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Kaylee Bryson started in the sixth row of the 2022 Chili Bowl A-Main in Tulsa, Oklahoma Saturday night. In doing so, she became the first female driver to make it to the feature race in the 36-year history of the event. The 20-year-old Oklahoma native felt right at home while making history.
Kaylee went on to finish the race in 18th place, behind winner Tanner Thorson. Christopher Bell took the runner-up spot, followed by Rico Abreu in third and Michael "Buddy" Kofoid finished in fourth, while Tanner Carrick rounded off the top five.
Kaylee Bryson's path to Chili Bowl history
Kaylee's week officially started on Tuesday as she finished runner-up in her heat race, followed by another runner-up finish in her qualifier. That second-place finish was good enough to send her to Tuesday night's Feature Prelim, where she started in the second row behind pole sitter Kyle Larson. 20-year-old Bryson was ecstatic to compete with NASCAR stars at the quarter-mile indoor oval.
After 30 laps, the checkered flags waved and Kaylee found herself in sixth place, which was good enough to see her through to Saturday's B-Main.
Following the event, she said:
"Yeah, I saw that they watered the top of the track and that's always good for about five laps, so somehow, we pulled off a win in that. We're sittin' in the Chili Bowl, I'm pumped, I'm extremely happy to be here."
As soon as the green flag waved in the B-Main, Kaylee jumped to the top of the track, where she was lightening quick. Settling into her groove, she went from 10th to first and into the history books by winning the B-Main.
Tanner Thorson holds off Christopher Bell to win 2022 Chili Bowl A-Feature
Christopher Bell led 36 of the A-Main event's 55 laps on Saturday night. But it was Tanner Thorson who had the lead when the checkered flags waved. Thorson's victory put an end to Kyle Larson's winning streak between 2020-21. Larson went on to finish the race in sixth place.
