Thursday was billed to be great when the rosters dropped, and boy, did it live up to the hype with a three-wide race for the win on the final lap.

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Let’s take a quick look at where those preliminary finishers will land in Saturday’s famed alphabet soup:

TO THE A-MAIN (1-2) – Tanner Thorson, Ryan Bernal

TO THE B-MAINS (3-8) – Christopher Bell, Matt Westfall, Jacob Denney, Frank Flud, Kyle Spence, Shane Cottle

TO THE C-MAINS (9-14) – Brody Fuson, Brady Bacon, Chris Windom, Dalten Gabbard, Matt Sherrell, Jeff Stasa

TO THE D-MAINS (15-20) – Spencer Bayston, Drake Edwards, Ethan Mitchell, Parker Jones, Andrew Deal, Bradley Fezard

TO THE E-MAINS (21-24) – Bradley Cox, C.J. Leary, Karter Sarff, Casey Shuman

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VIDEO: Christopher Bell, Tanner Thorson and Ryan Bernal rewatch Thursday's finish for the first time. 

Tanner Thorson survived a thrilling duel, which saw three different leaders, to score his third-career preliminary win at the Chili Bowl and lock-in for his 11th consecutive Championship A-Main - the second-longest streak in event history behind Jerry Coons Jr. at 14 years. Thorson, the 2022 Golden Driller winner, led on three different occasions including Laps 1-2, then Laps 5-9 after getting back by Karter Sarff, and then Laps 25-31 after rallying to defeat Christopher Bell.

A green-white-checkered finish allowed for the closest finish all week for the final lock-in spot with 0.068-seconds giving the nod to Ryan Bernal over Christopher Bell in a stunner. It was all about Thorson and CBell all night long, but when Sarff and Leary both fell out of the picture, Bernal came quietly sneaking into play. The Hollister, CA native mastered the bottom as the two leaders focused on each other and the outcome was a three-wide move out of turn two and down the backstretch. Bernal got the edge to the line to make it three Matt Wood Racing cars locked-in through four nights this week.

For the time IN A DECADE - 10 whole years - Christopher Bell did not win the Thursday night preliminary he competed in, and will be forced to Saturday’s B-Main in Tulsa. The Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #71W will start up front in that 20-lapper with the top-seven transferring to the 40-lap Chili Bowl Championship A-Main - which would be Bell’s 10th career A-Main.

Joining CBell in the B-Mains on Saturday is an interesting clan including Matt Westfall (career-best P4), Jacob Denney (career-best P5), Frank Flud (career-best P6), Kyle Spence (career-best P7), and Shane Cottle, a man used to competing for Golden Drillers in Tulsa.

The group heading for Saturday’s C-Main is a mix of new faces and classic contenders with Brody Fuson, Brady Bacon, Chris Windom, Dalten Gabbard, Matt Sherrell, and Jeff Stasa. Off to the D-Main is Spencer Bayston, Drake Edwards, Ethan Mitchell, Parker Jones (who was running 4th), Andrew Deal, and Bradley Fezard.

Several notable names go to the E-Main after facing problems of all different sorts on Thursday such as Bradley Cox, C.J. Leary, Karter Sarff, and Casey Shuman.

All of the Chili Bowl fun continues tonight with Friday’s preliminary taking center stage. If you can’t be here to witness the Tulsa magic yourself, you can watch every lap live all week long on FloRacing. If you’re not already a FloRacing subscriber, click here to sign up today.