January 15, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

Kaylee Bryson becomes first female to advance to Chili Bowl Nationals feature

Kaylee Bryson is breaking ground again—this time at the Chili Bowl Nationals.

On Saturday night, the 20-year-old from Muskogee, Oklahoma, became the first female in the 36-year history of the Super Bowl of midgets to win the second B-Main and advance to the feature. 

“It feels freakin’ bad ass,” Bryson said. “This is awesome. This has been my dream since I was a little kid—was to make the Chili Bowl A-feature, and we did it in some style coming from 10th to first in the B-Main. So let’s rip!”

In just her third appearance at the Chili Bowl, Bryson won her heat race on Tuesday and finished second in the qualifier. Her sixth-place finish in her preliminary night shattered the previous-best 10th-place run for a female set by Harli White in 2016. White advanced to the B Feature on Championship night and ended up 19th in her B-main that year. 

But Bryson has been a force this week at the Tulsa Expo Raceway behind the wheel of the No. Keith Kunz Motorsports 71K Toyota. She worked the high lane, moved up to third on Lap 6 and to the point two laps later. Despite a spate of late-race cautions that set up a green-white-checkered finish, Bryson held the lead to the checkered flag.

“This car was dialed in,” Bryson said. “I can't thank the entire Keith Kunz group enough. I’m just so blessed to be here.

“All I could think of was, ‘Man, I’m just so nervous.’ I just wanted to make the show. That’s all I could think of all day. All week, I just wanted to make the show. We did it. So now, I’m just happy.”

Bryson's teammate, three-time golden driller-winner, Christopher Bell will lead the field to green.