Corey Day knew his first NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win would come; he just didn’t think it would come at a superspeedway like Talladega. However, that’s precisely where the Hendrick Motorsports driver broke through, as he was leading Saturday’s Ag-Pro 300 on the final lap when a caution flag froze the field.
The only lap Day led in Saturday’s race was the final lap, but as we all know, that is the most important lap.
Race Results: Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega
“Well, I sure as hell didn’t think it would be at a superspeedway,” Day quipped about his first career win. “So, it’s awesome. The Hendrick legacy is so strong at superspeedways, and my No. 17 guys just build me a rocketship.”
Day’s first career win in the O’Reilly Series comes in his 22nd career start, and the driver of the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has really come into his own after a shaky opening couple of races to the season.
After a 27th-place finish in the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway, Day has a worst finish of 12th, and he has rattled off nine top-10 finishes over his last 10 starts. As the California native continues to build confidence, expect him to be a threat for the championship once the Chase begins.
Day knows the journey to a win in NASCAR’s second-tier series wouldn’t have been possible without Rick Hendrick’s belief in him.
“Thank you, Mr. Hendrick, so much for believing in a sprint car kid from California, who never ran a pavement car in his life before two years ago,” Day said. “Yeah, thank you, Mr. H, Jeff Andrews, my biggest supporter, Jeff Gordon, just everyone that believes in me.”
Another fun note regarding Day’s first career win, it came with former NFL player Jason Kelce serving as a pit crew member for the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports team.
Rookie of the Year contender Brent Crews would collect a career-best runner-up finish, driving the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota GR Supra. It was another solid run for the 18-year-old driver, who is looking to erase a massive point deficit that he faced after missing races earlier in the season, while he was still 17 years old.
Crews now has three consecutive top-five finishes, as he was third at Bristol Motor Speedway, and fifth at Kansas Speedway prior to Saturday’s second-place run at Talladega.
Sheldon Creed was credited with a third-place finish, which was good enough for the driver of the No. 00 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet to nab his second consecutive $100,000 Dash4Cash bonus. Creed had never earned the Dash4Cash bonus in his career prior to last weekend’s event at Kansas. Now, he’s collected $200k over the last two races.
Creed was also able to chisel some points off of Justin Allgaier’s series point lead with the third-place run. As Allgaier finished 23rd, Creed now sits 105 points behind the JR Motorsports driver for the point lead.
Sammy Smith and Jeremy Clements rounded out the top-five finishers in the Ag-Pro 300.
Jesse Love was able to secure the eighth consecutive pole position at Talladega Superspeedway for Richard Childress Racing, and would go on to lead a race-high 37 laps, but Love was unable to score a Stage win, and in the end, he couldn’t muster more than a seventh-place finish.
Love’s RCR teammate, Austin Hill, would finish a subpar, by his standards, 13th on Saturday.
Next up for the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series is the Andy’s Frozen Custard 340 at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 2. That race will be televised on The CW, and coverage of the event will begin at 3:30 PM ET.
