NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Champion Competing in Chili Bowl

Before embarking on his defense of the 2025 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Series championship, Jesse Love is returning to the Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Love is driving a car owned by Blake Harris, who is also Alex Bowman's crew chief at Hendrick Motorsports in the NASCAR Cup Series. The entry will be fielded by 2nd Opinion Auto Center Racing.

Indoor szn 🥸 pic.twitter.com/W14WSX8JuR
— jesse love jr (@jesselovejr1) January 6, 2026

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.

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 suffered a flip while leading his qualifier race on Thursday night of the event.

As of January 4, 385 entries were officially listed on the Chili Bowl's website. Love joins a growing list of past and present NASCAR competitors taking part in the Chili Bowl Nationals.

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.

J.J. Yeley, Sheldon Creed, Corey Day and Josh Bilicki are also among the NASCAR drivers partaking in this year's Chili Bowl. For Creed, this will be his debut in the Chili Bowl Nationals.

Some familiar faces from the #NASCAR and #ARCA world competing in the 2026 #ChiliBowlNationals and their prelim nights:

MONDAY - Larson, Welch
TUESDAY - Yeley, Bryson, Bell, Boschele, Gibbs, Creed
WEDNESDAY - Day
THURSDAY - Laster, Bilicki, Roulette
FRIDAY - Scelzi (Spire) https://t.co/W9ia0fHitW
— Joseph Srigley (@joe_srigley) January 5, 2026

Love claimed the 2025 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series championship, besting Connor Zilisch at Phoenix Raceway in the series' championship race. The California driver won two races during the 2025 season, recording nine top-fives and 22 top-10 finishes.

He will return to Richard Childress Racing in 2026 for another shot at the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series championship behind the wheel of the team's No. 2 Chevrolet.

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.

Berryhill's name may be a familiar one to NASCAR fans as well. Berryhill made two NASCAR Cup Series starts and 43 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series starts between 2012 and 2021.

This year's Chili Bowl Nationals is scheduled for January 12-17, 2026.