TULSA, Okla. — For the fourth year in a row, Logan Seavey pulled into victory lane on Friday night (Jan. 16) at the Chili Bowl.
The California native had to do it the hard way after Justin Grant dominated must of the 30-lap feature until approaching lapped traffic. Those sprint cars allowed Gavin Miller and Daryn Pittman to also fight for the lead and a guaranteed position in Saturday’s 55-lap A-Main.
However, Miller’s luck would run out with four laps to go. While fighting with Grant for second place, the No. 97 machine went cartwheeling through the air along the main straight after hitting a large patch of dirt that had been building up against the wall.
With nowhere to go, Steven Snyder Jr. plowed right into Miller’s airborne vehicle and badly mangled the frame of his No. 40X car.
On the ensuing restart, Grant, Pittman and Wout Hoffmans began a free-for-all for second place as Seavey pulled away. Their battle allowed the No. 39 machine to lead the final eight laps in a row to win, sliding ahead of Grant in second and Pittman in third.
“I went from third to the lead to fourth in what felt like the blink of an eye,” Seavey said. “So yeah, once Justin (Grant) slid me and I looked up and I was in fourth real quick, so I had to kind of settle back in and made just a few minor adjustments with my car and it was like instantly I came around the top really hard and I could kind of roll around the bottom and make speed.
“Our cars have looked really really good and yeah, even early when my car felt just a little bit not exactly what I was looking for, I still had great speed and I executed good laps and hit the cushion right or hit the berm right.”
Grant had perhaps the golden horseshoe moment of the week at the 2026 Chili Bowl Nationals as the runner-up finisher had little space between him and Miller’s flipping car that brought out the yellow flag.
“I used [Miller] up pretty good the lap before off of [Turn] 4 and then when we got back around [Turn] 4 he tried to use me up,” Grant said. “And I saw him come across and went ahead and got out of the way and it wasn’t a hole I was going to drive into there and he hammered the wall off of 4 and got to flipping there. Glad to miss him after it happened but yeah, I think he was hot from the lap before and just drove across my nose.”
Pittman will be starting on the outside of the front row in Saturday night’s first B-Main thanks to his performance tonight. While that might inspire confidence in some, it’s frustrating for the 2013 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Champion.
“B-Mains suck, I don’t care if I’m on the front row or not, I’ve missed the last four [Saturday A-Mains],” Pittman said. “Felt like we contended for a few wins pretty consistently several years back and just haven’t really been able to find that consistency. I think I was as good as I’ve been in a lot of years tonight but I think if we get in the A-Main, historically, we run pretty solid if I get in, but I’ve missed an awful lot of them.”
Saturday’s Alphabet Soup at the Chili Bowl will begin with two 10-lap Q-Mains and will progress through each letter of the alphabet at 10-lap lengths until the two F-Mains where the race lengths are extended to 15 laps.
The two B-Mains will be 20 laps each and the top seven finishers from each B-Main will make up the final seven rows of the 55-lap A-Main.
Christopher DeHarde has covered IndyCar racing and the Road to Indy for various outlets since 2014. In addition to open wheel racing, DeHarde has also covered IMSA and various short track racing events around Indiana. Originally from New Orleans, DeHarde moved to the Indianapolis area in 2017 to further pursue a career as a motorsports writer.