Spencer Bayston Unstoppable During Thursday’s Victory Fuel Qualifying Night
TULSA, Okla. (January 11, 2024) From a flip during Practice on Sunday to Victory Lane on Victory Fuel Qualifying Night, Indiana’s Spencer Bayston landed his first career preliminary night win at the 38th annual Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy.
“It feels really, really good,” said Bayston of the win. “The Race of Champions win last year was special, but it’s not a prelim night. A prelim night, like I said there’s three steps to the process, sometimes more, and to be able to string together three good performances with the good Sage Fruit race car is not easy to do and we were able to do that tonight. It’s a lot of weight off our shoulders, so we’ll kick back and relax tomorrow and be ready for Saturday.”
A third win for RMS/Matt Estep since 2021, the feature went green with Bayston taking off from the pole. Getting away quickly, the race for second went to Ricky Thornton, Jr. Fending off a challenge by Tanner Thorson on the fifth revolution, Thornton held silver until Lap 17, as the leaders began their march through traffic.
Advantage Thorson for second on Lap 18, the No. 1s would close up on Bayston’s bumper after caution lights for Kyle Larson flipping on the front stretch appeared while working Lap 24.
Reverting to the last fully completed lap, the seven-lap dash saw Bayston gap the field by 1.149-seconds to lock into his sixth career Saturday night A-Feature. Tanner Thorson held the final lock-in to make his tenth championship appearance. Chase Johnson crossed third, with C.J. Leary fourth. Brady Bacon completed the top five.
Tim Buckwalter, from 12th, made it to sixth, with Ricky Thornton, Jr. slipping to seventh. Karter Sarff grabbed eighth with Ryan Bernal ninth. Parker Jones completed the top ten.
With 73 drivers drawing in Thursday night, the week’s entry count stands at 285. Friday will see the highest car count of the week, as mechanical issues have forced several drives to move, pushing the number to 86 entries, including five TBA’s. The Flip Count has grown to 34. All drivers are okay. Special thanks to Simpson Race Products for giving out new equipment during this year’s flip count.
Friday at the Chili Bowl Nationals is presented by Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Tulsa. The SageNet Center will open at 9:00 A.M. with cars on track at 4:00 P.M.
The 38th annual Chili Bowl Nationals takes place January 8-13, 2024, 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.
The General Admission Pit Pass is sold at the event and never sells out. They are $60 per weekday and $75 on Saturday.
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.
Results:
Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy
Tulsa Expo Raceway – Tulsa, Okla.
Thursday, January 11, 2024
Victory Fuel Qualifying Night
Car Count: 73
Event Count: 285
OERB Heat Races: Top 40 in passing points advance to Qualifiers.
OERB Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 47-Brad Mosen[2]; 2. 31B-Chase Johnson[7]; 3. 2D-Matt Sherrell[5]; 4. 57A-Daniel Robinson[9]; 5. 3-Cole Schroeder[10]; 6. 3J-Parker Jones[8]; 7. 73T-Tom Dunkel[3]; 8. 8M-Kade Morton[6]; 9. (DNF) 22-Sean McClelland[4]; 10. (DNF) 70K-Tim Kent[1]
OERB Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9U-Kyle Spence[1]; 2. 73C-Eddie Tafoya Jr[2]; 3. 2E-Whit Gastineau[3]; 4. 71G-Taylor Ferns[5]; 5. 24S-Rodney Westhafer[8]; 6. 91-Jeff Stasa[7]; 7. 9X-Zac Millikin[4]; 8. 97K-Tom Harris[6]; 9. (DNS) 98B-Joe Boyles
OERB Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1S-Spencer Bayston[9]; 2. 51X-Joe Walker[1]; 3. 77-Joey Wirth[2]; 4. 08M-Dylan Menz[7]; 5. 27J-Frank Beck III[5]; 6. 26J-Jacob Harris[8]; 7. 31D-Miles Doherty[3]; 8. 10C-Dalton Camfield[4]; 9. (DNF) 22C-Corey Brink[6]
OERB Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 55V-CJ Leary[1]; 2. 14T-Caden Sarale[4]; 3. 19M-Ethan Mitchell[8]; 4. 29-Tim Buckwalter[7]; 5. 98K-Kyle Larson[5]; 6. 32-Casey Shuman[6]; 7. (DNF) 45T-Christopher Townsend[9]; 8. (DNF) 03-Shayle Bade[3]; 9. (DNF) 28J-Joe Perry[2]
OERB Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 5G-Gavan Boschele[3]; 2. 87W-Ryan Bernal[9]; 3. 46-Kenney Johnson[6]; 4. 6K-Austin Nigh[2]; 5. 22S-AJ Johnson[8]; 6. 17J-Ryan Bickett[4]; 7. 09-Scott Lawrence[7]; 8. 29K-Brian Harvey[5]; 9. (DNF) 20H-Noah Harris[1]
OERB Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 19R-Ricky Thornton Jr[5]; 2. 84-Jesse Love[3]; 3. 14A-Cameron Hagin[1]; 4. 14F-Jeffrey Newell[4]; 5. 98P-Ryan Padgett[7]; 6. 54C-Chance Hull[9]; 7. 7B-Cody Beard[2]; 8. (DNF) 15-JJ Yeley[6]; 9. (DNF) 35S-Isaiah Vasquez[8]
OERB Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Tanner Thorson[2]; 2. 5CB-Karter Sarff[3]; 3. 00-Ryder Laplante[1]; 4. 10J-Lane Goodman[5]; 5. 54-Matt Westfall[6]; 6. 17D-Cody Trammell[8]; 7. 40-Max Adams[9]; 8. 2Z-Zach Blurton[7]; 9. 2R-Matt Rossi[4]
OERB Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 15D-Andrew Deal[3]; 2. 02-Ashton Torgerson[2]; 3. 21H-Brady Bacon[8]; 4. 55F-Johnny Kent[4]; 5. 7C-Landon Crawley[7]; 6. 80H-Josh Hanna[5]; 7. 17B-Josh Baughman[6]; 8. (DNF) 7JR-JD Black[1]; 9. (DNS) 11C-Mike Woodruff
Smiley’s Racing Products C-Features: Top 4 advance to corresponding B-Feature.
Smileys Racing Products C Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 40-Max Adams[4]; 2. 91-Jeff Stasa[3]; 3. 97K-Tom Harris[10]; 4. 27J-Frank Beck III[2]; 5. 22-Sean McClelland[14]; 6. 80H-Josh Hanna[5]; 7. 26J-Jacob Harris[1]; 8. 03-Shayle Bade[12]; 9. 2Z-Zach Blurton[9]; 10. 31D-Miles Doherty[8]; 11. 29K-Brian Harvey[11]; 12. 09-Scott Lawrence[6]; 13. (DNF) 70K-Tim Kent[15]; 14. (DNF) 28J-Joe Perry[13]; 15. (DNF) 9X-Zac Millikin[7]; 16. (DNS) 7JR-JD Black; 17. (DNS) 98B-Joe Boyles
Smileys Racing Products C Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 98K-Kyle Larson[2]; 2. 32-Casey Shuman[3]; 3. 17D-Cody Trammell[1]; 4. 15-JJ Yeley[9]; 5. 17J-Ryan Bickett[4]; 6. 17B-Josh Baughman[5]; 7. 20H-Noah Harris[13]; 8. 73T-Tom Dunkel[6]; 9. 10C-Dalton Camfield[10]; 10. 7B-Cody Beard[7]; 11. 2R-Matt Rossi[12]; 12. 8M-Kade Morton[8]; 13. (DNF) 35S-Isaiah Vasquez[11]; 14. (DNF) 11C-Mike Woodruff[14]; 15. (DNS) 45T-Christopher Townsend; 16. (DNS) 22C-Corey Brink
Team Toyota Qualifiers: Top 16 in combined passing points advance to the A-Feature.
Team Toyota Qualifier 1 (10 Laps): 1. 5CB-Karter Sarff[2]; 2. 29-Tim Buckwalter[1]; 3. 1S-Spencer Bayston[6]; 4. 19M-Ethan Mitchell[5]; 5. 46-Kenney Johnson[3]; 6. 55F-Johnny Kent[10]; 7. 47-Brad Mosen[4]; 8. 98P-Ryan Padgett[9]; 9. 71G-Taylor Ferns[8]; 10. (DNF) 24S-Rodney Westhafer[7]
Team Toyota Qualifier 2 (10 Laps): 1. 88-Tanner Thorson[4]; 2. 21H-Brady Bacon[5]; 3. 73C-Eddie Tafoya Jr[1]; 4. 9U-Kyle Spence[3]; 5. 87W-Ryan Bernal[6]; 6. 54-Matt Westfall[10]; 7. 7C-Landon Crawley[9]; 8. 3-Cole Schroeder[2]; 9. 22S-AJ Johnson[7]; 10. 10J-Lane Goodman[8]
Team Toyota Qualifier 3 (10 Laps): 1. 55V-CJ Leary[3]; 2. 02-Ashton Torgerson[1]; 3. 19R-Ricky Thornton Jr[6]; 4. 2D-Matt Sherrell[2]; 5. 5G-Gavan Boschele[5]; 6. 57A-Daniel Robinson[4]; 7. 2E-Whit Gastineau[7]; 8. 14A-Cameron Hagin[8]; 9. 6K-Austin Nigh[9]; 10. (DNS) 54C-Chance Hull
Team Toyota Qualifier 4 (10 Laps): 1. 14T-Caden Sarale[4]; 2. 31B-Chase Johnson[6]; 3. 3J-Parker Jones[10]; 4. 14F-Jeffrey Newell[9]; 5. 15D-Andrew Deal[5]; 6. 00-Ryder Laplante[8]; 7. 51X-Joe Walker[1]; 8. 77-Joey Wirth[7]; 9. (DNF) 08M-Dylan Menz[2]; 10. (DNF) 84-Jesse Love[3]
The Enjoy Illinois 300 NASCAR Cup Series Race at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday, June 2 B Features: Top 4 advance to the A-Feature.
The Enjoy Illinois 300 NASCAR Cup Series Race at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday, June 2 B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 9U-Kyle Spence[1]; 2. 2D-Matt Sherrell[2]; 3. 54-Matt Westfall[4]; 4. 10J-Lane Goodman[12]; 5. 00-Ryder Laplante[5]; 6. 40-Max Adams[13]; 7. 3-Cole Schroeder[7]; 8. 14A-Cameron Hagin[8]; 9. 97K-Tom Harris[15]; 10. 71G-Taylor Ferns[10]; 11. 2E-Whit Gastineau[6]; 12. 6K-Austin Nigh[11]; 13. 27J-Frank Beck III[16]; 14. 91-Jeff Stasa[14]; 15. (DNF) 57A-Daniel Robinson[3]; 16. (DNF) 22S-AJ Johnson[9]
The Enjoy Illinois 300 NASCAR Cup Series Race at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday, June 2 B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 73C-Eddie Tafoya Jr[1]; 2. 98K-Kyle Larson[11]; 3. 46-Kenney Johnson[2]; 4. 7C-Landon Crawley[5]; 5. 84-Jesse Love[10]; 6. 98P-Ryan Padgett[7]; 7. 55F-Johnny Kent[3]; 8. 32-Casey Shuman[14]; 9. 15-JJ Yeley[15]; 10. 54C-Chance Hull[12]; 11. 17D-Cody Trammell[13]; 12. 24S-Rodney Westhafer[9]; 13. 47-Brad Mosen[4]; 14. 51X-Joe Walker[6]; 15. 77-Joey Wirth[8]; 16. 08M-Dylan Menz[16]
A-Feature: Top 2 advance to Saturday’s A-Feature.
Victory Fuel A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 1S-Spencer Bayston[1]; 2. 88-Tanner Thorson[4]; 3. 31B-Chase Johnson[2]; 4. 55V-CJ Leary[7]; 5. 21H-Brady Bacon[5]; 6. 29-Tim Buckwalter[12]; 7. 19R-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 8. 5CB-Karter Sarff[9]; 9. 87W-Ryan Bernal[8]; 10. 3J-Parker Jones[11]; 11. 02-Ashton Torgerson[13]; 12. 54-Matt Westfall[21]; 13. 2D-Matt Sherrell[19]; 14. 9U-Kyle Spence[17]; 15. 5G-Gavan Boschele[15]; 16. 14T-Caden Sarale[6]; 17. 14F-Jeffrey Newell[14]; 18. 10J-Lane Goodman[23]; 19. 19M-Ethan Mitchell[10]; 20. 7C-Landon Crawley[24]; 21. 15D-Andrew Deal[16]; 22. 73C-Eddie Tafoya Jr[18]; 23. 46-Kenney Johnson[22]; 24. (DNF) 98K-Kyle Larson[20]
Lap Leader(s): Spencer Bayston 1-30
Hard Charger: Matt Westfall +10
Sources: Bryan Hulbert/Chili Bowl Nationals PR