Sammy Swindell Heads Up Wednesday Chili Bowl Field

Sammy Swindell in action at Tulsa (Okla.) Expo Raceway. (Brendon Bauman photo)TULSA, Okla. – Sammy Swindell, who holds a record five Golden Drillers from the Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy Drink, returns as the traditional headliner of Wednesday’s York Plumbing Qualifying Night entry list.

The 69-year-old Swindell previously topped the Chili Bowl finale in 1989, ’92, ’96, ’98, and 2009. He’s also a three-time World of Outlaws sprint car champion, 394-time Outlaws feature winner, and the 1983 champion of the famed Knoxville Nationals.

He hasn’t won a preliminary night main event since 2013, though, and hopes to rectify that this week.

Swindell will wheel a new Ripper Chassis out of the Swindell-Bertrand Motorsports stable, with a Stanton SR-11X engine and backing from John Christner Trucking and W&B Service Co. on his No. 1.

With eight-time Wednesday winner Rico Abreu not in competition for the second straight year, the role of favorite may fall to another Californian in 19-year-old Corey Day.

Day is the defending winner of the Wednesday Chili Bowl program and looks to make it two in a row behind the wheel of the No. 41 Sander Engineering Bullet Chassis for car owner Willie Kahne.

Having recently signed a driving deal with Hendrick Motorsports, Day will move on to a 30-race pavement schedule following the Chili Bowl, including the ARCA Menards Series opener at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway next month with Hendrick affiliate Spire Motorsports.

Reigning USAC National Midget Series champion Daison Pursley is back for his fourth Chili Bowl appearance and hopes to make his third straight start in the Saturday finale. He was last year’s biggest mover in the main event, advancing from 20th to finish fourth, and will drive the CB Industries No. 86.

Non-winged sprint car ace Jake Swanson hits the track Wednesday in an Alex Bowman Racing entry, while Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports will have four cars in competition for drivers Taylor Reimer, Emerson Axsom, Alex Yankowski, and last year’s rookie-of-the-year Kale Drake.

Other notable Wednesday names include NASCAR veteran J.J. Yeley, making his 29th Chili Bowl appearance; eight-time USAC Silver Crown Series champion Kody Swanson; dirt late model driver Gordy Gundaker; USAC young gun Mitchel Moles; 2016 prelim winner Alex Bright; and fan favorite Robert Bell.

Each prelim night broadcast begins at 5 p.m. ET (4 p.m. local), with every lap of Chili Bowl week available to be streamed live with a FloRacing subscription.

The full Wednesday night entry list can be found below.