Ventura, California (November 30, 2024)………Corey Day’s first try at the ARP Turkey Night Grand Prix Presented by the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2023 marked a grand entrance to the event for the Clovis, Calif. native.
In his encore performance on Saturday night at California’s Ventura Raceway, Day rose to the occasion quite literally and figuratively as he made the winning move 17 laps from the finish line to earn $15,000 and become a first-time winner of the 83rd running of the prestigious event.
In doing so, Day became the youngest winner in the history of the Turkey Night Grand Prix after celebrating his 19th birthday just two days earlier. Caleb Armstrong was the previous record holder, having won the 2011 event at the age of 19 years, 3 months and 8 days.
Furthermore, Day secured the fifth consecutive Turkey Night USAC Midget feature victory for a driver from the state of California, following in the footsteps of Kyle Larson (2019), Logan Seavey (2021), Justin Grant (2022) and Kyle Larson (2023).
Meanwhile, Daison Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.) finished off a remarkable personal comeback from injury to capture the 2024 USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship for himself and his CB Industries team with a third-place showing in the season finale.
Less than a week after supplying car owner Willie Kahne his first career USAC National Midget triumph at California’s Merced Speedway, Day delivered once more in the 98-lap event at Ventura’s 1/5-mile dirt oval with a 20-year-old powerplant – a full year older than Day himself – at the wheel of his Durst – Four CCCC’s Construction – Sander Engineering/Triple X/Wirth Mopar.
“Hats off to Willie Kahne, Will Durst and Bob Wirth for giving me a good motor that no one thought would work, and it does,” Day praised.
Day also admitted that he’d never before capped off a season with a victory. To do it in one of the most prestigious motorsports events on the calendar, that’s icing on the cake for the driver who was a regular with the Kubota High Limit Series throughout the year and also made a handful of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and ARCA Menards Series starts.
“This was my last race of the year, and I’ve never ended the year with a win in all my years racing,” Day remarked. “To do that feels really, really good. I look forward to this swing so much, and to just be able to come race and almost relax. It’s not as high pressure as the normal stuff I’m doing and I’m just really glad Willie and I could get a couple wins down here, and I’m glad to be one spot better here this year.”
Starting eighth, Day steadily moved forward and had worked himself into the top-five by the midway point on the 49th lap. Jacob Denney flexed his muscles early by leading the initial 25 laps as he exchanged the low and high lines with constant pursuer Pursley.
As the front runners worked a gauntlet of traffic, Buddy Kofoid advanced his way to the head of the herd as he worked under Pursley for second on lap 23, and shortly thereafter, went to the high side to travel around Denney for the race lead on the 26th circuit.
Suddenly, four-time Turkey Night winner Kyle Larson appeared in the frame as he slotted into fifth by lap 44 after starting in the 10th position. However, just three trips later on lap 47, Larson’s reign, for all intents and purposes, ended when a chain reaction starting from Pursley to Larson to Day resulted in rear bumper contact from Day to Larson. That chrome to chrome contact sent Larson into a 360 degree spin in turn two. By rule, Larson had to restart the race from the tail where he managed only to get back to the 20th spot after dropping out with 21 laps remaining, his first Turkey Night finish outside the top-five in 12 starts.
Following the restart, Tanner Thorson emerged as a contender and was able to slide Kofoid the lead, albeit briefly, in turns three and four on the 49th lap before Kofoid cut back under to reassume the lead. While those two duked it out up top, Denney was constantly crawling the infield berm. After Thorson slammed the turn two cushion with his right rear tire on lap 50 and dropped back to fourth, Denney disposed of Thorson, then surpassed Kofoid to retake the number one spot.
When Kofoid bounced off the back straightaway wall on lap 55, Day took advantage of his fellow competitor’s white wall misfortune to grab second, then set his sights on Denney who patrolled the low line as the leader with 43 to go. As the rubber began to become a prominent streak around the inner perimeter, Day stalked Denney from a mere single car length behind.
“I knew that the rubber was going to come in, unfortunately,” Day explained. “With so many laps on this place, you just really can’t keep it off it. I knew it was going to come in; it was just a matter of when it was. I tried the bottom and then I’d move up, then I kept trying the bottom just to see. I saw Denney down there get by a couple of cars, so I knew it was in. I knew I needed to get down there and get my tires worked in for it.”
On lap 82, Denney drifted ever so slightly off the bottom line and opened the door for Day to pounce. Pulling even with Denney exiting turn two and down the back straightaway, Day slipped past for the lead entering turn three before crossing the line, with Denney just behind, to complete the lap just as seventh running Cannon McIntosh slowed with a flat right rear tire, which necessitated a yellow flag, ending any sliver of title hopes he held on to.
From the lap 83 restart onward, Day was untouchable as he pulled out to a full second lead almost instantaneously. At that moment, Denney began to fade as Kofoid (lap 84) and Pursley (lap 87) followed suit past him into second and third, respectively. Yet, the field bunched one final time on lap 90 after Rookie Broedy Graham (18th) spun to a stop in turn one. During the caution period, Thorson (5th) slowed with a shredded right rear tire.
Despite seeing his one second lead evaporate with the yellow, Day got back on the horse and rode it to the finish line over the final nine laps to score a 1.009 second margin of victory over Buddy Kofoid and Daison Pursley with Jacob Denney fourth and Logan Seavey rounding out the top-five.
After finishing second in the 2021 Turkey Night Grand Prix, Buddy Kofoid (Penngrove, Calif.) collected his second career runner-up result in the event after leading 24 laps in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – TRD – Curb Records – IWX/Lynk/Speedway Toyota.
Daison Pursley capped his championship season with a third-place finish, far outlasting his best previous Turkey Night results of 19th and 14th in 2019 and 2023, respectively, in his CB Industries/PristineAuction.com – NOS Energy Drink – TRD/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
It was a big night for Pursley’s CBI teammate Zach Wigal (Belpre, Ohio) who doubled up the honors on Saturday night. His 11th place result made him the 2024 Don Basile Rookie of the Race. Adding to the accolades, Wigal also finished the year by locking up the Max Papis Innovations USAC National Midget Rookie of the Year award.
Tanner Carrick’s (Lincoln, Calif.) return to Turkey Night after a three-year hiatus was a solid one. After starting 19th, Carrick advanced +9 to finish 10th, which earned him hard charger honors for the evening.
On Friday, Dalten Gabbard (Peoria, Ariz.) found himself upside down on the track’s exit ramp following a flip during practice. After thrashing to get the car repaired overnight, he transferred his way into his first career USAC National Midget start on Saturday night at Ventura. That earned him the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: November 30, 2024 – Ventura Raceway – Ventura, California – 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval – 83rd ARP Turkey Night Grand Prix Presented By The West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: (Top-10 locked into the feature) 1. Jacob Denney, 25, Malloy-12.072; 2. Daison Pursley, 86, CBI-12.206; 3. Buddy Kofoid, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.238; 4. Tanner Thorson, 25m, Malloy-12.254; 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 57KT, Abacus-12.286; 6. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.295; 7. Kale Drake, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.299; 8. Corey Day, 4, Kahne-12.313; 9. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.345; 10. Kyle Larson, 1K, Silva-12.364; 11. Jake Swanson, 31, Beilman-12.369; 12. Justin Grant, 2, RMS-12.382; 13. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-12.385; 14. Zach Wigal, 89, CBI-12.480; 15. Tyler Courtney, 23c, Silva-12.484; 16. Tanner Carrick, 98, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.498; 17. Emerson Axsom, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.505; 18. Chase McDermand, 8w, Ford-12.507; 19. Carson Macedo, 99AU, Dyson-12.513; 20. Dalten Gabbard, 77, Gabbard-12.601; 21. Kaylee Bryson, 58, Abacus-12.606; 22. Ryan Timms, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.615; 23. Ronnie Gardner, 68, Six8-12.624; 24. C.J. Leary, 15, Hart-12.628; 25. Jake Andreotti, 00, Davis-12.630; 26. Cade Lewis, 101, Alexander-12.659; 27. T.J. Smith, 32x, Sarale-12.673; 28. Zach Daum, 31B, Beilman-12.675; 29. Kyle Busch, 51B, Busch-12.676; 30. Broedy Graham, 66, BGR-12.704; 31. Brody Fuson, 51, Carlile-12.715; 32. Drake Edwards, 3p, Petty-12.722; 33. Ty Gibbs, 81, CBI-12.750; 34. Michael Faccinto, 14, Graunstadt/Streeter-12.780; 35. Austin Torgerson, 88A, Mounce/Stout-12.829; 36. Caden Sarale, 32, Sarale-12.830; 37. Alex Karpowicz, 19, Mounce/Stout-12.846; 38. Stevie Sussex, 20AZ, Crown Jewel-12.904; 39. Dane Culver, 50, Knuckles Up-12.935; 40. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling-12.982; 41. Randi Pankratz, 8, Pankratz-12.990; 42. C.J. Sarna, 20, Sarna-13.051; 43. Cole Wakim, 73, Ford-13.054; 44. Abby Hohlbein, 55, Lambert-13.151; 45. Mathew Radisich, 14T, Graunstadt/Streeter-13.174; 46. Kyle Hawse, 20x, Hawse-13.380; 47. Peter Paulson, Q32, El Toro-13.387; 48. Todd Hawse, 18, Hawse-13.530; 49. Jim Vanzant, 3v, Vanzant-13.670; 50. Bryan Drollinger, 71D, Drollinger-13.719; 51. Barrie Valentino, Q23, El Toro-13.741; 52. J.J. Yeley, 3J, Petty-16.766.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST QUALIFYING RACE: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Zach Wigal, 2. Jake Swanson, 3. Dalten Gabbard, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Cade Lewis, 6. Ronnie Gardner, 7. Austin Torgerson, 8. Kyle Busch, 9. Randi Pankratz, 10. Stevie Sussex, 11. Drake Edwards, 12. Abby Hohlbein, 13. Bryan Drollinger, 14. Peter Paulson. NT
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND QUALIFYING RACE: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Kaylee Bryson, 4. C.J. Leary, 5. Chase McDermand, 6. Caden Sarale, 7. Broedy Graham, 8. T.J. Smith, 9. C.J. Sarna, 10. Dane Culver, 11. Ty Gibbs, 12. Mathew Radisch, 13. Todd Hawse, 14. Barrie Valentino. 2:35.259
T.J. FORGED/CAR IQ THIRD QUALIFYING RACE: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Ryan Timms, 3. Tanner Carrick, 4. Zach Daum, 5. Jake Andreotti, 6. Carson Macedo, 7. Brody Fuson, 8. Alex Karpowicz, 9. Cale Coons, 10. Michael Faccinto, 11. J.J. Yeley, 12. Kyle Hawse, 13. Jim Vanzant. 2:40.057
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (15 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase McDermand, 2. Cade Lewis, 3. Ronnie Gardner, 4. Broedy Graham, 5. Caden Sarale, 6. Austin Torgerson, 7. Dane Culver, 8. T.J. Smith, 9. Brody Fuson, 10. Michael Faccinto, 11. C.J. Sarna, 12. Randi Pankratz, 13. Stevie Sussex, 14. Cale Coons, 15. Alex Karpowicz, 16. Kyle Busch, 17. Jake Andreotti. NT
FEATURE: (98 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Corey Day (8), 2. Buddy Kofoid (3), 3. Daison Pursley (2), 4. Jacob Denney (1), 5. Logan Seavey (13), 6. Gavin Miller (9), 7. Justin Grant (15), 8. Kale Drake (7), 9. Jake Swanson (14), 10. Tanner Carrick (19), 11. Zach Wigal (11), 12. Cannon McIntosh (6), 13. Tyler Courtney (12), 14. Tanner Thorson (4), 15. Zach Daum (21), 16. Cade Lewis (23), 17. C.J. Leary (20), 18. Dalten Gabbard (17), 19. Broedy Graham (25), 20. Kyle Larson (10), 21. Emerson Axsom (26), 22. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 23. Ronnie Gardner (24), 24. Chase McDermand (22), 25. Kaylee Bryson (18), 26. Ryan Timms (16). NT
**Jake Andreotti flipped during the semi.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-25 Jacob Denney, Laps 26-49 Buddy Kofoid, Laps 50-81 Jacob Denney, Laps 82-98 Corey Day.
FINAL USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Daison Pursley-1505, 2-Cannon McIntosh-1446, 3-Logan Seavey-1355, 4-Ryan Timms-1311, 5-Jacob Denney-1283, 6-Zach Daum-1256, 7-Justin Grant-1210, 8-Gavin Miller-1176, 9-Zach Wigal-1085, 10-Kale Drake-1063.
FINAL USAC NATIONAL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Daison Pursley-209, 2-Logan Seavey-204, 3-Justin Grant-164, 4-Robert Ballou-149, 5-C.J. Leary-134, 6-Kyle Cummins-131, 7-Chase Stockon-126, 8-Matt Westfall-121, 9-Brady Bacon-120, 10-Kevin Thomas Jr.-107.
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Jacob Denney (12.204)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Jacob Denney (12.072)
Simpson Race Products First Qualifying Race Winner: Zach Wigal
Rod End Supply Second Qualifying Race Winner: Tyler Courtney
T.J. Forged/Car IQ Third Qualifying Race Winner: Logan Seavey
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Chase McDermand
Hard Charger: Tanner Carrick (19th to 10th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Dalten Gabbard
Don Basile Rookie of the Race: Zach Wigal (11th)
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