VENTURA, Calif. — Corey Day was tired of running second in his home state.
An off weekend from the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship chase allowed Day to return to his roots this week. The Clovis, Calif., native hooked up with the Jason Meyers Racing No. 14 team for a trio of World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series races in the “Golden State.”
The first two led to Day being forced to settle for second. Carson Macedo slid by him late on Tuesday at Kings Speedway, and Donny Schatz held him off Friday at Bakersfield Speedway at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway.
Day simply refused to fall a spot shy again on Saturday when the scene shifted to Ventura Raceway for the Toyota Racing Battle at the Beach presented by ARP as the Series made its highly anticipated debut at the Southern California fifth-mile.
The 20-year-old faced a fierce battle for third with Bill Balog in the early going as the two traded the position and nearly made contact multiple times. Up front, Steven Snyder Jr. and Emerson Axsom gave the fans a show with a war of their own for the top spot. They swapped sliders and crossovers until Snyder Jr. finally secured the lead. A pivotal restart allowed Day to surge from fourth to second, and then one mistake on the cushion from Snyder Jr. was all it took. Day slid by the Three Stooges Racing No. 51 and held off late challenges from Bill Balog and Sheldon Haudenschild to head to victory lane.
“That was sick,” Day said. “It was awesome. Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect, and I’m sure no one else did, but that was phenomenal. That was one of the better races I’ve had this year and one of the better tracks we’ve gotten to race on. Hats off to the whole Ventura track crew. It’s a privilege to be able to race at a facility like this and to have a badass track like that to go with it is awesome.”
Day’s second World of Outlaws win of 2026 is the fifth of his career. He also became the eighth multi-time winner with The Greatest Show on Dirt this season. Add in his two consecutive Turkey Night Grand Prix triumphs with the USAC National Midgets, and Day is now on a three-race win streak at Ventura.
Haudenschild rolled the KCP Racing/NOS Energy Drink No. 18 up to second for his 25th podium of the season.
Balog fought up front all race long and looked as if he may have a shot to win before ultimately rounding out the podium.
Axsom and Buddy Kofoid completed the top five.
The finish:
Feature (40 Laps): 1. 14-Corey Day[3]; 2. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild[8]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog[4]; 4. 27-Emerson Axsom[2]; 5. 83-Michael Kofoid[6]; 6. 23-Garet Williamson[5]; 7. 41-Carson Macedo[14]; 8. 17-Spencer Bayston[10]; 9. 2-David Gravel[12]; 10. 7S-Chris Windom[7]; 11. 21-Dominic Scelzi[17]; 12. 24-Max Mittry[9]; 13. 51-Steven Snyder Jr[1]; 14. 2C-Cole Macedo[13]; 15. 15-Donny Schatz[15]; 16. 1S-Logan Schuchart[16]; 17. 5K-Gauge Garcia[20]; 18. 0-Tim Kaeding[18]; 19. 73-Braden Chiaramonte[21]; 20. 16C-Skylar Gee[25]; 21. 6-Bryce Lucius[24]; 22. (DNF) 3-Kaleb Montgomery[22]; 23. (DNF) 88N-DJ Netto[19]; 24. (DNF) 28M-Conner Morrell[23]; 25. (DNF) 10-Dominic Gorden[11]
