When your praises are being sung (and sung loudly) by NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, who is currently regarded as one of the best racecar drivers on the planet, it can be somewhat difficult to live up to the hype.
Corey Day, a 19-year-old sprint car driver from Clovis, California, has been Larson’s so-called protégé, bringing him into the world of NASCAR and bringing him into the Hendrick Motorsports stable, where he’s since been signed as a development driver.
The dirt-to-asphalt transition hasn’t been simple… and there have been some tough results in his limited ARCA, Truck, and Xfinity Series starts, but Friday’s Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway was a glimpse into the true talent of the Hendrick-backed driver.
In his 12th NASCAR National Series start, and his tenth in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Corey Day was able to score not just his first top 10 result, but also his first top five, finishing fifth-place in Friday’s 150-lap contest in Lebanon, Tennessee.
“It feels really good,” Day said after the race. “I’m not usually this happy to finish fifth, but this has been a hard-earned fifth place, for sure. Just owe it to these No. 7 [Spire Motorsports] guys to bring them a good finish. We’ve had multiple times where we’ve been fast and I’ve either messed up or circumstances haven’t gone our way, so it feels really, really good to finally bring them a top five, with a clean truck too.”
After starting from fifth (due to the cancellation of qualifying), the Spire Motorsports driver didn’t budge from a position inside and around the top-five, with NASCAR’s Loop Data showing the No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado with an average running position of fifth.
“The track was really good for my style, I could just cruise around and make moves on guys that I needed to. I was lucky that it rained and I got to start fifth,” Day added. “Starting out front in these races helps a lot, being back there with how the aero side of these trucks are, it’s really hard to get to the front, much less with a clean truck. So starting out in front of all of that was huge today.”
Before Friday’s event at Nashville, Day had a best NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series finish of 15th, twice, once at Homestead and again at Bristol. The talented dirt racer also showed promise in his first two Xfinity Series starts, but collected finishes of 21st at Martinsville and 16th at Texas.
“[I’ve learned] situational awareness,” Day said. “I’ve finally gotten down the fact of just riding around and still maintaining. In sprint car racing, you are hammer down for 30 laps, and you never slow your pace down; you slow your pace down, and you get eaten up, so I didn’t really know how to slow down and maintain. So, it’s been something I’ve had to learn, and I think I’ve finally got it. It isn’t a one-off, but it’s really good progress for sure.”
For the young rookie, the weekend isn’t quite finished yet. Day will compete in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Tennessee Lottery 250, driving the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.
While raw pace hasn’t been an issue, especially in his two previous starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Day will look to translate the lessons he’s learned in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, to hopefully walk away with another top-10 result in ‘The Music City’.
