Monday’s opening preliminary of the 39th annual Chili Bowl Nationals brought the good stuff to Tulsa. Sixty-six racers began the night attempting to lock into the big show on Saturday, but at the end of the night only two drivers accomplished that feat. 

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Let’s take a quick look at where those preliminary finishers will land in Saturday’s famed alphabet soup:

TO THE A-MAIN (1-2) – Kyle Larson, Shane Golobic

TO THE B-MAINS (3-8) – Cannon McIntosh, Brent Crews, Ashton Torgerson, Jerry Coons Jr, Joe B. Miller, Justin Peck

TO THE C-MAINS (9-14) – Trey Marcham, Dillon Welch, Tanner Carrick, Alex Sewell, Roger Crockett, Cap Henry

TO THE D-MAINS (15-20) – Reese Nowotarski, Michelle Decker, Trevor Cline, Mario Clouser, Carson Bolden, Kyler Johnson

TO THE E-MAINS (21-24) – Gary Taylor, Zach Wigal, Luke Storer, Briggs Danner

VIDEO: Monday's Chili Bowl podium press conference with Kyle Larson, Shane Golobic and Cannon McIntosh.  

Making magic late in the running, Kyle Larson rebounded from running seventh at one point to stealing the preliminary win on the final restart. It was the eighth preliminary win for the Elk Grove, CA native - first on Monday night - equaling him with Sammy Swindell, Rico Abreu, and Christopher Bell for the most all-time. He’s punched a ticket into his 12th career Chili Bowl Championship A-Main and sits in contention for the pole position of the 40-lap finale.

Fellow Californian Shane Golobic of Fremont, CA unfortunately saw what seems to be an Expo curse continue, losing the lead late and settling for his fifth runner-up result - extending his streak of no prelim wins in Tulsa another year. Regardless, the Matt Wood Racing, NOS Energy Drink #17W is still locked-in for his 12th career Chili Bowl Championship A-Main, too. 

Cannon McIntosh, who led Laps 9-24 in pursuit of a fourth Monday night victory, slipped back to the final podium spot while Brent Crews ran the alphabet soup from the C-Main to fourth in the A-Main with Ashton Torgerson completing the top-five. Those three drivers head for Saturday’s B-Mains along with Jerry Coons Jr, Joe B. Miller, and Justin Peck.

Moving to Saturday’s C-Main from Monday was Trey Marcham, Dillon Welch, Tanner Carrick, Alex Sewell, Roger Crockett, and Cap Henry.

Three of Monday’s notable top-10 runners - Briggs Danner, Zach Wigal, and Gary Taylor - will all move to Saturday’s E-Main with a healthy serving of alphabet soup in front of them after each of them ended their prelims upside down.

All of the Chili Bowl fun continues tonight with Tuesday’s preliminary taking center stage. If you can’t be here to witness the Tulsa magic yourself, you can watch every lap live all week long on FloRacing.

Every lap of the 2025 Chili Bowl Nationals will be streamed live on FloRacing. If you’re not already a FloRacing subscriber, click here to sign up today.