What Is the Difference Between the Chili Bowl and Tulsa Shootout?

 

What is the Tulsa Shootout?

The Tulsa Shootout in Tulsa, Oklahoma is the largest event for micro sprint racing in the world.

 

Going into the 41st year of this prestigious event, many drivers dream of bringing home the Golden Driller. With the numbers of entries growing every year, the event record stands 1,855 entries received for the 2025 event. Of those, 1,798 were confirmed. The number of entries has exceeded the millennium mark since 2015. With such a massive following, the Tulsa Shootout is an event for every race fan and driver to experience.

 

A multi-day event that encompasses 6 different racing classes including 600cc Outlaw Winged and Non-Winged Micros, 600cc Stock Winged and Non-Winged Micros, Restricted Micros, and the exciting Junior Sprint class for the kids from 6-12, you’ll see drivers from all over the country in attendance, ranging from amateur to professional, ages 6 to 60! Invite your friends, invite your family. This is something you do not want to miss!

 

What is the Chili Bowl?

The Chili Bowl is primarily known as the world's premier indoor midget car dirt racing event, held annually in Tulsa, Oklahoma, attracting top drivers from NASCAR, IndyCar, and other series to compete for the Golden Driller trophy on a temporary track. It's considered the "Super Bowl" of midget racing, featuring intense competition and a unique, temporary dirt oval built inside the SageNet Center.

 

What Is the Difference Between the Chili Bowl and Tulsa Shootout?

The Tulsa Shootout is an annual micro sprint racing event held in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It features six divisions of Micro Sprints: Jr. Sprints, Restricted A-Class, Winged A-Class, Stock Non-Wing, Non-Wing Outlaw, and Winged Outlaw.

 

The Chili Bowl is considered the Super Bowl of midget racing. It is an annual event held at Tulsa Expo Raceway in Oklahoma, attracting more than 300 competitors from across the United States and the world.

 

The midgets happen to be a little bigger than the micros, but from a distance look very similar. What do both races have in common? They both have the same trophy, a Golden Driller you take home for winning!

 

𝑭𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑭𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒂𝒚 🔥 There’s nothing quite like Christopher Bell vs. Kyle Larson fighting for a Golden Driller in Tulsa.

The 2025 #TulsaShootout Non-Wing Outlaw race was unforgettable. 👇 pic.twitter.com/JIL1WzeVQ3

— FloRacing (@FloRacing) December 27, 2025

What Is a Golden Driller?

It’s the single-most recognizable trophy in all of dirt track racing, and everyone wants a piece of it.

 

Seven elusive Golden Drillers will be given out inside the SageNet Center, and nearly 2,000 total entries will be chasing the iconic award.

 

The first six are available at the 37th annual Lucas Oil Tulsa Shootout (Dec. 29 – Jan. 1) with the big one coming at the 36th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals (Jan. 10-15). Both events can be seen live on FloRacing. 

 

 

source: NASCAR Media

Chili Bowl Format

 

Each January, a carefully constructed quarter-mile dirt oval graces the floor of the SageNet Center at the River Spirit Expo Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The temporary indoor circuit is known as Tulsa Expo Raceway. 

 

The same dirt used for the inaugural Chili Bowl in 1987 forms the track each year!

 

“The Chili Bowl’s key ingredient is the clay which once covered the adjacent fairgrounds,” the event’s website reads. “Without sun or wind to harm it, the indoor garden (roughly a quarter-mile circle) is heavily saturated so that the boldest dirt track artists of our time can truly shine.”

 

Here they come. pic.twitter.com/g10A7VcmHt

— Chili Bowl Nationals (@cbnationals) January 11, 2026

Located outside the Tulsa Expo Center is the famous golden driller statue, a massive figure depicting an oil worker. That is why the driver who wins the Chili Bowl A-Main on championship Saturday will receive a Golden Driller trophy, one of the most sought after trophies in all of motorsports.

 

Format

Below is the Chili Bowl format as outlined on ChiliBowl.com. One major change for the 2026 edition of the event is the length of the championship main event on Saturday night, which returns to a 55-lap distance after being 40 laps last year.

Qualifying Nights (Monday-Friday)

Heat Races

• Drivers draw for heat racing starting position at 2 p.m. at chalkboard each day

• The driver who draws lowest number will start on the pole of Heat 1, second lowest number on the pole of Heat 2, etc.

• Number of heats decided by number of cars – 7-10 cars per heat race (8 Laps)

• Advancement from heat race to features is based upon passing points earned in heat race and qualifying races. Passing points are based upon car starting position when the yellow light goes out prior to the initial start of the heat or qualifying race.

• The 40 drivers earning the most passing points advance to Four “A” Qualifying Races; drivers in passing points positions 41-68 will go to two C Main races. The two C Main races will have 16 cars 12 laps in length.

• The top four cars in each C Main race will advance to the back of the B Main races, going 15 laps. (Top four from first C Main to back of first B Main, top four from second C Main to back of second B main)

• The lineup of each “A” Qualifying race will include an inversion of six cars. The top 24 cars in passing points will make the inversion. (The top point driver will start on row 3 of the first qualifying race, the No. 2 driver on row 3 of the second qualifying race, etc.)

• The four qualifying races will have 10 cars each with the top 16 in combined passing points from the heats and Qualifying races advancing to the A Main.

• The balance of the cars (24) from the “A” qualifying races will advance to two 16 car B Mains. The top four in each B Main will advance to the A Main, going 30 laps.

• There will be 24 drivers in each Preliminary Night A Feature

• The top two drivers in the Preliminary A qualify for Saturday’s A Main.

• Each of the races will have four cars and be four laps.

• Preliminary Night Winners will draw for positions 1st – 5th, Runner up will draw 6th – 10th

• First Race will be drivers who draw 7th – 10th, lined up in that order. Top 2 will advance.

• Second Race, front row will be drivers who draw 5th & 6th, with the two drivers moving on from the first race in Row 2 (Winner inside, 2nd outside).

• Third Race front row will be drivers who draw 3rd & 4th, with the two drivers moving on from the second race in Row 2 (Winner inside, 2nd outside).

• Fourth Race front row will be drivers who draw 1st & 2nd, with the two drivers moving on from the third race in Row 2 (Winner inside, 2nd outside).

• Winner of the fourth race will earn the pole in Saturday’s A-Feature.

• Seven drivers will advance from each B main to the A for a total of 24 cars with Provisionals set aside for the defending Chili Bowl Champion and previous year’s Race of Champions Winner should they not transfer.

• There will be two B mains, with 20 drivers in each B main.

• Drivers finishing in their Preliminary A feature in position 3-8 will qualify for the B mains

• Five drivers will advance from each C main to the B mains (1st C to 1st B, 2nd C to 2nd B)

• There will be two C Mains, with 20 drivers in each C

• Drivers finishing in their Preliminary A feature positions 9-14 will qualify for the C mains

• Five drivers will advance from each D main to the C Mains

• There will be two D mains, with 20 drivers in each D

• Drivers finishing in their Preliminary A feature positions 15-20 will qualify for the D mains

• Five drivers will advance from each E main to the D mains

• There will be two E mains, with 20 drivers in each E

• Drivers finishing in their Preliminary night A features 21-24 and B features 5th will qualify for the E mains

• Five drivers will advance from each F main to the E mains

• There will be two F mains, with 20 drivers in each F

• Drivers finishing in their Preliminary night B features in positions 6-8 will qualify for the F mains

• Five drivers will advance from each G main to the F mains

• There will be two G mains, with 16 drivers in each G

• Drivers finishing in their Preliminary night B features in positions 9-10 will qualify for the G mains

• Five drivers will advance from each H main to the G mains

• There will be two H mains, with 16 drivers in each H

• Drivers finishing in their Preliminary night B features in positions 11-12 will qualify for the H mains

• Six drivers will advance from each I main to the H mains

• There will be two I mains, with 16 drivers in each I

• Drivers finishing in their Preliminary night B features in positions 13-14 will qualify for the I mains

• Six drivers will advance from each J main to the I mains

• There will be two J mains, with 16 drivers in each J

• Drivers finishing in their Preliminary night B features in positions 15-16 will qualify for the I mains

• Six drivers will advance from each K main to the I mains

• There will be two K mains, with 16 drivers in each K

• Drivers finishing in their Preliminary night C features in positions 5-6 will qualify for the K mains

• Six drivers will advance from each L main to the L mains

• There will be two L Mains, with 16 drivers in each L

• Drivers finishing in their Preliminary night C feature in position 7-8 will qualify for the L Mains

• Six drivers will advance from each M main to the L mains

• There will be two M Mains, with 16 drivers in each M

• Drivers finishing in C feature positions 9-10 will qualify for the M Mains

• Six drivers will advance from each N main to the M mains

• There will be two N Mains, with 16 drivers in each N

• Drivers finishing in C feature positions 11-12 will qualify for the N Mains

• Six drivers will advance from each O main to the N mains

• There will be two O Mains, with 16 drivers in each O

• Drivers finishing in D feature positions 3-4 will qualify for the O Mains.

• Six drivers will advance from each P Main to the O Mains

• There will be two P Mains and possibly two Q Mains, with the number of drivers TBA in each.

• Drivers finishing in D feature positions 4 on back will qualify for these race, and lineup position will be determined by finish on qualifying night and number of cars.

C Mains/Qualifying Races/B Mains/A Main

Saturday Night Features

A Feature

The lineup for the top 10 cars in the A feature will be determined through the Chili Bowl Pole Dash.

The five A feature winners will draw 1-5, followed by the five drivers who finished second drawing 6-10 to seed the Pole Dash.

Pole Dash Procedure

(Note: All positions in races other than Saturday’s A-Main will line up upon the originoal draw of the winners prior to the pole dash. Example: If the Friday winner draws number 1, the Wednesday winner draws number 2, Tuesday winner draws number 3, Thursday winner draws number 4, and the Monday winner draws number 5, all positions in all races will be based on Friday first, Wednesday second, Tuesday third, Thursday fourth, and Monday fifth.)

• B Mains (20 Laps)
• C Mains (15 Laps)
• D Mains (15 Laps)
• E Mains (15 Laps)
• F Mains (15 Laps)
• G Mains (10 Laps)
• H Mains (10 Laps)
• I Mains (10 Laps)
• J Mains (10 Laps)
• K Mains (10 Laps)
• L Mains (10 Laps)
• M Mains (10 Laps)
• N Mains (10 Laps)
• O Mains (10 Laps)
• P&Q Mains (10 Laps)

 

source: NASCAR Media

#NASCAR to Announce New Championship Format

Ricky Stenhouse Confirms on Fox and Friends

 

NASCAR confirmed on Thursday afternoon that they have scheduled a press conference "to announce the championship format for the 2026 season and beyond", bringing an end to the modern format after 12 years.

 

That announcement is scheduled to take place on Monday, January 12 at 3:30 p.m. ET at NASCAR Productions Facility in Concord, North Carolina, and it is set to end months of speculation regarding what the new format might look like.

 

Here's Ricky Stenhouse Jr. talking about NASCAR's new championship system on Fox & Friends:

"I assume there's gonna be more points-incentive type racing. Obviously you still want to win races and put yourself in the best possible position to be in the playoff ... Come Monday… https://t.co/sYzXsW2sjN pic.twitter.com/eLU48VANJa

— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) January 10, 2026

 

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., NASCAR Cup Series driver for Hyak Motorsports, went on Fox & Friends this morning to talk about the 2026 NASCAR points format. He described it as “points oriented” as well as “something we used to use and was well appreciated”.

 

The announcement comes ahead of the 2026 racing season, which is set to begin with the exhibition Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on Sunday, Feb. 1 (8 p.m. ET, FOX, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

The NASCAR Cup Series campaign begins in earnest with the 68th running of the “Great American Race,” the Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 15 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

 

source: NASCAR Media