We’ve reached the middle of the road this week as Wednesday presents the third of six-straight days of racing at the 40th annual Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy, and it’s arguably the deepest of the five prelims we have in Tulsa.

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Wednesday night’s roster tentatively boasts 79 entries on the ChiliBowl.com website with all eyes on those crucial two lock-in spots available into Saturday’s 55-lap Championship A-Main. All week long, we’ll take you through some of the stars to keep your eye on as you watch on FloRacing - the official live streaming partner of the event. Coverage begins at 3pm CT with the Chili’s Grill & Bar Pre-Race Show, followed by Dirt Draft Hot Laps at 4pm CT.

After almost a decade-plus of tonight being headlined by Rico Abreu, the next generation has stepped up and a trio of bright young stars are carrying the torch into the future. By bright young stars, we mean three “kids” are 20-21-21 and all have Tulsa Shootout Golden Drillers to go with Chili Bowl success and budding careers outside the building.

Daison Pursley, a 21-year-old native of Locust Grove, Oklahoma, was one singular moment away from stealing the Chili Bowl Nationals title right from Kyle Larson last year. Driving for Chad Boat this week, he returns to the Expo fresh off his first-career Tulsa Shootout title in Winged Outlaw. The former USAC National Midget champion is two weeks into what could be the biggest year of his career as he prepares to drive the Kasey Kahne Racing w/ Mike Curb #9 on the High Limit Racing tour. He hopes to add his first-career preliminary victory this week and follow the footsteps of Blake Hahn as an Okie who won it on Tuesday.

Emerson Axsom, a 21-year-old native of Franklin, Indiana, has transformed into arguably the best Tulsa Shootout racer this decade - which you know takes place on the same dirt in the same building two weeks prior. He’s amassed more Shootout A-Main starts than years on this earth and of those 23 starts, he’s taken FOUR Golden Drillers back to “The Hoosier State.” When it comes to the Chili Bowl, success has translated to midgets in the Expo with a preliminary win last year and top-five finish in the Championship A-Main before that. He’s more than thrilled with his move to drive the Swindell/Harvey/Curb #39A, especially after watching his teammate and rookie contender Jett Barnes drive to finish third last night.

Corey Day,  a 20-year-old native of Clovis, California, has been heralded by Kyle Larson as one of the future greats. He’s set to join Hendrick Motorsports this year in pursuit of the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship, but first he’s trying to strike gold with Willie Kahne. Together, they’ve already topped a Wednesday preliminary A-Main in 2024 and then finished on the podium of Saturday’s Championship A-Main that year. In his early teenage years, Corey was a Tulsa Shootout Restricted champion, but it’s the Chili Bowl Golden Driller that he wants most.

Another racer  in the field tonight that might be worth watching is a young man by the name of Sammy Swindell. The five-time Chili Bowl champion has a laundry list of Tulsa Expo records and one of them is qualifying for 30 preliminary A-Mains, a number he hopes to push to 31 tonight in his iconic #1 machine.

Beyond those three stars leading the next generation and the GOAT, Wednesday’s prelim features the most Championship A-Main starters (16) of any prelim this week. So, the list of contenders tonight runs far beyond them. Look at these other aces that are set to run this evening…

Thomas Meseraull (10 A-Mains) hopes to put Tim Engler in the finale for the first time

Colby Copeland (6 A-Mains) is the man for Matt Wood Racing after top-5s for Golobic/Brooks

Steve Buckwalter (5 A-Mains) is trying to get back into his first big dance since 2011

Tim Buckwalter (3 A-Mains) follows locked-in Matt Seymour teammate, Hank Davis

Kevin Thomas Jr. (3 A-Mains) appears in the Expo with 4-Kings Racing now

Alex Bright (3 A-Mains) is the focus for Mike & Brian Dunlap this evening

Jake Swanson (2 A-Mains) has moved over to Beilman Motorsports

Kale Drake (2 A-Mains) hopes to keep his 100% A-Main rate alive, now at RMS Racing

Jake Neuman (2 A-Mains) wheels it for Pat O’Dell

Mitchel Moles (1 A-Main) is again paired with Reinbold/Underwood

Tom Harris (1 A-Main) drives for Grady Chandler with the pride of the UK at his back

Arizonan RJ Johnson runs for Rossi/Petty after a J.J. Yeley top-10 last night

Former Shootout champ Jeffrey Newell runs his prelim in the Dave Mac camp

Sudden substitute driver Aidan Price gets a big chance with Keith Kunz

Austin Torgerson runs with Tanner Thorson in his corner and working on the car

The Six8 piece awaits TJ Smith, another former Shootout champ

KJ Snow has Jonathan Beason helping him after a healthy serving of soup last night

That’s only a sliver of the excitement in store tonight with almost 80 entries expected for the first of five prelims. The full tentative entry list for tonight can be found below.

A group of 15 rookies are tentatively scheduled to run in Wednesday’s prelim with notables including Florida native Colton Robinson in a Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports and a familiar sprint car competitor in Kaleb Johnson with SpeedQuip. After two nights, 14-year-old Jett Barnes has emerged as the clear favorite for Rookie of the Year honors thanks to a third-place finish on Tuesday in the Swindell/Curb/Bertrand #1A - good enough to send him to the front of Saturday’s B-Main. From Monday, Jakeb Boxell and Gaige Weldon secured C-Main trips.

All of the Chili Bowl fun begins today with Wednesday Heat Races beginning at 4pm CT. If you can’t be here to witness the Tulsa magic yourself, you can watch every lap live all week long on FloRacing with coverage set to begin at 3pm CT during the all-new Chili’s Grill & Bar Pre-Race Show.

FloRacing is the official live streaming partner of the Chili Bowl Nationals, which continues all the way through Saturday, January 17. If you’re not a FloRacing subscriber, become one today to gain full access to the Tulsa Shootout, Chili Bowl Nationals, High Limit Racing, Lucas Oil Late Model Series, USAC Racing, and so much more.

2026 Chili Bowl Nationals Wednesday Entry List

00H – John Heitzman 

1 – Sammy Swindell

1R – R.J. Johnson

1X - Jake Scott

2F – Casey Friedrichsen 

2T (R) – Eli Geidel

3N – Jake Neuman 

3W – Brandon Waelti  

4A (R) – Kermit Burnam Jr  

4B – Chelby Hinton 

4KD – Kale Drake 

4X – TBA (TBA)  

05 – Alex Midkiff 

5A (R) – Austin Hawkins 

5X – Jacob Dykstra 

7AU – Harry Stewart 

7C - Stuart Snyder

7K - Whit Gastineau

7P – Cap Henry 

7RM (R) – Ryan Marshall   

7X – Thomas Meseraull  

08 – Jeffrey Newell 

8K – KJ Snow 

10D - Miles Doherty

12C – Colby Stubblefield

14K – Kevin Thomas Jr   

16C – David Camfield Jr 

17G - Gage Rucker

18C - Sean Cleavland

19F - Chad Davis

19K - Riley Kreisel

19M – Isaiah Vasquez

19T – Mitchell Moles 

21AU – Kaidon Brown 

22X – Steven Shebester 

25B – Steve Buckwalter  

27R – TBA

27W – Colby Copeland 

29 – Tim Buckwalter 

29R (R) – Ritchie Burcik 

31B – Jake Swanson  

32J – Jason Tessier 

32W – Alex Bright  

32X (R) – Jordan Hermansader 

33W - Reese Womack

35 – Tyler Robbins 

39A – Emerson Axsom  

40S – Jace Sparks 

41 – Corey Day 

42 – Matt Carr 

42K – Kevin Battefeld 

44R – Branigan Roark 

45B – Bradley Cox 

45S – Caleb Stelzig 

51T – Cole Tinsley 

60C – TBA  

67K (R) – Colton Robinson 

68T – TJ Smith 

70 – Cade Cowles 

71CR – Gunnar Pike 

71X - Aiden Price

71.5 – Robert Bell 

75A – Will Armitage 

75H (R) – Hunter Wilson 

75X (R) – Kaleb Johnson 

76 (R) – Chris Murray 

77B – Bret Klabunde

77K – Kevin Cook 

78 – Brody Wake 

80D (R) – Heath Nestrick

80M – Steve Miller 

84UK – Tom Harris 

86 – Daison Pursley 

88A – Austin Torgerson 

91J - Jimmy Sivia

91X – Danny Wood 

111 – TBA

121 (R) – Cord Kisthardt  

251 – Johnny Brown