“Bring the heat all the way to Daytona!”: NASCAR world celebrates Kyle Busch’s successful Chili Bowl outing

Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch impressed on his Chili Bowl Nationals debut. Competing in a midget car, the 39-year-old finished his heat race with 118 passing points, placing him third overall among 83 drivers. Busch made his Chili Bowl debut in the KBM, Lucas Oil, FloRacing No. 51 car.

After the race, celebrating his performance, Kyle Busch shared a post-race tweet with a photo of himself smiling alongside a race snippet. In the tweet, he dedicated the performance to his fanbase, playfully referring to it as one for the "Top Row Rowdy’s."

“That one was for the top row Rowdy’s.🤝

7-2 Heat Race got me like…,” he added.

Fans gathered in the comment section to congratulate the driver on his performance, while others showed enthusiasm about the opening race of the NASCAR season, the Daytona 500. One fan reaction, in particular, summed up the hype surrounding the crown jewel race.

"Bring the heat all the way to Daytona!" the fan wrote.

The tweet by Kyle Busch received an overall positive reaction.

"Biggest grin in a long long time!! 💪💪🔥🔥❤️❤️," tweeted another fan

"Watched it live, that was awesome. I was fist-pumping towards the end! Way to be Rowdy! WOO! 👏🏻," another fan wrote.

"Awesome!!! Now LET'S DO THIS!!!" another one shared.

"Hell yeah!! #RowdyNation," a proud fan tweeted.

Best of luck and remember, always have fun out there!!" one more added.

"I love watching the Midgets race. Always great action!" said one fan

The Chili Bowl is a widely renowned midget racing event at the Tulsa Expo every year. The 2025 Chili Bowl had about 381 pre-entries (via floracing.com) and has a driver lineup across racing formats.

Logan Seavey (2024 and 2023), Tanner Thorson (2022), and Kyle Larson (2021 and 2020) were the winners of the last five seasons. All three champions have also made it to this year's entry list.

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Kyle Busch finished 3rd in the Chili Bowl Nationals

NASCAR Cup Series Championship driver, Kyle Busch - Source: Imagn

Kyle Busch joined the lineup to compete in his third-ever Midget car race. Held in a tight indoor dirt track, the Chili Bowl has a unique format, where drivers get passing points based on their overtakes and finishing positions.

Busch started in seventh position during the third heat race of the night and passed five cars to secure a second-place finish. His performance got him a total of 118 passing points, ranking him as the third-best driver in Friday’s standings, trailing Logan Seavey (128 points) and Ryan Timms (120 points)

The result qualified Busch for Qualifier 3 later that evening and will decide his starting position in either the B-Main or A-Main events over the weekend.