{"id":392233,"date":"2026-01-06T18:15:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T18:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/392233\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T18:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T18:15:12","slug":"nascar-oreilly-auto-parts-series-champion-competing-in-chili-bowl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/392233\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR O&#8217;Reilly Auto Parts Series Champion Competing in Chili Bowl"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"50\">Before embarking on his defense of the 2025 NASCAR O&#8217;Reilly Auto Series championship, Jesse Love is returning to the Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"53\">Love is driving a car owned by Blake Harris, who is also Alex Bowman&#8217;s crew chief at Hendrick Motorsports in the NASCAR Cup Series. The entry will be fielded by 2nd Opinion Auto Center Racing.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"hu\" dir=\"ltr\">Indoor szn \ud83e\udd78 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/W14WSX8JuR\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/W14WSX8JuR<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 jesse love jr (@jesselovejr1) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jesselovejr1\/status\/2008577235222229000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">January 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"59\">The Chili Bowl Nationals is considered the premier event in Midget racing, with hundreds of entries packing into the SageNet Center at the Tulsa State Fair grounds each January. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5c\">Love is a former winner in the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series. However, he has not qualified for the A-Main at the ultra-competitive Chili Bowl in three prior attempts. In his last attempt in 2024, Love <a href=\"https:\/\/tobychristie.com\/short-track\/dirt\/video-jesse-love-takes-nasty-spill-in-thursday-qualifier-at-chili-bowl-nationals\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">suffered a flip while leading his qualifier race<\/a> on Thursday night of the event.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5f\">As of January 4, 385 entries were officially listed on the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chilibowl.com\/entries\/manual.aspx\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Chili Bowl&#8217;s website<\/a>. Love joins a growing list of past and present NASCAR competitors taking part in the Chili Bowl Nationals.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5i\">NASCAR Cup Series full-time competitors Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs are among the highlights on the entry list. Larson is the defending Chili Bowl Nationals champion and a three-time winner of the event, while Bell claimed the event in three consecutive years between 2017 and 2019.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5l\">J.J. Yeley, Sheldon Creed, Corey Day and Josh Bilicki are also among the NASCAR drivers partaking in this year&#8217;s Chili Bowl. For Creed, this will be his debut in the Chili Bowl Nationals.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Some familiar faces from the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NASCAR?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#NASCAR<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ARCA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#ARCA<\/a> world competing in the 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ChiliBowlNationals?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#ChiliBowlNationals<\/a> and their prelim nights:<\/p>\n<p>MONDAY &#8211; Larson, Welch<br \/>TUESDAY &#8211; Yeley, Bryson, Bell, Boschele, Gibbs, Creed<br \/>WEDNESDAY &#8211; Day<br \/>THURSDAY &#8211; Laster, Bilicki, Roulette<br \/>FRIDAY &#8211; Scelzi (Spire) <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/W9ia0fHitW\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/W9ia0fHitW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Joseph Srigley (@joe_srigley) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joe_srigley\/status\/2008211862848954554?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">January 5, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5r\">Love claimed the 2025 NASCAR O&#8217;Reilly Auto Parts Series championship, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/onsi\/racing-america\/news\/love-conquers-zilisch-for-xfinity-championship-heartbreak-for-jrm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">besting Connor Zilisch at Phoenix Raceway<\/a> in the series&#8217; championship race. The California driver won two races during the 2025 season, recording nine top-fives and 22 top-10 finishes. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5u\">He will return to Richard Childress Racing in 2026 for another shot at the NASCAR O&#8217;Reilly Auto Parts Series championship behind the wheel of the team&#8217;s No. 2 Chevrolet.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5x\">2nd Opinion Auto Center Racing, a Texas-based team owned and operated by Dan and Patricia Harris, will field a five-car lineup as part of the 2026 Chili Bowl Nationals. Love will be joined by Tanner Berryhill, Jeb Sessums, Matt Sherell and Luke Storer.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"60\">Berryhill&#8217;s name may be a familiar one to NASCAR fans as well. Berryhill made two NASCAR Cup Series starts and 43 NASCAR O&#8217;Reilly Auto Parts Series starts between 2012 and 2021.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"63\">This year&#8217;s Chili Bowl Nationals is scheduled for January 12-17, 2026.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before embarking on his defense of the 2025 NASCAR O&#8217;Reilly Auto Series championship, Jesse Love is returning to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-392233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}