Hendrick Rookie Corey Day Paces Xfinity Test at Rockingham

Rick Hendrick, Jeff Gordon, and Kyle Larson, three legends of the NASCAR Cup Series in their own right, have had nothing but positive things to say about 19-year-old dirt racing phenom Corey Day.

It’s resulted in a development contract for the Clovis, California-native, which includes driving deals in TransAm, the ARCA Menards Series, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and the NASCAR Xfinity Series for the upcoming season.

During Tuesday’s organizational test at Rockingham Speedway, Day proved exactly why Hendrick (the winningest owner in NASCAR Cup Series history), Gordon (a four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion), and Larson (arguably the best driver in the world, right now) are so high on this youngster.

Day, who got behind the wheel of a NASCAR Xfinity Series vehicle for the first time on Tuesday, topped the combined speed charts between the series four, one-hour sessions at Rockingham Speedway.

Posting a blistering lap time of 22.540 seconds (162.431mph) during the fourth and final session of the afternoon, Day managed to top the speed charts by nearly three tenths of a second. The quick lap from the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet was significantly faster than the Xfinity Series track record at the 1.017-mile racetrack.

Getting the opportunity to test in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (for Hendrick Motorsports) and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (for Spire Motorsports), Day was lucky enough to turn 226 laps around the historic racetrack.

Ryan Sieg, driving for family-owned RSS Racing, was second quickest overall in Tuesday’s test session from Rockingham Speedway, and managed to place inside the top five in all four one-hour sessions.

The Tucker. Georgia-native is still searching for his first victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, after coming heartbreakingly close last season at Texas Motor Speedway.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year contenders Taylor Gray (Joe Gibbs Racing), Nick Sanchez (Big Machine Racing), and Connor Zilisch (JR Motorsports) completed the top-five in the overall speed charts.

Jesse Love shared seat time with his full-time teammate at Richard Childress Racing, Austin Hill and ranked sixth overall – while Hill clocked in 17th overall. Carson Kvapil – another rookie – clocked in seventh.

In eighth place was the second Richard Childress Racing at the test session, the No. 33, which was piloted by NASCAR Cup Series winner Kasey Kahne, who is set to return to the NASCAR Xfinity Series for the series’ return to Rockingham Speedway in April. Kahne’s seven-year absence from NASCAR National Series competition of any kind was met with immediate pace, ranking fourth-place in the first of four hour-long sessions.

Sammy Smith and Dean Thompson managed to round out the top-10. Thompson, who has competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series the last three seasons, is attempting the full Xfinity Series schedule for Sam Hunt Racing in 2025.

Of note, Alpha Prime Racing showed significant speed in the first three testing sessions on Tuesday, but ranked 14th and 15th place in overall speeds, after fading a little bit in the fourth and final session.

Vicente Salas got the opportunity to make his first laps in a NASCAR Xfinity Series entry, piloting the No. 4 Chevrolet – usually piloted by Parker Retzlaff – in the final of four testing sessions.

Kris Wright, driving for Our Motorsports, only got to run 10 laps of testing at Rockingham on Tuesday, after the engine grenaded in his No. 5 Chevrolet. However, according to Wright, his team has placed a new powerplant in and will return on Wednesday.

Sam Mayer was one of two drivers to have an incident during Tuesday’s session, after the new Haas Factory Team driver nudged the inside wall on the warm-up lap of the second session, and ended the team’s day. Mason Maggio, driving a Joey Gase Motorsports entry, also went for a quick spin on the inside of Turn 3 and 4.

After sessions early in the morning were deleted due to inclement weather and track drying efforts, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams will be permitted to return to Rockingham on Wednesday for more on-track time.

Combined Tuesday Testing Speeds: