There is now a legitimate challenger for the title of Mr. Friday Night at the Tulsa Expo.
There were equal parts competitive racing and chaos along the way but the final preliminary feature of the 40th annual Chili Bowl Midget Nationals ended with the two most prolific racers in recent Friday history locking into Championship Saturday.
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Logan Seavey
Justin Grant
Seavey has now won four straight preliminary features dating back to 2023 when his run of success began in the modern Swindell Speedlab car that produced Golden Drillers in ’23 and ’24. Does it get old?
“This does not get old, no,” Seavey said. “I love this race. I love everything about it. I love the atmosphere on Friday night. I think that’s what makes it so special, so much more special to race on Friday. Like, man, this place is … I don’t know. Right now, the race has been over for like an hour and the building is still bumping.”
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Prior to that, Grant won on Friday night in ‘17, ‘18, ‘19, ‘21 and ’22. So, did Seavey now wrestle the title of Mr. Friday Night away from Grant?
“No, no, that’s still Justin,” Seavey said, and the mutual respect between them during the post-race press conference was palpable.
«A ton of respect for Logan; he’s a heck of a race car driver and we’ve had some incredible battles, not only here, but out on the road across all three (USAC) divisions,» Grant said. «You know, when you show up, Logan is a guy you have to beat because he always puts his car in the right spot.
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«You can never count him out. Like, you can run him down and drive by him but he’s going to go to work and figure out how to chase you back down. There are some guys, you put them away, and you don’t think about them. Logan, you put him away, and you still have to worry about him.
«He’s hard to ruffle. It’s irritating. I feel like that’s one of my best character traits. I’ll plug it on his front bumper to piss him off and then go back to work but he’s hard to fluster. You plug it on his bumper and he takes a deep breath and goes back to work.»
Grant says he knows he can race Seavey hard, and vice versa, and lines are never crossed.
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And make no mistake, there was a lot of ruffling going on during the Friday night feature, with Grant and Seavey trading the lead through perilous lapped traffic, and the byproduct creating some vicious crashes.
For example, Gavin Miller went for a violent tumble racing under Grant for second and collected Steven Snyder Jr. in the process. Miller would need to be transported to a nearby medical facility for further evaluation after the race. The below crash eliminated Snyder from contention as Chase McDermand couldn’t put the car back together afterwards but was otherwise healthy.
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Prior to that, it was preliminary feature racing in the Tulsa Expo Center at its very best. Seavey, Grant, Miller, Snyder and Daryn Pittman all racing each other for the pair of lock-ins.
“It’s funny because it doesn’t look as chaotic in the car as it does from the stands or on video,” Grant said. “You know, things get a bit slow, right? When it’s that tense, and there is so much going on, things actually slow down when you get so locked in.
“It just doesn’t seem that chaotic when you’re in it. You know what’s going to happen before anyone in the seats know it because you know when you make a mistake.
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“So, it’s not so much reacting to it when you see it, because you are ready to react as it is coming across. You have to realize, ‘okay, I am in this scrum, and you have one eye over your left shoulder and ‘I got caught here,’ and ‘there is going to be someone coming,’ so you start changing your angle in response to counter that. It’s about staying half a straightaway to what is going to happen next.”
Seavey says the joy of racing like that only hits afterwards.
«I think it comes right after,» Seavey said. «It’s like when you’re in the moment and you’re racing hard, everything’s so intense. Every once in awhile you make a good corner or make a cool move and you might come out the other end and say ‘that was cool,’ when you split someone three-wide, or hit the cushion right, but then you have to go right back to work.
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«And that’s it, because at the end of the day, we’re working and it’s hard to appreciate it until it’s over and you get the three of us together on the podium for a press conference and we can talk and joke about it.»
Jesse Love, the reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion, would also need to be evaluated after the race due to a crash after he crossed the finish line with a sixth-place finish.
Now, all that is left is for Seavey and Grant to join the other preliminary lock-ins to match race each other for the pole and then wait to see who joins them in the main event.
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Kyle Larson
Emerson Axsom
Logan Seavey
Blake Hahn
Christopher Bell
Daison Pursley
Hank Davis
Briggs Danner
Justin Grant
CJ Leary
Speedlab’s Excellent Week
With the exception of an engine ailment for Kyle Cummins, who still finished fifth on Thursday night, it’s been a tremendous week for the newly expanded Swindell Speedlab owned by four-time Golden Driller winner Kevin Swindell.
Tuesday: Third place with 14-year-old rookie Jett Barnes
Wednesday: Emerson Axsom wins
Thursday: Cummins contends for win, finishes fifth
Friday: Seavey outduels Grant
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“I love this, obviously, but I also feel a little frustrated after what happened to Kyle last night and the motor not running,” Swindell said. “I feel like we had a shot at getting another car locked in. The thing with Jett is cool as hell because we could have won that race with him.
“So, it’s funny because I feel like our cars have been really good, but Jett’s car is arguably the best, and I guess we’ll find out tomorrow. If he can get through the B, he might start close enough, and with the shuffle and having two cars in the top-five, maybe get Kyle off the pole, maybe we can get two 39s up front tomorrow.”
Swindell won four of these as a driver and now two with Seavey as owner-crew chief. Is this like four-times the excitement for him?
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“It’s neat and different,” Swindell said. “Like, it’s like trying to find a favorite kid in a way. I have never had two cars in one race until Race of Champions on Monday and that was different.
“Having two cars in and having two that are close, this is really cool. So I’m just going to let hem go at it. There is a version of tomorrow where Logan and Emerson work together in a way, against Kyle, and I don’t expect them to but I would love to have two of them on the podium. That would be really special.”
Feature results
Logan Seavey Justin Grant Daryn Pittman Wout Hoffmans Giovanni Scelzi Jesse Love Ace McCarthy Hayden Reinbold Ronnie Gardner Hayden Wise Austin Wood Matt Westfall Mario Clouser Broedy Graham Mason Hannagan Jack Berger Joe Wirth Chris Andrews Jett Nunley Frankie Guerrini Ryan Padgett Gavin Miller Steven Snyder Jr. Michael Faccinto
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Interviews
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