By T.J. Buffenbarger
(January 14, 2024) — After a standard night of twists and turns to kick off the 2025 Chili Bowl Nationals, the routine starts to settle in with our second preview of the week looking at Tuesday’s preliminary field.
Who I feel will be near or will lock into Saturday’s A-Main
Buddy Kofoid is coming off a successful trip to New Zealand for the Midget World Series that included victories at two different racetracks including the New Zealand Midget Championship at Western Springs Speedway. Kofoid has preliminary wins two of the past three years and has only finished off the podium on his preliminary night one time in 2024 with a 20th place finish.
Kofoid is not just one of my choices to not just lock into the Chili Bowl finale through his preliminary night, but it is my pick to win the event on Saturday. While Larson and Bell might be more popular picks among the masses, I feel there isn’t a driver with more momentum coming into Tulsa than Kofoid.
I’ve learned that it’s not wise to pick against Matt Seymour’s race team in just about any track of venue they decide to compete in. I feel Seymour’s team with Hank Davis behind the wheel will be one of the top contenders again to lock into Saturday’s Chili Bowl finale. David scored a fifth-place finish on his preliminary night in 2024, and I expect Davis with Seymour’s team to improve upon that finish this year.
Brad Sweet has not competed at the Chili Bowl since 2022 but has a stellar record on preliminary nights. Six out of the nine times Sweet has competed at Tulsa, he has finished in the top five on his preliminary night. Two of the night’s Sweet failed to do so netted a sixth-place finish. Paired again with RMS Racing, I expect Sweet to enjoy not having as much on his plate this week compared to his sprint car endeavors and will be near or around a lock in spot for Saturday.
Keep an eye on…
While a lot of the sprint car stars garner the most attention at Chili Bowl, drivers with extensive midget car racing experience always trend well at Tulsa.
Kaylee Bryson, Thomas Meseraull, and Zach Daum qualify in that category.
In 2021-23 Bryson has a pair of sixth place finishes to her credit and will be competing with one of the top teams in Abacus Racing. Meseraull has a pair of second place finishes during preliminary nights since 2020 but has not been in the top five since 2022. Daum’s another driver with extensive experience at Tulsa including a preliminary feature win. Even though he hasn’t seen the podium since 2022, Daum has made his preliminary feature at Tulsa every year since 2009.
The wild card among the people I’m keeping an eye on is Ricky Thornton Jr. Thornton has taken to Tulsa well with sixth and seventh place finishes on his preliminary nights the past two seasons. Thornton is in solid equipment with Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports. I’m just not quite sold on making him a favorite to lock in, but he’s trending towards that echelon
Other noteworthy entries include…
• Clinton Boyles, who will probably make me look bad for not putting him into the selection to keep an eye on. Boyles was fast at the Tulsa Shootout and makes the most of his opportunities to drive.
• Kevin Thomas Jr in an Alex Bowman Racing entry is intriguing. Thomas has shown speed at Tulsa at times with a second-place finish in 2022 on his preliminary night.
• “Money” Mat Williamson will have Super DIRTcar Series and Canadian fans following his progress. Williamson lives up to his nickname on the east coast as one of the standouts in the modifieds. Williamson has a prime opportunity driving for Keith Kunz Motorsports for his Chili Bowl debut.
• NASCAR standout Ty Gibbs makes his Chili Bowl debut.
• High Limit Sprint Car Series competition director Mike Hess returns to the drivers seat for his preliminary night.
Local interest to the Great Lakes Region audience
• Darin Naida returns to Dan Binks’ team after engine issues kept Binks cars away from Tulsa last year.
• Connor Morrell drives a car fielded by Jet Motorsports.
• Brandon Mattox will strap into a 4-Kings entry for Tuesday.
• Gunnar Setser in a family-owned entry with solid equipment.
• Mason Hannagan, son of sprint car standout Randy Hannagan, makes his Chili Bowl debut.
• Corey Smith from Kokomo, Indiana is the first of the Smith Brother duo to make his debut at Tulsa in tribute to their mother, who passed away last year.
• Ohio’s Kyle Simon.
• Indiana’s Jadon Rogers has been impressive and has good equipment lined up for the 2025 Chili Bowl.