NASCAR veteran Kyle Busch makes his feelings known after a “great” Chili Bowl debut

Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch made his Chili Bowl Nationals debut at the SageNet Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Friday (January 17). After the race he took to his X account to express his feelings on his Chili Bowl debut, calling it a great start as the Las Vegas native charged from seventh to second in his heat race.

Driving the #51K Kyle Busch Motorsports, the NASCAR veteran had a topsy-turvy opening night in his Chili Bowl Nationals career. After a strong heat race, Busch struggled in the qualifier race. He finished seventh in the qualifier and failed to advance to Friday night’s A-Main. He needed to finish fourth or higher to make it into the 30-lap prelim feature.

Ahead of Saturday’s Chili Bowl main event, Kyle Bush reflected back on the opening night of his Chili Bowl career and said:

“My Chili Bowl debut started off great! Went 7 to 2 in my Heat to be third in points. I lost one position in my Qualifier and missed the A-Main lock-in by one spot. Struggled a bit in the B-Main, so I’m in F-Main 2 this afternoon. See what we can do!!” Busch wrote.

This event marked Kyle Busch’s first appearance in the “Super Bowl of midget racing,” a goal he had long aspired to achieve. However, this isn’t the first time the Richard Childress Racing star has raced inside the SageNet Center, as he previously participated in the Tulsa Shootout three times.

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Kyle Busch shed light on his goals to advance in the Chili Bowl Nationals main event

The 39-year-old from Las Vegas, Nevada, who finished seventh in B-Main, could be set for a healthy helping of Chili Bowl’s “Alphabet Soup” structure. Busch will start eighth in the F-Main 2 on Saturday.

To secure his spot in the 40-lap A-Feature on Saturday night, he will need to first finish inside the top five in the F-Main to advance on to the E-Main and then keep moving up from there to the B-Main.

Kyle Busch knows it’s not going to be easy; that’s why he kept his expectations realistic based on Friday’s performance.

“Coming in I would have said a C-Main would be probably pretty good, pretty respectable. But we’ll be starting in an F tomorrow so, F to E? That’s a little lower than I wanted to be, but I think that’s probably where we’d be.” Busch said via Frontstretch.

Catch Kyle Busch in action in the 15-lap second F-Main at 3:10 pm ET on FloRacing.