Honestly, if you're looking for the finishing order for the NASCAR race today, you've gotta look away from the asphalt and toward the dirt of Oklahoma. It’s January 17, 2026. The Cup Series engines are still mostly quiet back in North Carolina—save for some shop noise as teams prep for the Clash at Bowman Gray next month—but the real action is happening right now inside the SageNet Center.
It's the Saturday finale of the Chili Bowl Nationals.
This isn't your standard Sunday afternoon 500-miler. It’s chaos. It’s a literal indoor dirt track where the air smells like methanol and the margins for error are basically zero. While the official "NASCAR" season hasn't started its points-paying run, the finishing order for the NASCAR race today involves a heavy-hitting roster of Cup stars like Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell fighting through the "alphabet soup" of mains to get to that elusive Golden Driller trophy.
The Alphabet Soup: How the Field Shook Out
The Chili Bowl is famous for its brutal ladder system. You don’t just show up and race the final. You survive. Today, we saw drivers starting as low as the O-Mains, desperately trying to "transfer" up.
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Basically, the top few finishers in each race move to the back of the next one. It’s a long day. For the NASCAR guys, the preliminary nights earlier this week dictated where they started today. Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell, both three-time winners, dominated their prelims, which put them safely toward the front of the A-Main. But for guys like Ty Gibbs or Josh Bilicki, the road was a lot bumpier.
Saturday's Key Transfer Results
- Kyle Larson: Won his Monday prelim. He locked into the A-Main early, avoiding the midday stress.
- Christopher Bell: Took the checkered flag in his Thursday prelim. He’s been the man to beat all week, looking faster than almost anyone on the cushion.
- Corey Day: The newest member of the Hendrick Motorsports family (for the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series) has been a standout. He secured a solid spot in the finale after a podium finish in his prelim.
- Sheldon Creed: Making his debut this year. He’s been learning the midget car ropes on the fly, and honestly, he held his own better than many expected for a rookie.
Why the Finishing Order for the NASCAR Race Today Matters for 2026
You might wonder why we care about a dirt race in Tulsa when talking about NASCAR. Well, look at the 2026 Cup Series landscape. The "off-season" doesn't really exist for the elite.
Larson is coming off another championship year. Bell is consistently the best Toyota driver in the field. When these guys spend their "vacation" racing against 300+ of the best dirt trackers in the world, they stay sharp. The finishing order for the NASCAR race today is often a preview of who has that "edge" going into Daytona.
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There’s also the Jesse Love factor. He’s back in the mix this year, and his aggressive style fits the Chili Bowl perfectly. Seeing where he lands in the final results tells us a lot about his comfort level with high-stakes, high-pressure resets—something NASCAR's new 2026 "Chase" format is going to demand.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Chili Bowl
A lot of casual fans think this is just a "fun" exhibition. It isn't. It’s arguably the hardest race to win in America.
You have to beat the specialists. Guys like Logan Seavey and Buddy Kofoid live for this. They don't care if a driver has a Cup trophy on their mantle; they'll slide-job them into the wall without a second thought. That’s why the finishing order for the NASCAR race today is so prestigious. If a NASCAR driver wins here, they’ve earned it through sheer grit, not just superior equipment.
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The track changes every ten minutes. The "moisture" moves. The "cushion" gets thinner. If you aren't adjusting your line constantly, you're moving backward.
Actionable Insights for Fans Following the Results
If you're tracking the final standings as they roll in tonight from Tulsa, keep an eye on these specific metrics:
- Hard Chargers: Look for the driver who came from the furthest back in the A-Main. In 2004, J.J. Yeley famously passed 69 cars in one day. If someone is making a massive run today, they have the best handle on the evolving dirt.
- Lap Times vs. Traffic: The winner isn't always the fastest car; it's the one that manages lap traffic without losing momentum.
- Engine Reliability: These midget engines are pushed to the absolute limit. Watch for late-race smoke, which has spoiled many "NASCAR" victories in the past.
The final A-Main typically runs late on Saturday night. Once the dust settles, the finishing order for the NASCAR race today will be topped by one person holding a Golden Driller. Whether it’s a familiar Cup face or a dirt-track hero, the 39th running of this event has once again proven that January is anything but a "dead" month for racing fans.
Check the live FloRacing feeds for the specific lap-by-lap breakdowns, as the official box score often changes with post-race inspections. If you're looking forward to the asphalt, the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray is just two weeks away on February 1st. Get your DVRs ready.