Kyle Larson leads NASCAR trio into USAC Midget Turkey Night Grand Prix

Headlined by Kyle Larson, a trio of NASCAR drivers is in Ventura, California, this weekend for the Turkey Night Grand Prix. Fellow Cup Series driver Ty Gibbs is joining Larson among the 50 or so drivers entered in the event. O’Reilly Auto Parts Series rookie Corey Day is also on the entry list.

The Turkey Night Grand Prix is a fun race. The USAC National Midget season is coming to an end. This race in Ventura is one that I’ve made sure to watch the last two years, and it has been fun watching Kyle Larson and Corey Day win in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

This year, Ty Gibbs has thrown his name in the hat. It is a race that Larson has won four times. Christopher Bell has won it twice. He is the last driver to go back-to-back in the event, when he did it back in 2017 and 2018.

The entry list from FloRacing has a number of great names in the dirt racing world. The USAC season is coming down to only 52 points. Justin Grant could make up a lot of that gap this weekend with a great run in Ventura over Cannon McIntosh.

Buddy Kofoid, Daison Pursley, Carson Macedo, Logan Seavey, and Kaylee Bryson are names that race fans will want to keep an eye out for. For NASCAR fans, Bryson made her ARCA debut this season with Cook Racing Technologies. She earned a P8 at Madison in the national series race. In the West Series, she finished P14 and P18 at Sonoma and Phoenix.

Ty Gibbs is getting his feet wet in dirt racing still. The offseason is when he is going to do most of his sprint car racing. He will take on the Turkey Night Grand Prix for the first time ever. It will be fun to see if Gibbs can fight his way into the feature on Saturday night.

Kyle Larson taking High Limit back to Australia

Soon after the Turkey Night Grand Prix, Kyle Larson and High Limit Racing are going back to Australia. Last year, the series went and put up the biggest purse in Australian sprint car history. The series is upping the ante this year, too. From $100,000 to $110,000 AUD for the winning driver.

Corey Day is along for the journey Down Under. He is sticking closely to Kyle Larson this offseason, it appears. Day is taking on a full season of NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series racing in 2026. He will be a top contender for Rookie of the Year. Who knows, he may end up getting the hang of this stock car thing quickly and be a threat to win the championship.

Larson and Day are cut from the same cloth. Dirt racers by background, both from California, and both very aggressive, talented drivers. Now, they are Hendrick teammates with Day being seen as the heir apparent to whatever Cup Series ride might be open at HMS in the near future. That is, if he develops as a stock car driver.

Earlier this month, Kyle Larson was racing for a win at Placerville when Daison Pursley got into him. He will try to finish the race out in Ventura with all four wheels on the ground and in front of everybody else.