5 Things You Need to Know Before Chili Bowl Saturday

From Autoweek

The Chili Bowl Midget Nationals is dirt racing’s version of the WWE Royal Rumble.

In the Rumble, 30 professional wrestlers periodically enter the ring over the course of an hour, with eliminations taking place as a result of one participant sending another over the top rope.

In the Chili Bowl, instead of 30 participants, there's more than 350, and eliminations occur when competitors fail to finish brief sprint races within the highest percentage of the field.

The first main elimination race, typically lettered 'N' or 'O' starts at 10:30 in the morning, Eastern Time, and races continue in reverse alphabetical order throughout the day.

O1
O2
N1
N2
M1
M2
L1
L2 ...

You get the picture.

How far a driver has to come back through the "Chili Bowl Alphabet Soup" has been determined throughout the week during a series of qualifying preliminary nights. The top two finishers from each night’s main event automatically earn a berth in Saturday night’s main event.

Those 10 drivers have also been entered into "pole shuffle": a series of four four-car races that will determine both the pole-sitter and the starting lineup for the $10,000-to-win main event.

The entire process features an eclectic collection of superstar drivers from every major North American motorsport discipline including USAC, the World of Outlaws, NASCAR and IndyCar. There are even a handful of amateurs who will have rented a cheap Midget for a couple grand just to say they were a part of one of the most prestigious motorsport events in the world.

All told, Saturday at the Tulsa Expo Center Raceway in Oklahoma is one of the most exciting and star-studded events in motorsports. The amount of talent entered into this race is as diverse and impressive as next week’s Rolex 24.

Representing NASCAR are Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Ricky Stenhouse, Alex Bowman, Justin Allgaier and Chase Briscoe. From IndyCar come Conor Daly, Santino Ferrucci and James Davison. World of Outlaw champions Donny Schatz, Brad Sweet and Daryn Pittman are in the field. The race is represented by virtually every USAC living legend and championship mainstay.

The racing is close, and the Golden Driller trophy has become one of the most sought-after prizes in any racing category.

Five things you need to know before tuning-into the action on Saturday can be found below.

1. KYLE LARSON AND CHRISTOPHER BELL VS THE WORLD

The Golden Driller runs through Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell.

Combined, the two friends have won the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals for each of the past four years and look every bit capable of extending that streak on Saturday night. Larson and Bell each won their preliminary features on Wednesday and Thursday with Bell also winning the Invitational Race of Champions on Tuesday.

Bell was poised to win four straight last year before he lost the track and the lead to Larson with 11 laps to go.

He didn’t match Kevin Swindell’s record four-consecutive wins, but he had the car under him, and believes he has the same type of car this year too.

"It feels really good, and I felt the same way last year until the track got really curbed up in the 55-lapper," Bell said. "I like what we got. It's been really fast every time we've hit the track and we should be really good."

Bell is just able to drive his car wherever it needs to go, which combined with his instincts, makes him the undeniable favorite to win four out of five and find himself one short of the overall record held by Sammy Swindell.

The other preliminary lock-ins are stout, too.

Cannon McIntosh emerged on the national stage last year when he finished third after winning his Monday preliminary. He won a second Monday preliminary this year and was able to hang with Bell in the Race of Champions.

Having arrived in Tulsa with a coil-bound setup, Thomas Meseraull feels extremely confident after finishing second to McIntosh in the Monday preliminary.

"I think we can (be that team) because there are only a handful of guys that are here on coils," Meseraull said. "We had a really good package last year. I started 10th and was up to 6th, got into some racing deals and got turned over, but that's whatever.

"We came back with coils because we knew there would only be five or six cars here on coils. So, if we strike gold, and I’m gambling … we’re going to strike gold big."

Tanner Thorson is also on a coil-bound set-up and showed speed, overcoming adversity during his Friday preliminary by driving from his C to the A feature, and starting fourth in Saturday B Main 1.

Justin Grant was great in lapped traffic on Friday night, while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. drove from the C to the A alongside Thorson and Tucker Klaasmeyer.

Before Bell and Larson rolled off four in a row, Rico Abreu won two consecutive, and Bell believes he will be back in the mix, too.

"Rico looked fantastic and Cannon is really good here, second in the race of champions," Bell said. "This is always a fantastic race. One thing for sure, Larson will be up there and there’s going to be a handful of others.

"We’re going to be in for a treat on Saturday night."

2. MAKING THE ‘A’ THE HARD WAY

Unlike in 2019, when a series of unfortunate events forced USAC legend and NASCAR mainstay JJ Yeley to start the very first race and begin methodically working his way through the alphabet soup, there are no surprises early this Saturday morning.

That’s fortunate for this year’s contenders, because it’s virtually impossible to start at an O-Main and work your way up from the back in every single race.

Well, maybe, with one exception, according to Chase Briscoe.

"I don't think anyone will ever do it, maybe Bell could because he's that good," Briscoe said. "But you need to catch the cautions at the right time. It's not even a matter of speed, oftentimes. You're starting at the back, and when you advance, you just turn right back around and go down the ramp.