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Image Credit: Michael Fry
Bryan Hulbert – TULSA, Okla. (January 15, 2025) The second first-time winner in as many nights at the 39th annual Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy Drink, Indiana’s Emerson Axsom grabbed the lead on Lap 4 and never gave it back en-route to victory during Wednesday’s York Plumbing Qualifying Night.
The 55th driver to win a Chili Bowl preliminary A-Feature, Axsom, in his fifth preliminary A-Feature start, was asked how it felt to win, “I’ve been trying a long time and took myself out of a lot of races here, but I knew our stuff was good enough if I just did my job.”
Landing car owner Keith Kunz his 37th career victory inside the SageNet Center during Chili Bowl competition, two attempts at the start saw Axsom chasing from the right of the front row as polesitter Daison Pursley paced the field. The CB Industries No. 86 around the bottom, the KKM/Curb-Agajanian No. 68k around the top, Axsom shot off the cushion, exiting the second turn to take the lead.
“Thankfully, it was a double-file restart because I fell back,” quipped Axsom of the initial start.
“It worked out that we were able to run the top in for a couple of laps and then get the restart where I could get a shot because I knew Daison [Pursley] was going to be good on the bottom. Their stuff has a lot of grip anywhere he goes so I worked on momentum to where when he did jump up, I could counter his move and throw a slider.”
Keeping pace through restarts with varying lines to fend off Pursley, the closing laps saw Daison mount a change, but not enough to get there as Axsom crossed with 0.343-seconds to spare. Daison Pursley in second was followed by eighth starting Corey Day. Fourth was Tim Buckwalter with Kale Drake moving ninth to fifth.
Wednesday’s York Plumbing Qualifying Night saw a field of 73 drivers on hand, bringing the running competing entry total to 213. The Flip Count worked its way to 32 with all drivers okay. Racing resumes Thursday, January 16, 2025, with Hasty-Bake Qualifying Night getting underway with Hot Laps at 4:00 P.M. followed by racing at 5:00 P.M. (CT).
The 39th annual Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy Drink takes place January 13-18, 2025, under the giant roof of the SageNet Center in Tulsa, Okla. Fans unable to attend the Chili Bowl Nationals can watch every lap live at http://www.floracing.com.
General Admission tickets are sold at the event and include access to the Pits. They are $60 per weekday and $75 on Saturday. The General Admission pass does not sell out.
For continued updates on the Chili Bowl Nationals, fans can follow along on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with @CBNationals. All official press, updates, and results on the Chili Bowl Nationals can be found online at http://www.chilibowl.com.
RACE RESULTS:
39th Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy Drink
Tulsa Expo Raceway (Tulsa, Okla.)
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
York Plumbing Qualifying Night
Car Count: 73
Event Count: 213
People of Oklahoma Oil & Natural Gas Heat Races (Top 40 in passing points advance to Qualifiers)
OERB Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Corey Day[2]; 2. 83-Will Armitage[5]; 3. 25K-Taylor Reimer[6]; 4. 91X-Danny Wood[7]; 5. 23T-Tristan Lee[1]; 6. 35-Tyler Robbins[3]; 7. 14G-Gordy Gundaker[4]; 8. 111-Keith Zimmerman[8]; 9. (DNS) 715-Robert Bell; 10. (DNS) 70-Cade Cowles
OERB Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 97K-Kale Drake[2]; 2. 3G-Kyle Cummins[6]; 3. 55A-Jake Swanson[5]; 4. 22X-Steven Shebester[4]; 5. 75A-Todd Hobson[8]; 6. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[9]; 7. 17D-Gunnar Pike[7]; 8. 80A-Steve Miller[1]; 9. (DNF) 57F-Blake Green[3]
OERB Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 3W-Brandon Waelti[3]; 2. 1-Sammy Swindell[6]; 3. 68K-Emerson Axsom[7]; 4. 7B-Garrett Benson[4]; 5. 7AU-Harry Stewart[5]; 6. 14L-Luke Drotschie[1]; 7. 75X-Leroy Boone[8]; 8. 32J-Jason Tessier[9]; 9. (DNF) 22J-Zach Hampton[2]
OERB Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 29-Tim Buckwalter[4]; 2. 3U-Rylan Gray[5]; 3. 77-Joe Wirth[1]; 4. 44B-Branigan Roark[7]; 5. 3J-JJ Yeley[6]; 6. 60-Landon Britt[9]; 7. 11-Lane Goodman[2]; 8. 4H-Steve Padgett[3]; 9. (DNF) 3N-Jake Neuman[8]
OERB Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 86-Daison Pursley[6]; 2. 8K-KJ Snow[4]; 3. 81C-Colten Cottle[2]; 4. 32C-Alex Bright[3]; 5. 96X-Logan Mitchell[1]; 6. 7J-Shawn Jackson[5]; 7. 26P-Preston Lattomus[7]; 8. 2F-Casey Friedrichsen[8]; 9. 21R-Myles Tomlinson[9]
OERB Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 4P-Kody Swanson[3]; 2. 40X-Steven Snyder Jr[4]; 3. 40-Max Adams[8]; 4. 2B-Tanner Berryhill[9]; 5. 22A-Lonnie Oliver[5]; 6. 21C-Colby Stubblefield[7]; 7. 42-Matt Carr[1]; 8. 60M-Earl McDoulett Jr[6]; 9. (DNF) 14T-Connor Speir[2]
OERB Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 27W-Colby Copeland[2]; 2. 4Y-Jett Yantis[7]; 3. 37-Ayden Gatewood[1]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn[9]; 5. 25B-Steve Buckwalter[6]; 6. 57H-Autumn Criste[3]; 7. 5Z-Oliver Billingsley[8]; 8. (DNF) 5M-Donnie Steward[4]; 9. (DNF) 77K-Kevin Cook[5]
OERB Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 19T-Mitchel Moles[4]; 2. 4D-Dustin Smith[2]; 3. 4B-Chelby Hinton[3]; 4. 16C-David Camfield Jr[7]; 5. 10J-Gage Rucker[1]; 6. 46X-Joe Kata[6]; 7. 20C-CJ Sarna[5]; 8. 77B-Bret Klabunde[9]; 9. 251-Johnny Brown Jr[8]
Toyota Racing Development Qualifiers (Top 16 in combined Heat/Qualifier passing points advance to the A-Feature)
TRD Qualifier 1 (10 Laps): 1. 55A-Jake Swanson[1]; 2. 41-Corey Day[3]; 3. 86-Daison Pursley[6]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn[2]; 5. 3G-Kyle Cummins[5]; 6. 25B-Steve Buckwalter[10]; 7. 4P-Kody Swanson[4]; 8. 22X-Steven Shebester[9]; 9. 77-Joe Wirth[8]; 10. 4D-Dustin Smith[7]
TRD Qualifier 2 (10 Laps): 1. 8K-KJ Snow[2]; 2. 97K-Kale Drake[3]; 3. 91X-Danny Wood[1]; 4. 4Y-Jett Yantis[6]; 5. 1-Sammy Swindell[5]; 6. 7AU-Harry Stewart[10]; 7. 83-Will Armitage[4]; 8. 7B-Garrett Benson[9]; 9. 37-Ayden Gatewood[8]; 10. (DNF) 75A-Todd Hobson[7]
TRD Qualifier 3 (10 Laps): 1. 40X-Steven Snyder Jr[2]; 2. 27W-Colby Copeland[3]; 3. 29-Tim Buckwalter[6]; 4. 32C-Alex Bright[9]; 5. 4B-Chelby Hinton[7]; 6. 3U-Rylan Gray[4]; 7. 40-Max Adams[5]; 8. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[8]; 9. 44B-Branigan Roark[1]; 10. 22A-Lonnie Oliver[10]
TRD Qualifier 4 (10 Laps): 1. 68K-Emerson Axsom[4]; 2. 25K-Taylor Reimer[2]; 3. 19T-Mitchel Moles[6]; 4. 3J-JJ Yeley[9]; 5. 16C-David Camfield Jr[1]; 6. 81C-Colten Cottle[7]; 7. 3W-Brandon Waelti[5]; 8. 2B-Tanner Berryhill[3]; 9. 60-Landon Britt[8]; 10. (DNF) 21C-Colby Stubblefield[10]
Creek County Speedway C-Features (Top 4 advance to the B-Feature)
C Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 26P-Preston Lattomus[6]; 2. 7J-Shawn Jackson[3]; 3. 10J-Gage Rucker[2]; 4. 11-Lane Goodman[10]; 5. 20C-CJ Sarna[8]; 6. 23T-Tristan Lee[1]; 7. 57H-Autumn Criste[5]; 8. 111-Keith Zimmerman[9]; 9. 80A-Steve Miller[14]; 10. 32J-Jason Tessier[7]; 11. 5Z-Oliver Billingsley[4]; 12. (DNF) 60M-Earl McDoulett Jr[11]; 13. (DNF) 14T-Connor Speir[16]; 14. (DNF) 21R-Myles Tomlinson[12]; 15. (DNF) 715-Robert Bell[15]; 16. (DNF) 3N-Jake Neuman[13]; 17. (DNS) 57F-Blake Green
C Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 96X-Logan Mitchell[1]; 2. 14L-Luke Drotschie[6]; 3. 46X-Joe Kata[2]; 4. 2F-Casey Friedrichsen[9]; 5. 35-Tyler Robbins[4]; 6. 42-Matt Carr[10]; 7. 251-Johnny Brown Jr[11]; 8. 22J-Zach Hampton[13]; 9. 17D-Gunnar Pike[5]; 10. 77B-Bret Klabunde[7]; 11. 77K-Kevin Cook[14]; 12. 75X-Leroy Boone[3]; 13. (DNF) 14G-Gordy Gundaker[8]; 14. (DNF) 4H-Steve Padgett[12]; 15. (DNS) 5M-Donnie Steward; 16. (DNS) 70-Cade Cowles
Ferguson Supply B-Features (Top 4 advance to the A-Feature)
Ferguson Supply B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 3U-Rylan Gray[2]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn[1]; 3. 4P-Kody Swanson[4]; 4. 7AU-Harry Stewart[6]; 5. 2B-Tanner Berryhill[7]; 6. 83-Will Armitage[5]; 7. 7B-Garrett Benson[8]; 8. 40-Max Adams[3]; 9. 4D-Dustin Smith[10]; 10. 11-Lane Goodman[16]; 11. 44B-Branigan Roark[9]; 12. 60-Landon Britt[11]; 13. 10J-Gage Rucker[15]; 14. 7J-Shawn Jackson[14]; 15. 22A-Lonnie Oliver[12]; 16. (DNF) 26P-Preston Lattomus[13]
Ferguson Enterprises B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 4B-Chelby Hinton[2]; 2. 91X-Danny Wood[1]; 3. 16C-David Camfield Jr[5]; 4. 22X-Steven Shebester[7]; 5. 3W-Brandon Waelti[3]; 6. 77-Joe Wirth[9]; 7. 25B-Steve Buckwalter[4]; 8. 96X-Logan Mitchell[11]; 9. 21C-Colby Stubblefield[10]; 10. 37-Ayden Gatewood[8]; 11. 46X-Joe Kata[13]; 12. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[6]; 13. 14L-Luke Drotschie[12]; 14. (DNF) 2F-Casey Friedrichsen[14]; 15. (DNS) 75A-Todd Hobson; 16. (DNS) 81C-Colten Cottle
York Plumbing A-Feature (Top 2 lock into Saturday’s A-Main)
York Plumbing A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 68K-Emerson Axsom[2]; 2. 86-Daison Pursley[1]; 3. 41-Corey Day[8]; 4. 29-Tim Buckwalter[3]; 5. 97K-Kale Drake[9]; 6. 52-Blake Hahn[19]; 7. 19T-Mitchel Moles[4]; 8. 4Y-Jett Yantis[7]; 9. 3G-Kyle Cummins[13]; 10. 55A-Jake Swanson[11]; 11. 40X-Steven Snyder Jr[6]; 12. 3J-JJ Yeley[16]; 13. 27W-Colby Copeland[10]; 14. 3U-Rylan Gray[17]; 15. 7AU-Harry Stewart[21]; 16. 32C-Alex Bright[15]; 17. 1-Sammy Swindell[14]; 18. 91X-Danny Wood[20]; 19. 16C-David Camfield Jr[22]; 20. (DNF) 22X-Steven Shebester[23]; 21. (DNF) 25K-Taylor Reimer[12]; 22. (DNF) 4B-Chelby Hinton[18]; 23. (DNF) 8K-KJ Snow[5]; 24. (DNS) 4P-Kody Swanson
Lap Leader(s): Daison Pursley 1-3; Emerson Axsom 4-30
Hard Charger: Blake Hahn +13
