Santino Ferrucci delivered a memorable birthday gift to his boss A.J. Foyt on Friday night, capturing a heat race victory during preliminary action at the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals.

Starting from the pole in the second heat, Ferrucci stayed glued to the bottom and led all eight laps in his No. 16 Abacus Racing entry, holding off two-time Chili Bowl winner — and Friday’s prelim A-Feature victor — Logan Seavey.

The win marked Ferrucci’s first taste of victory inside the Tulsa Expo Center, coming in his sixth career appearance at midget racing’s most prestigious event. It also carried added significance, arriving on the 91st birthday of Foyt, the four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Ferrucci races for in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.

The heat race proved to be the high point of Ferrucci’s evening. He dropped from third to ninth in his qualifier, and later saw his night end in the B2 Feature after an engine issue knocked him from ninth to 15th.

Even so, the heat win kept his momentum — and confidence — intact.

“It’s been a fantastic day,” Ferrucci told Motorsport.com. “You come here and just to get a win in this building, regardless if it’s a heat or a qualifier, however it goes, is really cool. Our No. 16 Webco midget was really quick. The Abacus boys did a great job. The car was phenomenal.

“A mistake cost us in the qualifier. I was slowly figuring out the B. I was running the bottom and trying to get up top because people weren’t there, and then we had a small engine issue that ended our run there. But all in all, we’ve had a fantastic Chili Bowl this year compared to last year. Excited to run some soup tomorrow and see where we can go.”

Looking ahead to Saturday, Ferrucci knows he will need to navigate the event’s trademark “alphabet soup” of elimination races to climb toward a career-best result. Based on Friday’s performance, he is projected to start somewhere around the J-Main on Saturday, though the exact spot won’t be clear until morning due to potential withdrawals. His best Chili Bowl finish to date is sixth in the G-Main, achieved in 2023.

“All the hard work is starting to pay off, but I want to make that A-Main, man,” Ferrucci said. “I’m still hungry for that. Let’s see if we can continue to do this in the future.”

Read the full article written by Joey Barnes on Motorsport.