Homecomings are often a chance to reflect. For Corey Day, Saturday’s return to Sonoma Raceway (5:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), 200 miles northwest of his hometown of Clovis, California, offers an opportunity to measure just how far he’s come during a rookie season filled with lessons learned at NASCAR’s national level.
Day has impressed the Hendrick Motorsports brass that put him in the No. 17 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series car full-time in 2026. He started off his first full season with a bang, stringing together eight consecutive top 10 finishes between the second and ninth races at EchoPark Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway, respectively.
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“Corey’s progress this season has been impressive to witness firsthand,” Adam Wall, crew chief of the No. 17 Chevrolet, said. “His ability to show up at new tracks and get up to speed as quickly as he does shows how talented he is. The expectations were obviously high going full-time with this program, but the start we had to the season was more than I think any of us could have expected with someone so new to this.”
The results have been strong, but the optics were less favorable to begin 2026. Day clashed with JR Motorsports’ No. 1 Chevrolet at EchoPark and Circuit of The Americas, leaving Carson Kvapil and Connor Zilisch, respectively, on the wrong end of contact. Considering the alliance between Hendrick and JRM, it was essentially a quasi-teammate being wrecked off Day’s front bumper.
Day took ownership of both incidents, admitting he needed to be better.
“Last year, I was just fast enough to crash and get myself into trouble,” Day told NASCAR.com. “I didn’t really have the speed to wreck anyone else. I was getting passed, not passing people. The start of this year, I started with a lot more speed than I had. There were a couple of times where I didn’t know what to do with it and made a mistake.”
With more seat time and a chat with Rick Hendrick, Day has stopped overstepping his boundaries. Compared to 2025, he’s seen notable improvements across the board.
“Just comfortability in the car,” Day said of the biggest improvement. “I can fire off for Lap 1 of the race or practice and know what the car is going to do and you can already feel what it’s going to do into Turn 1 before I get to Turn 1. Before, I was behind the race car. There was no anticipation of what the car was doing; it was driving me, per se. That’s been a big thing.”
2025 NASCAR Cup Series champion and Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson knew that with an entire offseason, Day would be a viable threat in 2026.
“He’s done great,” Larson told NASCAR.com. “I feel like the performance side of it has gone as I hoped and expected. I thought last year, I know the potential in Corey, so I was like, ‘Man, he’s not running as good as I thought he would.’
“This offseason, I was like, I think he’s going to adapt this year because you get to have consistency with your team, you are going to be higher in the (qualifying) metric. Everything has gone better.”
Day’s potential within the Hendrick ranks could be traced back to another Hendrick Motorsports icon. The Days — Corey’s father, Ronnie — crossed paths with Hendrick vice chairman and NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon on the sprint-car scene. That was the path Day was chasing until Larson gave his nod of approval to the powers that be at HMS, believing in the upstart’s natural ability.
“When you have a guy like Kyle who is racing on the track with [Day] and saying those types of things, it certainly gets our attention when we start looking down the road at up-and-coming drivers,” Gordon told NASCAR.com in a conversation last fall. “It’s not that we were planning for that, but when somebody comes along that has that type of talent, you start looking at it a little bit differently of what’s possible.”
The 2026 season has been highlighted by a pair of victories for the No. 17 team, as Day surprised himself at Talladega Superspeedway, the site of his first triumph. He followed it up three weeks later, passing regular-season championship leader Justin Allgaier in the closing laps at Dover Motor Speedway while using the high line.
“Talladega was my first [win], but Dover was my first real oval win, for sure,” Day noted. “It felt really good. That was such a team win. There was a little attrition, but I still owe it to my guys. You can’t have a shot to win those races at the end without a great car.”
The trajectory is positive, with additional improvement still attainable. In three of the last seven races, Day has had an incident on the opening lap of the race, resulting in DNFs at Texas Motor Speedway and Pocono Raceway. Last weekend at Naval Base Coronado, he collected a track cover on the opening lap, though he rallied to a top-10 result.
“I still get caught off guard once every race and make a mistake,” Day said. “I think that’s going to happen throughout your whole career; I don’t think anyone can be perfect. Some race craft stuff, my road-course ability has got some work to do. My speedway stuff, even though I won a race, I really don’t know what I’m doing yet. Still a lot to work on.”
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After signing a developmental deal with Hendrick in December of 2024, he zagged across the country, akin to a graduating high school senior moving away for their freshman year of college. But it’s been a robust start to his NASCAR tenure for the 20-year-old, ranking third in the standings, 14 markers below reigning champion Jesse Love for a distant second to Allgaier. And by the time The Chase rolls around, Larson believes the No. 17 team could play spoiler to Allgaier.
“I feel like he’s probably the second-best team right now to Allgaier, with much more potential within himself and the team still learning,” Larson said. “Obviously, Justin has so much experience, and that’s why he can outrace some of these people and knows what he feels. I think when Corey learns more of that, he’s going to be ready once The Chase comes and hopefully be able to challenge Justin for the championship.”