The NASCAR 2023 season is over, but that doesn't stop the 2021 Cup Series Champion Kyle Larson from finding places and races to win.
Last week, Larson raced in the Turkey Night Grand Prix at Ventura Raceway in California. It wasn't the driver's first triumph in the event, as he won it for a fourth time breaking a long-time tie with Christopher Bell and Billy Boat for second on the all-time wins list.
The funny part about Larson winning it for a fourth time is it took him four years to do it. He didn't have it easy as he had to climb from a 10th-place starting place.
? @KyleLarsonRacin battles to the front and WINS the 2023 USAC Turkey Night Grand Prix! @USACNation | @ventura_raceway
? https://t.co/blmXnZZSjn pic.twitter.com/CV6GzH3ucY
— FloRacing (@FloRacing) November 26, 2023
He now sets his sights on the overall record of eight victories in the event held by Ron Shuman.
Larson's previous wins in the event came in 2012, 2016 and 2019. He was fortunate to get the fourth and may have a good chance of someday reaching the record of eight wins. He was happy about the victory in an interview with USACRacing.com.
"I'm happy to get another Turkey Night win," Larson said. "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."
He has made 11 starts in the Turkey Night Grand Prix, his first coming in 2011, and he has never finished worse than 4th in those events.
He came up one spot short in 2022 but was able to get back to the winner's circle this year.
Larson really made quick work of his foes as it only took him 27 laps from his 10th-place spot to get the lead, and he never looked back.
Larson cites the trophies from winning this event as some of the coolest in his vast collection.
"All the Turkey Night Trophies I have from Ventura are probably some of the coolest trophies I have in my collection," Larson said. "They get better and better every year and it's probably the main reason why I come and do this race - just to come and win these awesome trophies. I need to get a little better at qualifying because I want to win some of those (trophies) too."
It's fair to say that Larson has plenty more trophies to add to his trophy case - especially from races he wins during his "off-season."
