As always, fans and racers alike walked out of SageNet Center on Saturday night with plenty to talk about following the conclusion of the 41st annual Hyper Racing Tulsa Shootout powered by NOS Energy on FloRacing. Before the switch flips to total focus on the Chili Bowl Nationals next week in Tulsa, we wanted to take a look back on some of the notable headlines after “The Mecca of Micros.”

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IT WAS THE BIGGEST SHOOTOUT EVER

After last year’s 40th annual event certainly appeared to provide the best racing ever, the 41st annual showing easily earned the right to be called the BIGGEST Tulsa Shootout in history. That’s considering the scale of entries, races, fans, and hype. Once considered the older, but little cousin to the Chili Bowl, the Tulsa Shootout has undoubtedly blossomed into an event worthy of its own high regard in the motorsports community. This year’s running SHATTERED car counts with north of 2,000 entries competing in over 433 races across five days. By the time Friday rolled around, it was evident a big crowd was coming on Saturday. When it was time to hand out the six Golden Drillers, it was practically a Chili Bowl Nationals crowd inside the Expo for the Tulsa Shootout.

CHILI BOWL REMATCH BETWEEN LARSON & PURSLEY

Arguably the most exciting A-Main of the night came during the Winged Outlaw 30-lapper when fans were treated to a rematch of last year’s Chili Bowl Nationals between Kyle Larson and Daison Pursley. Running as teammates, both for Chad Boat’s CB Industries camp, the duo ran 1-2 for a majority of the feature as Pursley paced the field from pole position while Larson charged from sixth-to-second and hunted him down. It looked destined to be an instant classic finish before Larson jumped the turn two cushion and allowed Steven Snyder Jr. and Jeffrey Newell to pass him in the closing laps. Ultimately allowing Pursley to sneak away and claim his first-career Golden Driller in his 15th Tulsa Shootout A-Main start.

POST-RACE DRAMA DECIDES A-CLASS GOLDEN DRILLER

An hour or so after the final checkered flag of the night, the public address system sounded up and dropped a bombshell on the Expo as teams were loading trailers. After Jett Yantis dominated the 30-lap A-Class A-Main, including an impressive drive through lap traffic and a final green-white-checkered restart, the 15-year-old Californian was unfortunately disqualified following post-race technical inspection on his No. 4Y. There were several issues in the engine department including illegal head work with bowl porting over a quarter-inch past the valve sets, epoxy on cylinder head imperfections inside the take port, and ceramic bearings in the transmission. The updated results handed the Golden Driller to Tulsa’s own Frank Flud to give him a sixth Tulsa Shootout title.

BZN SZN RETURNS TO THE TULSA EXPO

Around the 918, especially in the winter, Jonathan Beason’s stature is much like that of a folklore hero. When you’re as prominent of a consistent contender for two decades, you earn the respect of pretty much everyone who steps foot inside the Tulsa Expo, and the local Broken Arrow, Oklahoma racer certainly has it. The kids call it “BZN SZN” and Jonathan fired it off in a big way on Saturday night by finally earning his long-awaited victory in the 55-lap finale of the Tulsa Shootout. Starting from the pole in his Factory Fourteen ride, Beason led all 55 laps of the Outlaw Non-Wing main event and never even had to fend off a serious challenge as he rolled the low line of the Tulsa Expo Raceway. It’s his third-career Golden Driller to go with 2016 Stock Non-Wing and 2001 Restricted titles, and a serious shot of confidence before the Chili Bowl Nationals next week.

TEENAGER JOINS RECORD BOOKS IN STOCK-NON-WING

Saturday’s six main events kicked off with a bang when Butler, Pennsylvania’s Cullen Hutchison added his name to the record books after leading all 30 laps of the Stock Non-Wing A-Main. At 13 years, 9 months, 24 days, he became the fourth youngest Stock/Outlaw champion in Tulsa Shootout history. He joins a stout list of 13-year-old champs in a primary division with the likes of Giovanni Scelzi, Jerrod Wilson, Bryan Clauson and Brady Bacon.

THE KIDS GET THEIR TIME TO SHINE

In the Jr. Sprint and Restricted divisions, a pair of young ones enjoyed one of the happiest moments of their little lives when they hoisted the Golden Driller above their heads. In Jr. Sprints, Pennsylvania’s Jax Wittmer redeemed himself from a heartbreaking second-place finish last year and came back to win the title this year. In Restricted, California’s Braxon Vasconcellos fended off everything that Brycen Roush could throw at him as it came down to the final corners for a Tulsa Shootout title.

NASCAR STARS MAKE THEIR MARK ON DIRT

We’ve long been familiar with the exploits of Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell on dirt, especially inside the Tulsa Expo, but recently we’ve seen a new wave of NASCAR names competing at the Tulsa Shootout. Kyle Busch, along with his son Brexton, competed in all four Stock/Outlaw divisions and made it to several B-Mains including an LCQ in pursuit of his first Tulsa Shootout A-Main start. In the CB Industries camp, Ty Gibbs was mighty impressive in the Monster Energy No. 84C and wheeled his way to a 13th-place finish in a field of nearly 500 cars in Outlaw Non-Wing.

THE NEXT GENERATION OF LARSON KIDS

There are new Larson’s in the Tulsa Expo as Kyle’s kiddos follow in the footsteps of their father, who has six Golden Drillers between three Chili Bowl Nationals titles and three Tulsa Shootout wins in his career. His daughter Audrey partook in the Jr. Sprints division and advanced all the way to the LCQ on Saturday night before falling just short of A-Main appearance. Oldest son, Owen, ran three divisions in his HendrickCars.com No. 83L and entered the Restricted A-Main third in points before finishing a career-best fourth in the finale. With a Kyle Larson Racing micro sprint program being formed, and headed by Clinton Boyles, the kids will come back to the Expo next year with far more experience and laps under their belts as they continue chasing dad's success.

THE OLD GUARD ISN’T GOING ANYWHERE

While you often hear about young stars and future legends during the Tulsa Shootout, the old guard proved that they’re still as competitive as ever during Saturday’s finale. Most notably, the Outlaw Non-Wing 55-lap main event looked like it was a late 2000’s feature at Port City Raceway down the road from the Tulsa Expo. The podium was filled out by 37-year-old Jonathan Beason, 32-year-old Jeffrey Newell, and 41-year-old Chris Andrews from 20th-to-3rd. Beyond that, 35-year-old Frank Flud added another Golden Driller to his collection in A-Class. There will always be new emerging talent each year in the building, but these guys along with a whole group of veterans are here to stay in keeping the kids honest.

STILL CRACKING DOWN ON COMPETITORS

Along with the disqualification of Jett Yantis, who was stripped of the A-Class Golden Driller, the Tulsa Shootout officials are continuing to prove they’re cracking down on competitors in multiple avenues. On Saturday morning, it was announced that Kale Drake’s tire sample did not conform to the benchmark supplied by Hoosier, and thus he was disqualified. There were also instances of disqualification for blatantly rough driving, like on Saturday afternoon when Wout Hoffmans wrecked Drew Sherman. More tech was completed following the features and tire samples were sent off to be tested with one final layer of inspection remaining.