If you follow grassroots racing, then you might very well know that Kyle Larson’s mastery of the Turkey Night Grand Prix is the stuff of dirt-racing folklore. The ‘Yung Money’ has won four times at the prestigious event (2012, 2016, 2019, and 2023). And now, a new chapter in Kyle Larson’s legacy at Turkey Nights is being written by his HMS prodigy.

With back-to-back wins, Larson’s young talent has proved that he isn’t just carrying the torch. In fact, he is shaping his own legend in a way. And in a post-race interview, he opened up about the brutally tricky race that pushed him harder than expected.

Corey Day’s gritty fight

Unlike his win last year, Corey Day didn’t win the Turkey Night Grand Prix simply. Instead, he earned it the hard way. The 20-year-old prodigy revealed that this year’s race pushed him far, much farther than his previous experience and what he expected for this year.

“That race was a little bit harder than it’s been in the past for me. Just the track stayed around a lot longer and there’s multiple lines open whereas years passed it was just one preferred line,” Day explained. “You’re damned if you don’t run bottom the whole race so you get passed on the top, you move on the top, you get passed around in the bottom.”

The track was holding moisture for a lot longer than usual, and multiple racing lines stayed alive deep in the race. This kept Day guessing and adjusting till the end. In the end, though, Day’s instincts paid off.

Day, who was engaged in a back-and-forth battle with Logan Seavey, where he and Seavey exchanged the lead on nine different occasions, finally took control on Lap 75 of the 98-lap race. From there, he held command till the end to take the checkered flag.

By the end, he was calm, smooth, and unshaken, even as pressure shadowed every turn. It was the kind of drive that separates contenders from the names fans remember years and even many decades later. Thanks to this win, Day is now among the elites of the Turkey Night GP event.

His win makes him the youngest of just 10 drivers in history to claim multiple Turkey Night titles. Making the victory sweeter was the fact that he had turned 20 only a day before etching his name deeper into the event’s legacy.

Day matches Bell’s feat

With his second straight Turkey Night Grand Prix win, Corey Day now also finds himself standing beside one of the event’s modern masters – his NASCAR compatriot Christopher Bell. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was the last driver to score back-to-back victories, pulling it off in 2017 and 2018. And if you remember, those wins weren’t flukes either. Bell had to outduel elite competition, including Kyle Larson (in 2018).

Back then, Bell had termed the event as “one of the most fun” races he’d ever run. That’s the benchmark Day just matched. That too, at only 20 years old. But there’s an even bigger comparison lingering in the background: Kyle Larson.

The four-time Turkey Night champion has long been the gold standard. Corey Day is widely considered Larson’s protégé. He is shaped by his driving style, his discipline, and his relentless adaptability.

This year, though, it wasn’t Larson’s night. After qualifying 14th, he clawed his way through the field. However, in the end, he managed to finish fourth behind Corey Day, Logan Seavey, and Buddy Kofoid. A strong run, yes! But, not the ending he wanted, especially with his protégé stealing the spotlight yet again.

For Day, the parallels are undeniable: he has Bell’s consecutive-win statistic, and he’s slowly chipping away at Larson’s mythic status in the Turkey Night lore. Matching Bell is impressive. Doing it in Kyle Larson’s orbit makes it even louder.