Day Sweeps Midweek Money Series; Third Win of the Year

Corey Day competing at Riverside International Speedway (Photo: Josh James)

WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. — For the second time in the 2024 season, the High Limit Racing sprint car series took part in a “Midweek Money Series” event, traveling to Riverside International Speedway to compete in a 35-lap race for $20,000.

Corey Day and Tyler Courtney led the 38-car field to the starting line and by the time they came out of Turn 2, Courtney had the lead. Back in second, Day was not going to have it easy as Tanner Thorson started battling as soon as he caught up to Day in Turn 3.

As the field crossed the start/finish line and raced towards the Turn 1, Tim Crawley flipped over and ripped a piece of the fence off in the corner. When asked what happened, Crawley’s response was that he “stepped on it”. When asked if anything else happened, he again answered with “stepped on it”.

On the restart, Courtney shot out to an early lead once again and Day and Thorson went back at it for second. This continued for four laps until Brian Bell zoomed out of the racetrack, launching over the fence and tearing it down slightly, and landing on the other side of the track. 

Just as the drivers got back up to speed on the second restart, Rico Abreu hopped the wheel of one of his fellow competitors in the back and ended up driving straight into the wall. 

With 28 laps to go, Day started edging closer and closer to Courtney. Going into Turn 3, it was the closest that he was all night to “Sunshine” and Day nearly passed him, but Courtney shut the door on him and stayed in Day’s lane, blocking him from advancing any further.

Day did not appreciate that trick too much and passed him on the high side going down the backstretch on Lap 9. As they came out of Turn 4, Day’s car was a rocket and zoomed down the front chute, putting a ton of space between him and Courtney.

Back in third, Thorson battled Kyle Larson. Larson went to the high side going into Turn 3 and passed Thorson, but Thorson took third back from the 2021 NASCAR champion by staying in his lane mid-track and carrying more momentum through the corner.

Kyle Larson and Tyler Courtney battling it out ahead of a three-wide battle at Riverside International Speedway (Photo: Josh James)

With 21 laps to go, Day finally caught up to lapped traffic with Abreu. Abreu did not allow Day to get by too easily and allowed Courtney to surge up close to Day. “Sunshine” attempted to slide job Day going into Turn 4, but did not have enough power to complete the pass.

Lap 16 saw Courtney lose the third spot to Thorson as Thorson took the bottom and slid right up in front of Courtney at the entry of Turn 2.  

Just as Courtney was recovering from being passed by Thorson, Larson came up on the high side that he had been riding all night long and started battling for third. Larson finally got by Courtney and started going after Thorson for second, but Thorson passed Abreu aggressively to keep ahold of second, effectively blocking Larson’s attempts. 

Larson did not give up though, as he kept trying to pass drivers on the high side. This did not work out in his favor, as he got too high going into Turn 1 and hit the wall, flipping over and landing on his fuel cell, balancing in the wheelchair position.

As the cars put the pedal to the metal for the fourth restart that night, Day’s smooth-sailing ride was close to an end as Thorson drove hard for the lead. After driving it in hard on Turns 1 and 2 with 13 laps to go, the gap between the top two drivers increased, potentially ending Thorson’s dreams of winning the race.

Even though more space had come between them, Thorson did not give up that easily and that mindset worked out well for him as Abreu became a problem for Day, once again.  This allowed Thorson to close the gap between him and Day relatively easily, giving him another shot at first place. He battled with Day throughout the turns and was very close to passing him on multiple occasions. Thorson did pass Day for about two seconds coming off of Turn 2, but could not hold it. Day got by Abreu, but so did Thorson at the same time. Day took the top side while Thorson took the bottom, splitting the track. Thorson then started passing lapped cars like crazy, leaving Thorson behind in the dust. Day ended up putting ten car lengths between him and Thorson by the race’s end. 

Day won both “Midweek Money Series” events so far and now has his sights set on winning the next one, which will take place on May 1 at 81 Speedway.