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Corey Day wraps up successful weekend at Chase Johnson Classic

JHby: Jonathan Howard10 hours agoJondean25
Corey Day NASCAR pole Las Vegas
Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Ahead of a trip down to Australia with High Limit, Corey Day went and had a couple of great races at Merced Speedway. Next season, Day goes full-time in NASCAR. For now, he’s still racking up the wins on the dirt.

Corey Day, a Hendrick Motorsports driver, is a phenom on dirt. He is one of the best talents in sprint car racing, and his time at the Chase Johnson Classic showed that this weekend.

Participating in the 360 sprint car race and the USAC National Midget race, Day earned a win and a P3 finish, respectively. He was dominant in his win and walked away with a nice little payday for his efforts.

When it comes to Corey Day, the hype is very real. He started to get the hang of pavement racing in NASCAR towards the end of the season. Next year, with a full-time ride in the 17 Hendrick Chevy, he’s going to be one to watch.

Day looks the part. He looks like he’s an athletic driver who can handle the heat, endurance, and toll that a NASCAR race can take on a driver. With backing from Kyle Larson and Jeff Gordon, Day has the world out in front of him.

During the season, NASCAR fans didn’t see a lot of Corey Day. That changes next season when he embarks on his rookie season in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.

Corey Day taking the Kyle Larson path with shortcuts

Now, it didn’t take Corey Day losing his job to make it to Hendrick Motorsports. He got to skip some parts. However, for the most part, Day is following the path that Kyle Larson took to NASCAR stardom.

Day was able to impress Larson while the two were racing against each other just a few years ago. Now, Day is in the Hendrick camp and appears to be their driver of the future. Everyone wants to talk about Alex Bowman losing his ride, I don’t see that happening…not until 2028 at least.

I fully expect Day to have to spend a couple of seasons in the O’Reilly Series. That’s not a knock on him, more so an honest assessment of where he is at in his development. But Hendrick picked him up for a reason. He is the succession plan to one of these Hendrick cars, and right now, you can’t throw out Larson, Chase Elliott, or William Byron because…you can’t!

Hendrick Motorsports has always been in a tough position of having four drivers. You can’t have all four be the big star. Alex Bowman is a great driver. I believe he belongs in his seat and has performed well. But not everything is meant to last. Give Corey Day a couple of years to develop further, and he’ll soon be racing on Sundays. At least, that appears to be the plan.