TULSA, Okla. — Christopher Bell‘s first week as a car owner at the Chili Bowl Nationals is off to a fantastic start.
After winning the O‘Reilly Auto Parts Race of Champions from the pole Monday night inside the SageNet Center, Bell stormed from eighth to win Thursday‘s preliminary night feature to lock himself into Saturday‘s championship race.
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“This place is magic,” said Bell, who matched fellow NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson with his ninth preliminary night victory at the Chili Bowl. “It‘s never over until it‘s over, and that‘s the way it is here.”
WATCH: 2026 Chili Bowl Nationals
The three-time Chili Bowl winner went undefeated Thursday night, winning his heat race, his qualifier and the 30-lap preliminary feature. He won his heat race from the pole and his qualifier from second, but his road to victory in the feature was much more difficult.
Lining up eighth, Bell spent most of the race playing catchup as C.J. Leary, Ryan Bernal and Spencer Bayston battled for the lead ahead of him.
Christopher Bell
Bell was struggling to make any gains on the leaders and was running a distant fifth when the first caution of the race waved with seven laps left. Were it not for that caution, Bell said he likely had no shot at catching the leaders.
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“I didn‘t think I was going to get there,” Bell admitted. “When the yellow came out, I don‘t know how far away those guys were, but I just didn‘t really have the pace. Everyone was really committed to the top, and I really wasn‘t able to keep up.”
When the race resumed, Bell sliced his way to third before another caution slowed the field with five laps left. Finally within striking distance of race leader Bernal and runner-up Leary, Bell knew he had a shot to win the race, and he wasn‘t going to waste it.
Bell first moved by Leary, who was driving for NASCAR Cup Series driver Alex Bowman in Tulsa, before turning his attention to Bernal. With three laps, left Bell made his move, diving to the inside of Bernal in Turn 1 to take the race lead.
The native of nearby Norman, Oklahoma led the rest of the way to punch his ticket to his 11th Chili Bowl Nationals championship feature. Leary finished second to give Bowman two cars locked into Saturday‘s finale.
Christopher Bell
“When the yellow came out, I was like, ‘OK, i’m just going to have to do something different here,”” Bell explained. “I could make a couple good corners on the bottom whenever I hit it, so I just said I’m going see what happens. The curb got so treacherous that nobody could get off of (Turn) 4 really well on the top, and there was enough juice on the bottom where I could get by and make a lot of speed down the frontstretch.”
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Despite finding the checkered flag every time he has been on the race track this week, Bell doesn‘t think his car is good enough to win his fourth Golden Driller trophy at the Chili Bowl.
At least not yet.
“The car is insanely fast. Like it is just really, really fast. Every time I hit the track it‘s got great pace. I just am struggling with being consistent enough,” Bell said. “I don‘t think it‘s good enough to win on Saturday. I‘ve just got to make the car a little more drivable.
“It clearly has the speed. If I can get to driving it a little more consistent, we‘ll be right there.”
The 40th running of the Chili Bowl Nationals presented by NOS Energy Drink continues Friday night. Action begins at 5 p.m. ET with complete coverage available live on FloRacing.
