What’s Happening?

After a one-year hiatus from the event, Kyle Larson shocked everyone by entering last-minute into the Chili Bowl. Larson will drive the 98K car for Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports. Who is Kyle Larson racing for, and what is his goal for the weekend?

• Kyle Larson is a two-time winner of the Chili Bowl, taking home the “Golden Driller” in 2020 and 2021. He joins fellow NASCAR drivers Chase Briscoe, Josh Bilicki, J.J. Yeley, and Jesse Love at the event in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
• The Chili Bowl is known as the “Super Bowl of Midget racing”. It is one of the biggest dirt racing events of the year, and it serves to kick off the dirt racing year.
• Fans are ecstatic to see Larson competing in the Chili Bowl once again. He has made a name for himself as someone who will race anywhere, anytime, with anyone.

Who is Larson Driving for?

Larson will be driving for Keith Kunz Motorsports, which is one of the top midget racing teams out there. They played a large role in developing current NASCAR star, Christopher Bell, who won the 2013 USAC Midget Championship and three Chili Bowl wins in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Larson has also raced for Kunz before, but, both of Larson’s Chili Bowl wins were driving his own car.

Keith Kunz Motorsports is also a winning race team in 2024. Driver Tanner Carrick won the Monday Night Preliminary A-Main. As a result, Carrick will be racing in the Saturday A-Feature for the Golden Driller trophy.

What Will Larson Have to Do at the Chili Bowl?

Kyle Larson will enter into the Thursday night preliminary. The preliminaries for the Chili Bowl work as follows.

Drivers enter into the “Heat Races” early in the day, and, the top 40 in passing points get placed in a qualifier. From there, the top 16 who get the most passing points in the qualifier move on to the A Feature that night, while the rest move on to the B Feature. The top 2 in each B Feature advance to the A Feature.

Those in the A feature are racing to get into the big race on Saturday. If Larson finishes in the top-2 in that feature, he gets to race in the Main, 55 lap Feature on Saturday night.

Long story short, Larson will have to finish top 2 in the A Feature on Thursday to have a chance at winning the Chili Bowl. Normally, finishing outside of the top 2 would put Larson in the large swath of races on Saturday to have a fighting chance to get into the main feature. However, there is a catch with Larson.

According to FloRacing, Larson will be racing that afternoon in the Wild West Shootout at Vado Speedway Park. If he does not qualify for the main feature, he may not be able to race in his race on Saturday afternoon. Therefore, it seems for Larson, it is the main event or bust.

How will Kyle Larson do with his surprise Chili Bowl entry? Will he take home his third Golden Driller?