Whoever vs whomever

So I recently had a debate in when to use whoever vs whomever. In the sentence "give it to whoever/ whomever asks first" the opposing argument states that "whoever asks first" is a noun clause, and you should use whoever. I see that is the general consensus, and seems correct on first observation. However the more I look at it the more it looks like "asks first" is a restrictive clause instead which would pull the pronoun with the preposition making whomever be correct,

It might be pulling at straws, but if you first look at that clause with the pronoun "he" substituted for "whoever" the clause would read "he that asks first" where "that asks first" is a restrictive clause that limits of all males, only the one that asks first is accepted.

The definition of whoever that you would use here is "anyone that" where "anyone" is the "who" and "that" becomes implied to follow. The clause would then read "anyone that answers first." the whole sentence then reads "give it to anyone that asks first" with anyone alone being the object of the preposition to since it is in the restrictive clause.

Because when you use the definition of whoever to expand the word to fit more proper "asks first" becomes grouped in the restrictive clause where that is implied because of the definition. The pronoun then would become the object of the preposition as the rules of restrictive clauses in prepositional clauses states.

So, wouldn't that make the correct way to say it "give it to whomever asks first." or am I overlooking something?

---(If you want to state that it would be "who" that follows "anyone" instead of "that", that wouldn't change the outcome. Even in "anyone who asks first" [which would make you thing to parallel The "who" to "whoever"] to bring whoever back into the sentence as whoever would also make it fit in the restrictive clause as well and there would be no object of the preposition)