VENTURA, Calif. — Kyle Larson’s dominance was on display once again Saturday night at Ventura Raceway.
One week after winning the Hangtown 100 at Placerville Speedway, Larson charged from 10th on the grid to win the 82nd running of the ARP Turkey Night Grand Prix presented by the West Coast Stock/Car Motorsports Hall of Fame at Ventura Raceway.
Larson became only the second driver to win the Turkey Night Grand Prix four times or more. Ron Shuman won the race eight times during his illustrious career.
Driving his own Larson Racing No. 1k, Larson grabbed the lead on lap 27 of the fifth-mile oval and led the remainder of the 98-lap race to earn his fourth Aggie trophy in the prestigious season-ending USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship event.
Larson led the top three finishers who all started 10th or worse.
GALLERY: The 82nd Turkey Night Grand Prix In Photos
Overall, Larson has now reigned victorious at Turkey Night in 2012, 2016, 2019 and 2023. He has never finished outside the top-four in any of his 11 career starts in the event dating back to his debut in 2011.
“I’m happy to get another Turkey Night win,” Larson exclaimed. “We’re second on the all-time win list now, which is cool. Hopefully we can catch up someday and maybe be leading this thing. This is such a historic race with it being the 82nd running, which is incredible. it’s been a good event for us, and we’ve always run really well here.”
In addition to his $10,000 winning prize, Larson also earned a quarter-scale replica of the J.C. Agajanian owned car that Parnelli Jones drove to victory at the Indianapolis 500 in 1963, a trophy which was handmade by Ventura Raceway promoter Jim Naylor.
West Coast sprint car sensation Corey Day drove from 12th to finish second, making a late-race charge at Larson en route to earning the Don Basile Rookie of the Race Award.
But with the race track taking rubber, Larson made all the right moves.
“I knew, shortly after that, the rubber was going to be coming,” Larson said. “I was just trying to hold the lead and peek to the left and I saw Corey inching toward me on the bottom a couple laps later. That’s when I knew it was time to get down.”
Larson beat Day to the checkered flag by .224 seconds, while World of Outlaws regular Carson Macedo started 11th and finished third.
Bryant Wiedeman and Jacob Denney rounded out the top five. Emerson Axsom charged from 23rd to finish sixth.
National champion Logan Seavey took the early lead and was working traffic by lap 26 when fast-qualifier Ryan Timms suddenly clamped down and made his move for the lead with a turn one slide job that was successful.
By turn four, Timms was in trouble as he ricocheted off the cushion, which opened the door underneath for Seavey to make a move entering turn one on the 27th go around.
Attempting to return the favor on Timms in turn one, Seavey slipped past, but in the process, Timms’ wheels locked up as he slid to a stop atop the cushion to bring out the caution and also collected third-running Kale Drake who was making his first career USAC National Midget start.
Seavey resumed at the point as the race leader coming to the green flag restart on lap 27. But Larson delivered a turn-three slider that put him at the front for good.
The Boxscore
USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Ventura Raceway, Ventura, California, Nov. 25, 2023
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: (Top-10 locked into the feature) 1. Ryan Timms, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.059; 2. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-12.138; 3. Kale Drake, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.190; 4. Bryant Wiedeman, 81, CBI-12.203; 5. Justin Grant, 2, RMS-12.287; 6. Chase McDermand, 8w, Ford-12.289; 7. Mariah Ede, 71E, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.290; 8. Spencer Bayston, 9AU, Dyson-12.293; 9. Daison Pursley, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-12.306; 10. Kyle Larson, 1K, Larson-12.313; 11. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.320; 12. Cannon McIntosh, 86, CBI-12.334; 13. Buddy Kofoid, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.347; 14. Carson Macedo, 99AU, Dyson-12.356; 15. Corey Day, 4, Kahne-12.391; 16. Michael Faccinto, 14T, Graunstadt/Streeter-12.391; 17. Brody Fuson, 51, Carlile-12.427; 18. Mitchel Moles, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-12.435; 19. Chance Crum, 68w, Six8-12.445; 20. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.469; 21. Jesse Love, 84, CBI-12.471; 22. Jake Andreotti, 00, Davis-12.491; 23. Jacob Denney, 25, Malloy-12.495; 24. Cade Lewis, 5K, Alexander-12.505; 25. Jade Avedisian, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.516; 26. Cole Wakim, 55, Lambert-12.521; 27. Ryan Timmons, 5v, Alexander-12.529; 28. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.539; 29. Peter Hunnibell, 65NZ, Covich-12.553; 30. Emerson Axsom, 68, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.566; 31. Max Adams, 15, Hart-12.568; 32. C.J. Sarna, 20, Sarna-12.626; 33. Caden Sarale, 32, Sarale-12.687; 34. Ricky Lewis, 6A, Pedregon-12.694; 35. Randi Pankratz, 8, Pankratz-12.731; 36. Kyle Beilman, 31B, Beilman-12.764; 37. Jake Bubak, 27B, Bourke-12.768; 38. David Gasper, 73, Ford-12.774; 39. Braden Chiaramonte, 14J, Graunstadt/Streeter-12.831; 40. Shannon McQueen, 7, McQueen-12.995; 41. Blake Bower, 9, Boscacci-13.020; 42. Jim Vanzant, 3v, Vanzant-13.073; 43. Ron Hazelton, 15ws, Hazelton-13.132; 44. Terry Nichols, 1p, Nichols/Peckfelder-13.220; 45. Bryan Drollinger, 71D, Drollinger-13.269; 46. A.J. Hernandez, 35H, MF-NT; 47. Dane Culver, 50, Knuckles Up-NT (Time of 12.641 disallowed due to missing the scales); 48. Joey Klemish, 35K, MF-NT (Time of 12.936 disallowed due to missing the scales).
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST QUALIFYING RACE: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Carson Macedo, 2. Taylor Reimer, 3. Jacob Denney, 4. Brody Fuson, 5. Hayden Reinbold, 6. Cole Wakim, 7. David Gasper, 8. Randi Pankratz, 9. Peter Hunnibell, 10. C.J. Sarna, 11. Dane Culver, 12. Terry Nichols, 13. Blake Bower.
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND QUALIFYING RACE: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Corey Day, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Mitchel Moles, 4. Jesse Love, 5. Emerson Axsom, 6. Cade Lewis, 7. Caden Sarale, 8. Kyle Beilman, 9. Braden Chiaramonte, 10. Bryan Drollinger, 11. Ryan Timmons, 12. Jim Vanzant, 13. Joey Klemish.
T.J. FORGED/CAR IQ THIRD QUALIFYING RACE: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Michael Faccinto, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Gavin Miller, 4. Jade Avedisian, 5. Jake Andreotti, 6. Chance Crum, 7. Max Adams, 8. Jake Bubak, 9. Ricky Lewis, 10. Shannon McQueen, 11. A.J. Hernandez, 12. Ron Hazelton.
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (15 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom, 2. Hayden Reinbold, 3. Jake Andreotti, 4. Cade Lewis, 5. Chance Crum, 6. Max Adams, 7. Ricky Lewis, 8. Jake Bubak, 9. David Gasper, 10. Caden Sarale, 11. Cole Wakim, 12. Peter Hunnibell, 13. Braden Chiaramonte, 14. Randi Pankratz, 15. C.J. Sarna, 16. Bryan Drollinger, 17. Kyle Beilman, 18. Shannon McQueen.
FEATURE: (98 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Larson (10), 2. Corey Day (12), 3. Carson Macedo (11), 4. Bryant Wiedeman (4), 5. Jacob Denney (17), 6. Emerson Axsom (23), 7. Buddy Kofoid (16), 8. Logan Seavey (2), 9. Jesse Love (21), 10. Cade Lewis (26), 11. Hayden Reinbold (24), 12. Jake Andreotti (25), 13. Gavin Miller (19), 14. Daison Pursley (9), 15. Mariah Ede (7), 16. Kale Drake (3), 17. Chase McDermand (6), 18. Jade Avedisian (22), 19. Spencer Bayston (8), 20. Justin Grant (5), 21. Cannon McIntosh (15), 22. Michael Faccinto (13), 23. Ryan Timms (1), 24. Taylor Reimer (14), 25. Mitchel Moles (18), 26. Brody Fuson (20).
Richie Murray contributed to this report.