At the 40th annual Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy, the teams that bring the entry list to almost 400 midgets come into Tulsa’s SageNet Center in all shapes and sizes. These days, super teams aren’t just the organizations that bring an entry for every day of the week, they’re also superstars building their own powerhouses for themselves.

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As FloRacing’s Road to the Chili Bowl presented by Chili’s Grill & Bar continues, we highlight 10 of the countless teams to watch before preliminary action begins on Monday and leads to the Golden Driller decided 55-lap finale next Saturday, January 17.

Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports

At the front of the pit area behind those massive turns three and four grandstands you’ll find the longest-standing super team in the sport - Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports. Surprisingly enough, KKM has downsized their operation in a big way - only bringing 10 entries this week after supplying a whopping 16 cars last year. The Columbus, Indiana based empire spearheaded by Keith and Pete Willoughby has taken nine titles with six drivers including Andy Hillenburg, Sammy Swindell, Jay Drake, Tony Stewart, Rico Abreu, and Christopher Bell. This week, they’ve got the USAC champ, one of the World of Outlaws’ best, the Knoxville Nationals winner, the Xtreme & POWRi champ, and a High Roller, along with several other studs.

Monday - #71K Cannon McIntosh / #98 Tanner Carrick

Tuesday - #71W Buddy Kofoid / #98K Brandon Carr

Wednesday - #67K Colton Robinson / #71 Ryan Timms

Thursday - #67 Jacob Denney / #67A Ashton Torgerson

Friday - #71C Giovanni Scelzi / #97 Gavin Miller

Matt Wood Racing

Across the aisle from KKM is MWR, a team that only focuses on Midgets one time a year, but boy, do they thrive when they do. Last year, this group accounted for THREE of the top-five finishing positions in the Chili Bowl Championship A-Main. It was an epic and rare accomplishment, but the California crew is still all eyes on their first Golden Driller. The five mainstays in Shane Golobic (podium finisher last year), Landon Brooks (prelim winner, top-five last year), Colby Copeland (six A-Main starts), Ryan Bernal (multi-time top-five finisher), and Daryn Pittman (former runner-up in the finale) are all back with young gun Austin Wood also making his rookie run.

Monday - #17W Shane Golobic

Tuesday - #57W Landon Brooks

Wednesday - #27W Colby Copeland

Thursday - #87W Ryan Bernal

Friday - #07W Austin Wood / #21 Daryn Pittman

CB Industries

Between Billy’s 1997 Golden Driller, Chad’s preliminary win in 2023, and five Tulsa Shootout titles as a team, the Boat name has long been a staple inside the Expo when winter rolls around. The story is no different this year as the Mooresville, North Carolina camp brings five cars this week in pursuit of their first Chili Bowl title as a team. Between Daison Pursley, Chris Windom, and Justin Grant, Chad is rolling out three excellent chances at taking the top step come Saturday. It doesn’t stop there as they also have NASCAR star and recent Tulsa Shootout A-Main starter, Ty Gibbs, plus USAC winner Drake Edwards in their corner.

Monday – #83 Drake Edwards

Tuesday – #84 Ty Gibbs

Wednesday – #86 Daison Pursley

Thursday – #89 Chris Windom

Friday – #87 Justin Grant

Swindell SpeedLab

After years of focusing on one car and delivering results with back-to-back Golden Drillers in 2023 and 2024, Kevin Swindell’s operation has grown big time with four cars in his camp this week. Of course, the two-time champ Logan Seavey still remains in the Swindell/Curb/Bertrand #39 with a fourth-straight Friday night preliminary win on his mind. New this year, teenage sensation Jett Barnes is the lead-off man on Tuesday in the Swindell/Curb/Bertrand #1A. Last year’s Wednesday winner and a four-time Tulsa Shootout champion, Emerson Axsom, joins the lineup on Wendesday in a Swindell/Harvey/Curb #39A ride. Reigning USAC National Sprint Car champion, Kyle Cummins, has also joined them in a Swindell/Styres/Curb #39G come Thursday.

Tuesday - #1A Jett Barnes

Wednesday - #39A Emerson Axsom

Thursday - #39G Kyle Cummins

Friday - #39 Logan Seavey

RMS Racing

Of all the teams mentioned so far, Dave & Matt Estep’s RMS Racing operation is the only to feature a fleet of nothing but Chili Bowl Championship A-Main starters. The mainstay in their camp is Spencer Bayston, who has delivered them a preliminary win and Race of Champions victory in recent years, and he’s a former podium finisher on Saturday. New this year, they’ve added New Zealand Midget ace Michael Pickens, another podium finisher in the 55-lap finale. Recent Chili Bowl Rookie of the Year, Kale Drake, is also new to the lineup this year in the #4KD. They also have a sneaky TBA lined up on Friday to go with Ronnie Gardner in the #9G.

Tuesday – #54NZ Michael Pickens

Wednesday – #4KD Kale Drake

Thursday – #1S Spencer Bayston

Friday – #4S TBA / #9G Ronnie Gardner

Kyle Larson Racing

When we talk about quantity AND quality, this is what we mean. The overwhelming majority of Kyle Larson’s career in the Tulsa Expo was spent at the front with Keith Kunz, who was an integral part in helping him climb to the top of NASCAR. After another disappointing loss in 2019, Larson left Keith and formed his own team with the legendary Paul Silva leading the way, and it immediately produced back-to-back Golden Drillers. After two years away from the Chili Bowl, they came back last year and quickly returned to the mountaintop with a third title in six years. The reigning champ leads off the week in Monday’s prelim.

Monday - #1K Kyle Larson

Christopher Bell Racing

Remember how Larson left KKM to build his own team and it resulted in Golden Drillers? That’s exactly what CBell is hoping he pulls off this week. The Norman, Oklahoma native won a trio of Chili Bowl titles with Keith and Pete from 2017-19, but has been unable to return to the main stage since. During that time, he missed a couple of years and even ventured over to race for Chad Boat’s CB Industries team, but now it’s time for something totally new. CBell has built his own operation and brought along talented Aussie Kaidon Brown to join him. If you remember, last year when Bell topped Larson at the Tulsa Shootout, that was also his personally-owned ride - a feat he hopes to repeat this week.

Wednesday - #21AU Kaidon Brown

Thursday - #21CB Christopher Bell

Trifecta Motorsports

Just how wild are super teams these days? A team named Trifecta is bringing four cars this week. The locally-based team out of Tulsa, Oklahoma has ran top-five in the Chili Bowl Championship A-Main in recent years and hopes a revamped roster with one returning star brings them back into contention. Two-time A-Main starter Michael Faccinto is the returner on Friday, but High Roller Chase Randall is in the house car, driving the #7U on what they call 7uesday. Before that, another former A-Main starter, Kameron Key, makes his Chili Bowl debut with Trifecta on Monday after departing his former ride at TKH Motorsports. They’ll also be joined by Kevin Newton on Thursday night this year.

Monday - #9U Kameron Key

Tuesday - #7U Chase Randall

Thursday - #3U Kevin Newton

Friday - #5U Michael Faccinto

Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports

Before it was Kyle Larson and Kevin Swindell celebrating Golden Drillers as car owners, it was Andy Reinbold in 2022 when Tanner Thorson took the AME Electric family to victory lane. This year, they’re back with a trio of cars in pursuit of a second Chili Bowl Championship. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series regular season champion Ricky Thornton Jr. continues to chase his first A-Main appearance through Tuesday’s prelim, while former Tulsa Shootout champion and Chili Bowl A-Main starter, Mitchel Moles, goes on Wednesday. Andy’s boy HR, Hayden Reinbold, now a USAC National Midget winner, makes his run in Friday’s final preliminary with his his best shot yet in the Expo.

Tuesday – #19R Ricky Thornton Jr.

Wednesday – #19T Mitchel Moles

Friday – #19A Hayden Reinbold

Tanner Thorson Racing

While they are not all officially under the Tanner Thorson Racing banner, Thorson and his guys have been responsible for building, maintaining, and wrenching on these four cars at their Broken Arrow shop. The 2022 Chili Bowl Nationals champion himself is eyeing another Thursday night preliminary win and a second Golden Driller for his mantle. He’ll also be helping Ace McCarthy on Friday, who has been so close so many times in Saturday’s B-Main to making his first Chili Bowl Championship A-Main start. Before all that, Thorson will be in the corner of Corbin Rueschenberg on Tuesday and Austin Torgerson on Wednesday.

Tuesday - #26 Corbin Rueschenberg

Wednesday - #88A Austin Torgerson

Thursday - #88 Tanner Thorson

Friday - #28 Ace McCarthy

You can see all these super teams and the other 350+ entries go to war next week over the course of five preliminary nights and one epic finale with the Golden Driller on the line at the 40th annual Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy.

The action begins in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Sunday with practice followed by the first preliminary on Monday, which includes the Race of Champions. You can watch every prelim night and Saturday’s alphabet soup live on FloRacing.