium in just eight laps, then waited patiently behind Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports teammates Ryan Timms and Gavin Miller for the right moment to strike.

Timms fell by the wayside on lap 17, when the trio was fighting for the lead in turn three and Miller got into Timms’ rear bumper, turning the latter around and ending his shot at a maiden prelim night score.

Seavey then assumed second behind Miller, chasing the Pennsylvania teenager for nearly 10 revolutions before making a deep turn-three slide job for the lead on the 27th of 30 laps.

After coming across Miller’s nose, washing the youngster into the cushion slightly to break his momentum from the lead, Seavey took control of the race for good and went on to win by .221 seconds.

It marked Seavey’s fourth overall Chili Bowl prelim night win and third straight for car owners Kevin and Jordan Swindell. Seavey chases his third Golden Driller in a row during Saturday night’s finale.

“That was such a roller coaster of a race,” said Seavey in victory lane. “I got to third quick, and I thought I was going right to the lead (on lap 17) until Timms went to block the bottom. Chased Gavin for a while … but (Daryn) Pittman got by me after I got tight on one of the later restarts and I thought I might not get back up there.

“The whole race, I feel like I made maybe five or six good laps total, but I put myself in the perfect spots a few times to get where we needed to go,” he added. “Of any of the prelim nights I’ve won here, I had to work the hardest tonight … so I feel like, for once, I finally earned one in this building.”

Despite everything that tried to work against him Friday night, Seavey still found a way to win and believes he’ll be a contender to win the big show again, even though this time it comes against the likes of past winners and Cup Series kingpins Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell.

“I could still keep up with guys; I just lost a little balance really to be able to maneuver as well as I needed to in traffic,” Seavey noted of his car following the collision with Stenhouse after his qualifier. “When I could get against the cushion by myself, I could make a ton of speed, but in the feature there I could finally crawl the bottom.

“We’re going in the right direction. I still feel like I made a lot of ugly laps there, but fortunately, I happened to make them at the right times and made good laps when I needed them most.”

Miller’s runner-up finish locked him into his first Saturday night finale at the Chili Bowl, but he struggled to be truly joyful in victory lane after the contact that took his teammate Timms out of a chance to lock in as well.

“I just had a very bad last three laps,” Miller lamented. “I got a bit nervous there, got tight on the cushion, and Logan got by me … and it was super hard to try and slide him after that because of the line he was running at the end.

“I know Ryan’s probably mad at me wrecking him; I truly didn’t mean to and I have to apologize to him,” he continued. “That was a bad call on my part. I was trying to race Seavey hard and hooked Ryan’s rear bumper. I tried locking it up, but I couldn’t slow up enough in time.

“I was thinking about it the rest of the race.”

Wheeling a second car for Silva Motorsports as a teammate to Monday winner Kyle Larson, Tyler Courtney charged from 12th to third to slot himself near the front of a B-main for Saturday night.

Pittman and Justin Grant closed the top five, followed by Tyler Edwards, Michael Faccinto, Stenhouse, Sam Johnson, and Andrew Felker.

Timms got back to 15th at the finish to put himself in a C-main on Driller Day, while USAC ace and home-state hero Jason McDougal raced among the top five early before a lap-18 incident with Pittman off turn two that saw McDougal nearly get upside down while racing for third place.

McDougal finished 21st and will start his alphabet soup run from the E-main.

In his Chili Bowl debut, two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch finished seventh in a B-main after starting from the pole and having a solid night through heat races and qualifiers.

Larson drew the top pill in the #DoItForGrady Pole Shuffle draw that followed Friday night’s feature, meaning he’s guaranteed to start on the front row Saturday night in his pursuit of a third Chili Bowl title.

Timms, Chase McDermand, Felker, Stenhouse, McDougal, Mille, Cole Vanderheiden, Grant, and T.J. Smith each won heat races Friday. Ronnie Gardner and Taylor Courtney topped D-mains, with Gardner also going on to win his C-main, joined by Don Droud Jr.

Grant, Miller, Pittman, and Edwards each earned qualifier victories, while Hayden Reinbold and McDermand collected B-main triumphs to lead the transfer cars into the 30-lap nightcap.

Eighty-three drivers drew in for action on Friday, bringing the final event total to 377. The flip count reached 50, but all drivers walked away from their incidents.

Action from the Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy Drink concludes in grand fashion Saturday with NOS Energy Drink Driller Day from Tulsa Expo Raceway.

Broadcast coverage begins at 9 a.m. CT with twin P-main events. Every lap is available on FloRacing.

Race Face Digital’s Chili Bowl coverage is supported by DPC Media, home of longtime motorsports and automotive photographer David Campbell. To purchase DPC apparel or order photos from Chili Bowl 2025, visit www.seemymind.com for more information.

RESULTS: 39th Chili Bowl Nationals; Hard Rock Casino Qualifying Night; Tulsa (Okla.) Expo Raceway; Jan. 17, 2025

OERB Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. 67-Ryan Timms [5]; 2. 0G-Glenn Styres [1]; 3. 63-Cale Coons [3]; 4. 21-Daryn Pittman [10]; 5. 16R-Kyle Jones [6]; 6. 44K-Brody Wake [8]; 7. 83H-Sam Henderson [9]; 8. 85J-Joshua Lewis [2]; 9. 64-Andy Pake [4]; 10. 92M-Josh Most [7].

OERB Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 40M-Chase McDermand[3]; 2. 05-Alex Midkiff[1]; 3. 46-Kenney Johnson[5]; 4. 74-Luke Hall[6]; 5. 7K-Kolton Gariss[2]; 6. 47R-Ray Brewer[4]; 7. 21T-Justin Bates[7]; 8. 8X-Jeff Schindler[8]; 9. (DNS) 48-Eric Webber; 10. (DNS) 39M-Cole Murray

OERB Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11A-Andrew Felker[3]; 2. 51-Kyle Busch[7]; 3. 56E-Tyler Edwards[2]; 4. 21K-Austin Nigh[1]; 5. 8S-Kyle Steffens[9]; 6. 51W-Curtis Jones[6]; 7. 11X-Donovan Peterson[4]; 8. (DNF) 19U-Pierce Urbanosky[5]; 9. (DNF) 33W-Rece Wommack[8]

OERB Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 86X-Ricky Stenhouse Jr[3]; 2. 20S-Landon Simon[2]; 3. 98P-Ryan Padgett[4]; 4. 57A-Daniel Robinson[9]; 5. 7-Shannon McQueen[5]; 6. 7C-Chance Morris[6]; 7. 0B-Jason Botsford[7]; 8. (DNF) 19F-Joshua Shipley[1]; 9. (DNF) 7T-Ronnie Gardner[8]

OERB Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 7P-Jason McDougal[4]; 2. 39-Logan Seavey[9]; 3. 45X-Jace Park[7]; 4. 09T-Timmy Thrash[1]; 5. 0-Johnny Murdock[2]; 6. 16-Santino Ferrucci[5]; 7. 68B-Blain Petersen[8]; 8. 0L-Kevin Carl[6]; 9. (DNF) 19X-Brenden Hires[3]

OERB Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 97-Gavin Miller[3]; 2. 31B-Dominic Gorden[4]; 3. 49-Cole Tinsley[2]; 4. 8W-Kaleb Montgomery[8]; 5. 17C-Devin Camfield[6]; 6. 5J-Josh Hodge[9]; 7. 1P-Terry Nichols[5]; 8. 84R-Chris Roseland[1]; 9. 20M-Malyssa Perkins[7]

OERB Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 45V-Cole Vanderheiden[1]; 2. 48H-Wout Hoffmans[2]; 3. 23C-Tyler Courtney[6]; 4. 63F-Frankie Guerrini[7]; 5. 22T-Don Droud Jr[5]; 6. 77R-Robbie Smith[4]; 7. 56X-Mark Chisholm[8]; 8. 80S-Josh Hawkins[9]; 9. 19-Greg Dennett[3]

OERB Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 87-Justin Grant[2]; 2. 72J-Sam Johnson[6]; 3. 54Z-Michael Pickens[9]; 4. 95-Chris Andrews[8]; 5. 28-Ace McCarthy[1]; 6. 8D-Jeffrey Abbey[7]; 7. 36-Taylor Courtney[4]; 8. 20-Tadd Holliman[3]; 9. (DNF) 17K-Tim Creech II[5]

OERB Heat 9 (8 Laps): 1. 14J-TJ Smith[2]; 2. 5U-Michael Faccinto[4]; 3. 19A-Hayden Reinbold[5]; 4. 44X-Wesley Smith[7]; 5. 2P-Cameron La Rose[8]; 6. 15-Travis Miniea[1]; 7. 00P-Broc Elliott[9]; 8. 22M-Marc Dailey[3]; 9. 17B-Ryan Bickett[6]

Smileys Racing Products D Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 7T-Ronnie Gardner[6]; 2. 80S-Josh Hawkins[1]; 3. 11X-Donovan Peterson[2]; 4. 84R-Chris Roseland[8]; 5. 17K-Tim Creech II[9]; 6. 19U-Pierce Urbanosky[4]; 7. 8X-Jeff Schindler[3]; 8. 22M-Marc Dailey[5]; 9. 20M-Malyssa Perkins[7]; 10. (DNF) 48-Eric Webber[10]; 11. (DNF) 92M-Josh Most[11]; 12. (DNS) 19X-Brenden Hires

Smileys Racing Products D Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 36-Taylor Courtney[2]; 2. 20-Tadd Holliman[4]; 3. 64-Andy Pake[9]; 4. 33W-Rece Wommack[5]; 5. 1P-Terry Nichols[1]; 6. 0L-Kevin Carl[3]; 7. (DNF) 19F-Joshua Shipley[7]; 8. (DNF) 17B-Ryan Bickett[8]; 9. (DNF) 19-Greg Dennett[10]; 10. (DNF) 85J-Joshua Lewis[6]; 11. (DNS) 39M-Cole Murray

Creek County Speedway C Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 7T-Ronnie Gardner[11]; 2. 8D-Jeffrey Abbey[3]; 3. 21K-Austin Nigh[1]; 4. 7-Shannon McQueen[2]; 5. 51W-Curtis Jones[6]; 6. 16-Santino Ferrucci[7]; 7. 0-Johnny Murdock[5]; 8. 0B-Jason Botsford[10]; 9. (DNF) 56X-Mark Chisholm[8]; 10. (DNF) 00P-Broc Elliott[4]; 11. (DNF) 77R-Robbie Smith[9]; 12. (DNF) 80S-Josh Hawkins[12]

Creek County Speedway C Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 22T-Don Droud Jr[2]; 2. 28-Ace McCarthy[5]; 3. 83H-Sam Henderson[3]; 4. 7K-Kolton Gariss[4]; 5. 36-Taylor Courtney[11]; 6. 09T-Timmy Thrash[1]; 7. 7C-Chance Morris[6]; 8. 20-Tadd Holliman[12]; 9. 47R-Ray Brewer[8]; 10. 15-Travis Miniea[10]; 11. 21T-Justin Bates[9]; 12. 68B-Blain Petersen[7]

Toyota Racing Development Qualifier 1 (10 Laps): 1. 87-Justin Grant[3]; 2. 7P-Jason McDougal[5]; 3. 5U-Michael Faccinto[2]; 4. 39-Logan Seavey[6]; 5. 86X-Ricky Stenhouse Jr[4]; 6. 20S-Landon Simon[7]; 7. 46-Kenney Johnson[1]; 8. 0G-Glenn Styres[8]; 9. 49-Cole Tinsley[10]; 10. (DNF) 17C-Devin Camfield[9]

Toyota Racing Development Qualifier 2 (10 Laps): 1. 97-Gavin Miller[4]; 2. 67-Ryan Timms[6]; 3. 23C-Tyler Courtney[2]; 4. 19A-Hayden Reinbold[1]; 5. 72J-Sam Johnson[5]; 6. 16R-Kyle Jones[10]; 7. 14J-TJ Smith[3]; 8. 2P-Cameron La Rose[9]; 9. 48H-Wout Hoffmans[7]; 10. 05-Alex Midkiff[8]

Toyota Racing Development Qualifier 3 (10 Laps): 1. 21-Daryn Pittman[4]; 2. 45V-Cole Vanderheiden[2]; 3. 63F-Frankie Guerrini[1]; 4. 57A-Daniel Robinson[3]; 5. 44K-Brody Wake[10]; 6. 40M-Chase McDermand[5]; 7. 51-Kyle Busch[6]; 8. 63-Cale Coons[9]; 9. 8S-Kyle Steffens[7]; 10. (DNF) 98P-Ryan Padgett[8]

Toyota Racing Development Qualifier 4 (10 Laps): 1. 56E-Tyler Edwards[9]; 2. 54Z-Michael Pickens[6]; 3. 11A-Andrew Felker[5]; 4. 44X-Wesley Smith[1]; 5. 31B-Dominic Gorden[3]; 6. 8W-Kaleb Montgomery[10]; 7. 74-Luke Hall[8]; 8. 5J-Josh Hodge[7]; 9. (DNF) 45X-Jace Park[4]; 10. (DNF) 95-Chris Andrews[2]

Ferguson Enterprises B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 19A-Hayden Reinbold[3]; 2. 8W-Kaleb Montgomery[5]; 3. 2P-Cameron La Rose[7]; 4. 48H-Wout Hoffmans[9]; 5. 63-Cale Coons[8]; 6. 7T-Ronnie Gardner[11]; 7. 51-Kyle Busch[1]; 8. 8D-Jeffrey Abbey[12]; 9. 44K-Brody Wake[2]; 10. 7-Shannon McQueen[14]; 11. 21K-Austin Nigh[13]; 12. 74-Luke Hall[6]; 13. (DNF) 20S-Landon Simon[4]; 14. (DNF) 49-Cole Tinsley[10]; 15. (DNS) 95-Chris Andrews; 16. (DNS) 98P-Ryan Padgett

Ferguson Enterprises B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 40M-Chase McDermand[1]; 2. 16R-Kyle Jones[4]; 3. 31B-Dominic Gorden[2]; 4. 14J-TJ Smith[5]; 5. 44X-Wesley Smith[3]; 6. 45X-Jace Park[9]; 7. 46-Kenney Johnson[6]; 8. 28-Ace McCarthy[14]; 9. 8S-Kyle Steffens[10]; 10. 05-Alex Midkiff[11]; 11. 22T-Don Droud Jr[13]; 12. 83H-Sam Henderson[15]; 13. 0G-Glenn Styres[7]; 14. 5J-Josh Hodge[8]; 15. (DNF) 17C-Devin Camfield[12]; 16. (DNF) 7K-Kolton Gariss[16]

A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 39-Logan Seavey[7]; 2. 97-Gavin Miller[3]; 3. 23C-Tyler Courtney[12]; 4. 21-Daryn Pittman[5]; 5. 87-Justin Grant[8]; 6. 56E-Tyler Edwards[4]; 7. 5U-Michael Faccinto[11]; 8. 86X-Ricky Stenhouse Jr[15]; 9. 72J-Sam Johnson[13]; 10. 11A-Andrew Felker[9]; 11. 14J-TJ Smith[24]; 12. 19A-Hayden Reinbold[17]; 13. 57A-Daniel Robinson[14]; 14. 31B-Dominic Gorden[22]; 15. 67-Ryan Timms[1]; 16. 54Z-Michael Pickens[2]; 17. 63F-Frankie Guerrini[16]; 18. 40M-Chase McDermand[18]; 19. 48H-Wout Hoffmans[23]; 20. 8W-Kaleb Montgomery[19]; 21. (DNF) 7P-Jason McDougal[6]; 22. (DNF) 2P-Cameron La Rose[21]; 23. (DNF) 45V-Cole Vanderheiden[10]; 24. (DNF) 16R-Kyle Jones[20]

Lap Leader(s): Ryan Timms 1-17, Gavin Miller 18-26, Logan Seavey 27-30.

Hard Charger: 14J-T.J. Smith (+13)