VENTURA, Calif. — One year ago, Corey Day placed himself in the record books as the youngest ever Turkey Night Grand Prix winner.
On Saturday, one night after celebrating his 20th birthday, the Clovis, Calif., racer became the youngest two-time victor of the ARP Turkey Night Grand Prix Presented by The West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame at California’s Ventura Raceway.
In doing so, Day accomplished a rare feat in the 84-year history of Turkey Night by capturing back-to-back wins in the event, joining Ronney Householder (1936-37), Roy Russing (1940-41), A.J. Foyt (1960-61), Ron Shuman (1979-80-81-82), Chuck Gurney (1988-89), Stan Fox (1990-91), Ron Shuman (1992-93), Billy Boat (1995-96-97), Bryan Clauson (2009-10) and Christopher Bell (2017-18).
Though he only competes in a handful of USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship events per year during November’s Golden State Invasion, Day feels at home, not only in California, but also in the seat of a midget.
“It just wouldn’t be possible without Willie Kahne,” Day praised. “He works so hard all year and just tinkers on this thing and tries to get it better. Even though we won last year, we showed up with a little something different this year to try and be better, and I think it was. I love coming home at the end of the year and running these races. This is just such a cool place for me.”
In a 98-lap duel that saw Day and Logan Seavey exchange the lead on nine occasions, Day grabbed the upper hand on the 75th circuit and led the remaining 24 laps en route to victory at the helm of his Wille Kahne/Durst – Jet Fitness – Sander Engineering – Alviso Rock/Triple X powered by a Wirth Mopar that’s 21-years old, one year older than Day himself.
In researching the data over the past 55 years, the nine lead changes are the most at Turkey Night since at least 1970. The most lead exchanges in that time frame between 1970-2024 was six, which occurred three different times in 1988, 1992 and 1999.
Meanwhile, despite a flat right-rear tire and a 15th place result, Cannon McIntosh wrapped up his first USAC National Midget driving championship by a 44-point margin over Justin Grant. For Keith Kunz Motorsports, it’s their record-extending 13th USAC National Midget entrant title. For Curb-Agajanian, their latest entrant title is their 11th.
In front of a sold out, capacity crowd at the fifth-mile seaside oval, Daison Pursley began the race from the pole position after setting fast time with a lap of 12.140 seconds during Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying.
That said, outside front row starter Seavey established the early race lead while Day made quick work from his third starting position, passing Pursley on the 12th lap to slot into second. Pursley, who won the accompanying Ultimate Sprint Car Series feature event, ultimately dropped out just after midway with a mechanical issue while running fourth.
Two laps later, Day scooted under Seavey to take over the lead on the 16th trip. By lap 18, Seavey had fought back to the front after firing past Day on the top side of turn four.
As far as settling in, finding a groove and letting the race come to them, well, that notion was a non-starter in this one. On lap 21, Day worked under Seavey for the lead once more in turn two, utilizing the low groove, just where he wanted to be.
“I got the top rolling there on him early in the race and was able to get by him and I could just see it start to get blacker and blacker and blacker down there,” Day noticed. “This place the past couple of years, and this race, has been won around the bottom and I just didn’t want to be stuck on the top and get passed by a couple of guys. I kind of wanted to be the first one down there.”
Forced to eschew his preferred low line entering turn three moments later on lap 22, Day entered turn three on the high side and nearly collided with the back of Ronnie Gardner’s car as they were attempting to put him a lap down. The near melee shuffled Day nearly all the way up to the outside wall. Day gathered it up and motored on, all while Seavey gleefully slipped by on the bottom to reassume the top spot.
On the 28th lap, Day went against his plan and drove back around the outside of Seavey off turn four to take control of the see-saw once again and immediately cut down across Seavey to reaffirm his position along the infield berm at the entry to turn one.
Day remained in control for the next 38 laps throughout the midsection of the race. At the same time, Seavey was dedicated to cutting his own swath of land on the upper crust of the surface. Shortly after a caution, on the 66th lap, Seavey’s persistence paid off as he ripped around Day to nip him at the line by a wheel. But just as soon as he put his number at the top of the board, Seavey biked on the turn two cushion and Day reestablished his position at the front.
Although he was slightly tempted, Day didn’t want to fall into a trap and chance it by switching lanes and acting as a matador to allow Seavey to freely have the low line as the race progressed and the track surface slicked off.
“He had me worried there for a little bit because he was running pretty hard,” Day said of Seavey. “It’s always hard to tell if it’s a good idea to move up because he could’ve been tricking me, and if I moved up, he could’ve gone right by me on the bottom. It’s just tough to be leading like that when you don’t know what the track is going to do.”
Seavey kept at it, and on lap 70, he surged into the lead again on the high side and remained at the top of the pylon for the ensuing five laps. Day never once wavered, however, and by lap 75, the pendulum had swung his way once more, and this time for good, on a restart with 24 laps remaining.
Shortly after Day took the lead, Cale Coons (21st) flipped on lap 76 in turn two, becoming the fourth upside down victim of the feature, following Jakeb Boxell on lap 32, Caden Sarale on lap 43 and Jacob Denney on the 51st circuit. However, Denney recovered to finish ninth.
Down the stretch, Seavey began to abandon the top, and soon settled in on the low line, tucked in behind Day who had fully embraced control of the race. But a lap 94 caution for a Hayden Reinbold right rear wheel ramp and spin in turn one put a momentary hold on Day’s winning plans, all while seeing his 1.3-second lead evaporate.
That was of no worry to Day who whisked away from Seavey on the restart and put the finishing touches on a 1.706 second margin of victory ahead of Seavey, Buddy Kofoid and Kyle Larson who advanced 10 spots to finish fourth despite a radius rod that jettisoned itself at one point during the early portion of the feature. Kevin Thomas Jr. rounded out the top-five.
Karter Sarff collected Don Basile Turkey Night Rookie of the Year honors and a $500 bonus with a sixth-place result in the feature. It was a full circle accomplishment for the team as Sarff’s car owner, Jerome Rodela, won the same award in 2002 as a driver at Turkey Night.
USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Ventura Raceway, Ventura, Calif., Nov. 29,2025
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: (top-10 locked into the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 84, CBI-12.140; 2. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-12.144; 3. Corey Day, 4K, Kahne-12.167; 4. Karter Sarff, 25, Rodela-12.189; 5. Buddy Kofoid, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.228; 6. Gunnar Setser, 43, Arnold-12.281; 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 14, 4 Kings-12.286; 8. Jacob Denney, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.288; 9. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.296; 10. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold-Underwood-12.328; 11. Kale Drake, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.333; 12. Drake Edwards, 83, CBI-12.339; 13. Ronnie Gardner, 4R, RMS-12.375; 14. Kyle Larson, 1K, Larson-12.383; 15. Justin Grant, 87, CBI-12.397; 16. Brandon Carr, 98K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.412; 17. Justin Peck, 5p, Petty/Rossi-12.419; 18. Caden Sarale, 32, Sarale-12.426; 19. Steven Snyder Jr., 4, RMS-12.428; 20. T.J. Smith, 68, Six8-12.437; 21. Jake Andreotti, 00, Davis-12.441; 22. Michael Pickens, 31, Beilman-12.446; 23. Kyle Jones, 27x, Joyner-12.453; 24. Kaylee Bryson, 11, Abacus-12.476; 25. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.478; 26. Jakeb Boxell, 14JB, 4 Kings-12.485; 27. Dane Culver, 73, Alexander-12.499; 28. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-12.509; 29. Jett Yantis, 4y, Carlile-12.561; 30. Dalten Gabbard, 77, Gabbard-12.623; 31. Michael Faccinto, 14T, Streeter/Graunstadt-12.627; 32. Broedy Graham, 66, BGR-12.672; 33. Connor Lundy, 2p, Petty/Rossi-12.675; 34. Brecken Reese, 20Q, Reese-12.704; 35. Cole Wakim, 55, Lambert-12.743; 36. Preston Norbury, 77AZ, Norbury-12.789; 37. Mathew Radisich, 17NZ, Out & About-12.796; 38. Ty Gibbs, 86, CBI-12.797; 39. Brody Wake, 78, BWR/Wake-12.856; 40. Drake Cardey, 17A, Dunkel-12.911; 41. Randi Pankratz, 8, Pankratz-12.941; 42. Todd Hawse, 18, Hawse-12.987; 43. Kyle Hawse, 20x, Hawse-13.223; 44. Grant Schaadt, 15LS, Oliver-13.319; 45. Bryan Drollinger, 71D, Drollinger-13.401; 46. Anthony Bruno, 32c, McCluney/Felkins-13.481; 47. Ron Hazelton, 15x, Hazelton-13.499; 48. Joey Bishop, 45, Bishop-13.892; 49. Carson Macedo, 99AU, Dyson-NT; 50. Austin Wood, 15, Hart-NT (time of 12.617 disallowed due to being underweight at the scales).
CAR IQ FIRST QUALIFIER: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kale Drake, 2. Kyle Larson, 3. T.J. Smith, 4. Jakeb Boxell, 5. Justin Peck, 6. Kyle Jones, 7. Ty Gibbs, 8. Cole Wakim, 9. Broedy Graham, 10. Austin Wood, 11. Jett Yantis, 12. Grant Schaadt, 13. Randi Pankratz, 14. Ron Hazelton. 2:08.373 (New Track Record)
K1 RACEGEAR SECOND QUALIFIER: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Drake Edwards, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Caden Sarale, 4. Dalten Gabbard, 5. Kaylee Bryson, 6. Brody Wake, 7. Preston Norbury, 8. Connor Lundy, 9. Todd Hawse, 10. Joey Bishop, 11. Jake Andreotti, 12. Dane Culver, 13. Bryan Drollinger. NT
USAC GEAR THIRD QUALIFIER: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Steven Snyder Jr., 2. Ronnie Gardner, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Michael Pickens, 5. Brandon Carr, 6. Cale Coons, 7. Carson Macedo, 8. Brecken Reese, 9. Michael Faccinto, 10. Drake Cardey, 11. Mathew Radisich, 12. Kyle Hawse, 13. Anthony Bruno. 2:10.397
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Jones, 2. Carson Macedo, 3. Kaylee Bryson, 4. Justin Peck, 5. Brandon Carr, 6. Ty Gibbs, 7. Cale Coons, 8. Cole Wakim, 9. Brecken Reese, 10. Preston Norbury, 11. Brody Wake, 12. Connor Lundy. 2:39.614
FEATURE: (98 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Corey Day (3), 2. Logan Seavey (2), 3. Buddy Kofoid (5), 4. Kyle Larson (14), 5. Kevin Thomas Jr. (7), 6. Karter Sarff (4), 7. Carson Macedo (24), 8. Kale Drake (11), 9. Jacob Denney (8), 10. Gavin Miller (9), 11. Justin Grant (15), 12. Gunnar Setser (6), 13. Steven Snyder Jr. (13), 14. Jakeb Boxell (20), 15. Cannon McIntosh (19), 16. T.J. Smith (17), 17. Ty Gibbs (27-P), 18. Kyle Jones (23), 19. Hayden Reinbold (10), 20. Justin Peck (26), 21. Cale Coons (28-P), 22. Ronnie Gardner (16), 23. Kaylee Bryson (25), 24. Drake Edwards (12), 25. Daison Pursley (1), 26. Caden Sarale (18), 27. Michael Pickens (22), 28. Dalten Gabbard (21). NT
