Kyle Larson Crashes Twice, Never Loses Lead on Path to Third Chili Bowl Win

Sometimes, it just seems like nothing can stop Kyle Larson. That was certainly the case in Saturday night's Chili Bowl Nationals Championship A-Main.

Larson, who earned the top starting spot in the pole dash earlier in the evening, saw his race nearly end twice in separate incidents, but in true Larson fashion, he never lost the lead and would power on to defeat Daison Pursley. With the win, Larson is now a three-time Chili Bowl Nationals champion.

The Main Event was shortened to 40 laps this year, down from the traditional 55 laps that the race had sat at since 2012 when the distance was expanded in honor of former Chili Bowl Nationals champion Donnie Ray Crawford, who drove the No. 55 car. The shorter distance created what felt like a more frenzied panicked style finale.

Larson launched ahead of the field on the initial start of the race, and it looked like he had the field covered, that is until he began to reel in lapped traffic. It became clear that Larson had the fastest car on single-car speed, but as Larson explained after the race, the high lane that he was using to gain an advantage on the field, was a lane filled with high risk.

"Yeah, it was just a very difficult racetrack to run the line that I was running. It comes with a lot of reward with the risk that you're taking," Larson said.

As he attempted to navigate lapped traffic from the high lane, Larson began to give up time to Pursley behind him.

With 17 laps to go, Larson found his first bit of trouble in the event while attempting to put others a lap down. Ahead of him, Brenham Couch and Jacob Denney made contact, which sent Crouch spinning sideways in front of Larson. With nowhere to go, Larson piled into Crouch with his No. 1K race car.

💥 Chaos in lap traffic and leader @KyleLarsonRacin gets involved but keeps goin!!! Is his car ok!?#ChiliBowl powered by @NosEnergyDrink pic.twitter.com/kzeh3fXROp
— FloRacing (@FloRacing) January 19, 2025

Instantly, the caution came out, which seemingly saved Larson from losing the lead, but the lead was the last thing on Larson's mind in the mid-race incident. According to Larson, his car stalled in the crash as he attempted to slow in time to avoid the crash. However, he would find good luck as the car would crank back on.

"When Grant ran over Crouch, I had nowhere to go. I ran over him and stalled, and when I landed, I'm like, 'Please re-fire,' and it refired. And so, yeah, we got a couple of lucky breaks there, but a good race car," Larson stated.

With that bit of bad luck behind him, Larson went back to dominating the race. It appeared that Larson was going to walk away with the win, but he once again closed in on lapped traffic with a handful of laps remaining in the race. As Larson attempted to get around the lapped cars, Pursley continued to close the gap.

Larson had to do something, and quickly.

The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion would make a daring move to the outside, which allowed him to gain a lot of additional momentum through the turn. A little too much momentum, it would turn out.

With four laps to go, Larson would skid into and over the outside wall. After riding the outside wall for a moment, Larson's car slammed hard back onto the dirt track surface.

What just happened!?! Yellow is out as the leader @KyleLarsonRacin is in trouble!#ChiliBowl powered by @NosEnergyDrink pic.twitter.com/9g2KO4C5XK
— FloRacing (@FloRacing) January 19, 2025

Somehow, Larson's car suffered no substantial damage, and even more incredibly, the caution again came out quickly, which saved him from losing the race lead. And according to Larson, the wall-riding caution actually helped him seal the win on the final restart of the race.

"Yeah, I messed up on the straightaway a couple of times, but honestly I'm glad I kept going there because that caution really saved me," Larson explained. "Allowed it to be a little bit easier run to the finish. I think if we stayed in traffic, Daison would have had a lot of opportunities to throw stuff at me."

Pursley, who was seeing his chances fade, decided to make a desperation dive-bomb move in Turn 4 with two laps to go, but it was unsuccessful. Pursley would lose precious ground to Larson, who would easily cruise to his third-career Chili Bowl Nationals win.

Pursley would come home in the runner-up position ahead of Shane Golobic, Ryan Bernal, and Landon Brooks, who capped off the top-five finishers in the race.

Logan Seavey, who had won the last two editions of the Chili Bowl Nationals, made it into the A-Main in his attempt at a three-peat. However, his bid to win three Golden Drillers in a row came up short with a seventh-place run.

Larson's fellow NASCAR Cup Series competitor Christopher Bell, who was competing in this event for the first time in three years, came home in 10th. Bell is a two-time winner of the Chili Bowl Nationals.

2025 Chili Bowl Nationals Results

1. Kyle Larson
2. Daison Pursley
3. Shane Golobic
4. Ryan Bernal
5. Landon Brooks
6. Buddy Kofoid
7. Logan Seavey
8. Gavin Miller
9. Emerson Axsom
10. Christopher Bell
11. Corey Day
12. Hank Davis
13. Tim Buckwalter
14. Cannon McIntosh
15. Tyler Courtney
16. Frank Flud
17. Jacob Denney
18. Justin Grant
19. Brenham Crouch
20. Corbin Rueschenberg
21. Tyler Edwards
22. Kale Drake
23. Tanner Thorson
24. Jonathan Beason

In all, 375 entries were filed for the 2025 Chili Bowl Nationals. Over the last week, numerous heat races, and features were run, and by Saturday evening, the 375-car entry list was whittled down to 24, who would start in the Championship A-Main.

In addition to Larson and Bell, several other NASCAR Cup Series drivers attempted to work their way into the Main Event on Saturday night, but ultimately came up shy.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was as close as you can get to advancing to the A-Main without actually advancing to the A-Main. Stenhouse finished eighth in the B-Main 2, a race where the top-seven finishers advanced to the A-Main.

JJ Yeley saw his bid for an A-Main slot come to an end with a 10th-place finish in the C-Main 2, where the top-five advanced to the B-Mains.

Kyle Busch, making his Chili Bowl Nationals debut, finished third in the F-Main 2, which advanced him to the E-Main 2, failed to advance past the E-Main as he finished 14th of 20 in that event.

Ty Gibbs, also making his Chili Bowl Nationals debut, narrowly missed advancing to the E-Main 2 along with Busch. Gibbs finished sixth in the F-Main 2, a race where the top-five advanced to the E-Mains. Gibbs did win the G-Main 2 on his path to the F-Main 2.

Josh Bilicki, a part-time NASCAR Cup Series competitor, also competed and he actually scored the win in the H-Main 2, but was eliminated from Chili Bowl Nationals competition with a seventh-place run in the G-Main 2.