TULSA, OK (January 11, 2024) – Spencer Bayston won Thursday night’s preliminary feature during the Victory Fuel Qualifying night at the 2024 Chili Bowl Nationals at the Tulsa Expo Raceway.
Bayston, from Lebanon, Indiana, rebounded from a practice flip on Bayston went from 9th to first in his heat race, setting up a sixth to third run in the qualifier, earning the pole position and was never seriously challenged during the 30-lap affair on a track that produced a tricky cushion on the top of the racing surface that caused several contenders to stumble, locking his RMS Racing entry into the finale.
“That was really, really technical there,” said Bayston of running the top during the feature. “The bottom was starting to burn up. I could feel myself slowing down but I could see people running up there on the screen. I couldn’t really find anyone that was really running the top and I couldn’t find who was behind me. It would have been Tanner (Thorson), it was so ledgey, but I just kind of had to commit.”
Thorson moved up from fourth to claim the second and finale spot to lock into Saturday’s Chili Bowl A-Main. Chase Johnson, C.J. Leary, and Brady Bacon rounded out the top five.
NASCAR star and former Chili Bowl Nationals champion Kyle Larson had a rough night after his late minute decision to drive a Keith Kunz Racing entry Thursday at the Chili Bowl Nationals. Larson got caught up in an accident during his heat race and had to run up through the C and B-Mains to make the feature. Larson then ended up flipping on the front stretch in the feature, ending his run.
Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy Drink
Victory Fuel Qualifying Night
Tulsa Expo Raceway
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Wednesday, January 10, 2024
OERB Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 47-Brad Mosen[2]
2. 31B-Chase Johnson[7]
3. 2D-Matt Sherrell[5]
4. 57A-Daniel Robinson[9]
5. 3-Cole Schroeder[10]
6. 3J-Parker Jones[8]
7. 73T-Tom Dunkel[3]
8. 8M-Kade Morton[6]
9. 22-Sean McClelland[4]
10. 70K-Tim Kent[1]
OERB Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 9U-Kyle Spence[1]
2. 73C-Eddie Tafoya Jr[2]
3. 2E-Whit Gastineau[3]
4. 71G-Taylor Ferns[5]
5. 24S-Rodney Westhafer[8]
6. 91-Jeff Stasa[7]
7. 9X-Zac Millikin[4]
8. 97K-Tom Harris[6]
DNS: 98B-Joe Boyles
OERB Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 1S-Spencer Bayston[9]
2. 51X-Joe Walker[1]
3. 77-Joey Wirth[2]
4. 08M-Dylan Menz[7]
5. 27J-Frank Beck III[5]
6. 26J-Jacob Harris[8]
7. 31D-Miles Doherty[3]
8. 10C-Dalton Camfield[4]
9. 22C-Corey Brink[6]
OERB Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 55V-CJ Leary[1]
2. 14T-Caden Sarale[4]
3. 19M-Ethan Mitchell[8]
4. 29-Tim Buckwalter[7]
5. 98K-Kyle Larson[5]
6. 32-Casey Shuman[6]
7. 45T-Christopher Townsend[9]
8. 03-Shayle Bade[3]
9. 28J-Joe Perry[2]
OERB Heat Race #5 (8 Laps)
1. 5G-Gavan Boschele[3]
2. 87W-Ryan Bernal[9]
3. 46-Kenney Johnson[6]
4. 6K-Austin Nigh[2]
5. 22S-AJ Johnson[8]
6. 17J-Ryan Bickett[4]
7. 09-Scott Lawrence[7]
8. 29K-Brian Harvey[5]
9. 20H-Noah Harris[1]
OERB Heat Race #6 (8 Laps)
1. 19R-Ricky Thornton Jr[5]
2. 84-Jesse Love[3]
3. 14A-Cameron Hagin[1]
4. 14F-Jeffrey Newell[4]
5. 98P-Ryan Padgett[7]
6. 54C-Chance Hull[9]
7. 7B-Cody Beard[2]
8. 15-JJ Yeley[6]
9. 35S-Isaiah Vasquez[8]
OERB Heat Race #7 (8 Laps)
1. 88-Tanner Thorson[2]
2. 5CB-Karter Sarff[3]
3. 00-Ryder Laplante[1]
4. 10J-Lane Goodman[5]
5. 54-Matt Westfall[6]
6. 17D-Cody Trammell[8]
7. 40-Max Adams[9]
8. 2Z-Zach Blurton[7]
9. 2R-Matt Rossi[4]
OERB Heat Race #8 (8 Laps)
1. 15D-Andrew Deal[3]
2. 02-Ashton Torgerson[2]
3. 21H-Brady Bacon[8]
4. 55F-Johnny Kent[4]
5. 7C-Landon Crawley[7]
6. 80H-Josh Hanna[5]
7. 17B-Josh Baughman[6]
8. 7JR-JD Black[1]
DNS: 11C-Mike Woodruff
Team Toyota Qualifier #1 (10 Laps)
1. 5CB-Karter Sarff[2]
2. 29-Tim Buckwalter[1]
3. 1S-Spencer Bayston[6]
4. 19M-Ethan Mitchell[5]
5. 46-Kenney Johnson[3]
6. 55F-Johnny Kent[10]
7. 47-Brad Mosen[4]
8. 98P-Ryan Padgett[9]
9. 71G-Taylor Ferns[8]
10. 24S-Rodney Westhafer[7]
Team Toyota Qualifier #2 (10 Laps)
1. 88-Tanner Thorson[4]
2. 21H-Brady Bacon[5]
3. 73C-Eddie Tafoya Jr[1]
4. 9U-Kyle Spence[3]
5. 87W-Ryan Bernal[6]
6. 54-Matt Westfall[10]
7. 7C-Landon Crawley[9]
8. 3-Cole Schroeder[2]
9. 22S-AJ Johnson[7]
10. 10J-Lane Goodman[8]
Team Toyota Qualifier #3 (10 Laps)
1. 55V-CJ Leary[3]
2. 02-Ashton Torgerson[1]
3. 19R-Ricky Thornton Jr[6]
4. 2D-Matt Sherrell[2]
5. 5G-Gavan Boschele[5]
6. 57A-Daniel Robinson[4]
7. 2E-Whit Gastineau[7]
8. 14A-Cameron Hagin[8]
9. 6K-Austin Nigh[9]
DNS: 54C-Chance Hull
Team Toyota Qualifier #4 (10 Laps)
1. 14T-Caden Sarale[4]
2. 31B-Chase Johnson[6]
3. 3J-Parker Jones[10]
4. 14F-Jeffrey Newell[9]
5. 15D-Andrew Deal[5]
6. 00-Ryder Laplante[8]
7. 51X-Joe Walker[1]
8. 77-Joey Wirth[7]
9. 08M-Dylan Menz[2]
10. 84-Jesse Love[3]
Smileys Racing Products C-Main #1 (12 Laps)
1. 40-Max Adams[4]
2. 91-Jeff Stasa[3]
3. 97K-Tom Harris[10]
4. 27J-Frank Beck III[2]
5. 22-Sean McClelland[14]
6. 80H-Josh Hanna[5]
7. 26J-Jacob Harris[1]
8. 03-Shayle Bade[12]
9. 2Z-Zach Blurton[9]
10. 31D-Miles Doherty[8]
11. 29K-Brian Harvey[11]
12. 09-Scott Lawrence[6]
13. 70K-Tim Kent[15]
14. 28J-Joe Perry[13]
15. 9X-Zac Millikin[7]
DNS: 7JR-JD Black
DNS: 98B-Joe Boyles
Smileys Racing Products C-Main #2 (12 Laps)
1. 98K-Kyle Larson[2]
2. 32-Casey Shuman[3]
3. 17D-Cody Trammell[1]
4. 15-JJ Yeley[9]
5. 17J-Ryan Bickett[4]
6. 17B-Josh Baughman[5]
7. 20H-Noah Harris[13]
8. 73T-Tom Dunkel[6]
9. 10C-Dalton Camfield[10]
10. 7B-Cody Beard[7]
11. 2R-Matt Rossi[12]
12. 8M-Kade Morton[8]
13. 35S-Isaiah Vasquez[11]
14. 11C-Mike Woodruff[14]
DNS: 45T-Christopher Townsend
DNS: 22C-Corey Brink
The Enjoy Illinois 300 NASCAR Cup Series Race at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday, June 2 B-Main #1 (15 Laps)
1. 9U-Kyle Spence[1]
2. 2D-Matt Sherrell[2]
3. 54-Matt Westfall[4]
4. 10J-Lane Goodman[12]
5. 00-Ryder Laplante[5]
6. 40-Max Adams[13]
7. 3-Cole Schroeder[7]
8. 14A-Cameron Hagin[8]
9. 97K-Tom Harris[15]
10. 71G-Taylor Ferns[10]
11. 2E-Whit Gastineau[6]
12. 6K-Austin Nigh[11]
13. 27J-Frank Beck III[16]
14. 91-Jeff Stasa[14]
15. 57A-Daniel Robinson[3]
16. 22S-AJ Johnson[9]
The Enjoy Illinois 300 NASCAR Cup Series Race at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday, June 2 B-Main #2 (15 Laps)
1. 73C-Eddie Tafoya Jr[1]
2. 98K-Kyle Larson[11]
3. 46-Kenney Johnson[2]
4. 7C-Landon Crawley[5]
5. 84-Jesse Love[10]
6. 98P-Ryan Padgett[7]
7. 55F-Johnny Kent[3]
8. 32-Casey Shuman[14]
9. 15-JJ Yeley[15]
10. 54C-Chance Hull[12]
11. 17D-Cody Trammell[13]
12. 24S-Rodney Westhafer[9]
13. 47-Brad Mosen[4]
14. 51X-Joe Walker[6]
15. 77-Joey Wirth[8]
16. 08M-Dylan Menz[16]
Victory Fuel A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 1S-Spencer Bayston[1]
2. 88-Tanner Thorson[4]
3. 31B-Chase Johnson[2]
4. 55V-CJ Leary[7]
5. 21H-Brady Bacon[5]
6. 29-Tim Buckwalter[12]
7. 19R-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]
8. 5CB-Karter Sarff[9]
9. 87W-Ryan Bernal[8]
10. 3J-Parker Jones[11]
11. 02-Ashton Torgerson[13]
12. 54-Matt Westfall[21]
13. 2D-Matt Sherrell[19]
14. 9U-Kyle Spence[17]
15. 5G-Gavan Boschele[15]
16. 14T-Caden Sarale[6]
17. 14F-Jeffrey Newell[14]
18. 10J-Lane Goodman[23]
19. 19M-Ethan Mitchell[10]
20. 7C-Landon Crawley[24]
21. 15D-Andrew Deal[16]
22. 73C-Eddie Tafoya Jr[18]
23. 46-Kenney Johnson[22]
24. 98K-Kyle Larson[20]
Lap Leader: Spencer Bayston 1-30
Hard Charger: Matt Westfall +10