From inside the building, all week long it has been Wednesday night which has been talked about as the deepest and arguably toughest preliminary of the week at the 39th annual Chili Bowl Nationals. Tonight in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Wednesday finally takes center stage. 

At the moment, 77 entries are currently scheduled for Wednesday’s middle-of-the-week program with another eight or nine Heat Races planned, the potential for a D-Main(s), two C-Mains, four Qualifiers, two B-Mains, and a 30-lap preliminary A-Main on the slate. Once again, only two lock-in positions are available into Saturday’s Championship A-Main. 

• 2025 Chili Bowl Nationals Tuesday Results
• 2025 Chili Bowl Live Streaming Schedule
• Subscribe To FloRacing To Watch Chili Bowl Nationals 2025

Last year, Wednesday supplied more Championship A-Main starters than any other night - sending seven of their stars to the big dance, and looking at the lineup, they could likely be the leading preliminary once more.

Defending Wednesday winner Corey Day is back in the building with a fresh Hendrick Motorsports contract in his pocket and Willie Kahne’s lethal 20-year-old Bob Wirth Mopar engine under his hood. The 19-year-old sensation, who ran 3rd in the finale last year, is trying to join Rico Abreu and Sammy Swindell as the only back-to-back winners in the 24-year history of Wednesday’s prelim at Chili Bowl.

Colby Copeland has the weight of Matt Wood Racing riding on his shoulders as the team hopes to make it three locked-in drivers through three nights following Shane Golobic’s P2 on Monday and Landon Brooks’ first-ever Expo victory on Tuesday. Across the aisle is Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports amid their busiest night of the week with four 16 entries competing on Wednesday including Emerson Axsom, Kale Drake, Taylor Reimer, and Alex Yankowski.

For Alex Bowman Racing, it’s already been one of those weeks and it’s only Wednesday morning. The ABR boys have been some of the fastest cars in the building but between Briggs Danner’s huge crashout while sliding for the lead on Monday and then Kevin Thomas Jr. spinning to a stop from P3 on Tuesday’s opening lap, they’ve certainly gone through it. They look to right the ship tonight as Jake Swanson is the focus in those Ally Racing rides.

At Chad Boat’s CB Industries camp, Daison Pursley hopes to finally avoid the daunted alphabet soup on Saturday. In the last two years, his preliminary performance has plagued him come #DrillerDay but the Okie has made soup runs from C-B-A in 2023 and then an epic D-C-B-A bid to fourth-place in 2024. Tonight, he’s looking for his first-ever lock-in performance instead.

Many other notable team representatives tonight include Steven Snyder Jr. from Chase McDermand Racing, Alex Bright from Mike & Brian Dunlap’s team, Mitchel Moles with Reinbold/Underwood Motorsports, Jake Neuman driving for Pat O’Dell, and Tim Buckwalter in a Matt Seymour Racing car, among others.

The list doesn’t end there, more Championship A-Main starters including J.J. Yeley, Kyle Cummins, Blake Hahn, Steve Buckwalter, and Colten Cottle are also included in the field this evening. Oh, and there’s also some GOAT named Sammy Swindell who makes his run tonight in the iconic #1.

Of the 20 rookies competing tonight, we have notable young guns such as California’s Jett Yantis, Missouri’s Garrett Benson, and Late Model fan favorite Gordy Gundaker. At the moment, Indiana’s Gunnar Setser is leading the Rookie of the Year charge after two of five preliminary nights thanks to his P5 run on Tuesday, which has him slated for the B-Main on Saturday.

All of the Chili Bowl fun continues today with Tuesday 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.

FloRacing is the official live streaming partner of the Chili Bowl Nationals, which continues all the way through Saturday, January 18. If you’re not a FloRacing subscriber, click here to become one today. 

2025 Chili Bowl Wednesday Lineup

1 Sammy Swindell (Germantown, TN)

1NP DRIVER TBA

2B Tanner Berryhill (Bixby, OK)

2F Casey Friedrichsen (Arthur, IA)

3G Kyle Cummins (Princeton, IN)

3J J.J. Yeley (Phoenix, AZ)

3N Jake Neuman (New Berlin, IL)

3U Rylan Gray (Greenfield, IN)

3W Brandon Waelti (Sun Prairie, WI)

4B Chelby Hinton (Dubberly, LA)

4D Dustin Smith (Ossian, IN)

4H Steven Padgett (Madisonville, TX)

4P Kody Swanson (Kingsburg, CA)

4Y Jett Yantis (Bakersfield, CA)

5M Donnie Steward (West Burlington, IA)

5Z (R) Oliver Billingsley (Manchaca, TX)

7AU Harry Stewart (Gold Coast, QLD)

7B Garrett Benson (Concordia, MO)

7JR Shawn Jackson (Bear, DE)

8K K.J. Snow (Kingsburg, CA)

8M Kade Morton (Coweta, OK)\

10J Gage Rucker (Truxton, MO)

11 Lane Goodman (Tulsa, OK)

12K Kyle Sheard (Centerville, IN)

14G Gordy Gundaker (St. Charles, MO)

14L (R) Luke Drotschie (Capetown, GT, South Africa)

14T Connor Speir (Fillmore, CA)

16C David Camfield, Jr. (Decatur, IL)

17D (R) Gunnar Pike (South Bend, NE)

19T Mitchel Moles (Raisin City, CA)

20C C.J. Sarna (Brea, CA)

21C Colby Stubblefield (Seagoville, TX)

21K Austin Nigh (Greenfield, IN)

21R Myles Tomlinson (Turtle Lake, ND)

22A Lonnie Oliver (Anthem, AZ)

22J Zach Hampton (Mooresville, IN)

22X Steven Shebester (Mustang, OK)

23T Tristan Lee (Biloxi, MS)

25B Steve Buckwalter (Royersford, PA)

25K Taylor Reimer (Tulsa, OK)

26P Preston Lattomus (Lewes, DE)

27W Colby Copeland (Roseville, CA)

29 Tim Buckwalter (Douglasville, PA)

32C Alex Bright (Collegeville, PA)

32J Jason Tessier (Broken Arrow, OK)

32 Tyler Robbins (Collinsville, IL)

37 Ayden Gatewood (Caruthersville, MO)

39T Troy DeGaton (Congress, AZ)

40 Max Adams (Marion, IN)

40X Steven Snyder, Jr. (Rising Sun, MD)

41 Corey Day (Clovis, CA)

42 Matt Carr (Fayetteville, NC)

44B Branigan Roark (Lincoln, MO)

46X Joe Kata (Goshen, NY)

52 Blake Hahn (Sapulpa, OK)

55A Jake Swanson (Anaheim, CA)

57F Blake Green (Mounds, OK)

57H Autumn Criste (Deltona, FL)

60 Landon Britt (Memphis, TN)

60M Earl McDoulett Jr (Claremore, OK)

68K Emerson Axsom (Franklin, IN)

70 Cade Cowles (Coweta, OK)

71.5 Robert Bell (Colfax, IA)

75A Todd Hobson (Clyde, VIC)

75X DRIVER TBA

77 Joe Wirth (Waterloo, IL)

77B Bret Klabunde (Fort Calhoun, NE)

77K Kevin Cook (Winchester, IN)

80A Steve Miller (Rosanky, TX)

81C Colten Cottle (Kansas, IL)

83 Will Armitage (Athens, IL)

84Y Alex Yankowski (Covington Township, PA)

86 Daison Pursley (Locust Grove, OK)

91X Danny Wood (Norman, OK)

96X Logan Mitchell (Santa Cruz, CA)

97K Kale Drake (Collinsville, OK)

111 DRIVER TBA

251 Johnny Brown (Orange, TX)