There seems to be a common thread between the drivers of Rick Hendrick. They don’t talk; they let their results talk. That has been the case for Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson for years. And that seems to be the case for the youngest HMS star, Corey Day.
Day, who was rewarded a full-time O’Reilly Series status for 2026 by Rick Hendrick, found himself in a whirlpool of criticism after COTA. His incidents with JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier at Atlanta and then with Connor Zilisch at COTA attracted a lot of criticism. In fact, Zilisch even labelled Day ‘a hack’ in frustration.
However, Day has proved not only that he’s not a hack, but also why Rick Hendrick showed trust in him.
During the race, Day swept the first two stages and looked set to win the race. However, some miscues on the pit road in the third stage ensured he finished the race in 10th place. A slow pit stop in the third stage cost him five spots. But then it got worse when he was forced to make an extra pit stop for his crew to tighten his lugs.
Speaking about the third stage miscues, Corey Day said, “We just had a couple of bad pit stops there and lost three or four spots each one, and that’s enough at this place. It’s just so narrow and so hard to pass. Your balance gets worse so far that you get back in dirty air. So just kind of struggled with that after that happened as well.”
Hear from @corey_day_ after he finishes 10th at Rockingham Speedway.
Day had a dominant car and won both stages but fell away from the front at the end due to struggles on pit road and difficulty navigating traffic. pic.twitter.com/CxBvm14TYW
— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) April 4, 2026
Having said that, Day acknowledged the positives, which included two stage wins, something he hadn’t done before. He admitted the race didn’t go the way he wanted, but there was still more than enough for him to take away to the next one.
Barring his 27th-place finish at Daytona, Day hasn’t finished outside of the top 10 even once this season. He has three top 5s and four top 10s, putting him in 5th place on the standings table.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. commented on Corey Day’s personality after his COTA woes with Zilisch
The COTA race saw a lot of heat and collision between Connor Zilisch and Corey Day. The former was set for a Top 5 finish, but Day’s nudge seemed to derail Zilisch’s momentum and send his car into the wall.
Despite running well for the majority of the race, Zilisch had to settle for a 21st-place finish and was not happy with Day.
“I hate that it ended like that for us. We were going to finish top five there, and the same guy every week that does this. Hopefully, he can figure it out,” said Zilisch in his post-race interview.
Day accepted his mistake, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. took exception to the HMS driver’s move during the race.
“He is in control of the car, and he has to realise that’s my teammate. Rick Hendrick owns the car I am driving and the car I am going to spin out,” said Earnhardt Jr. on his podcast. “He has to drive that car and control it so that it doesn’t cause that accident… It’s two weeks in a row that same thing.”
The incident before COTA that Earhardt Jr. was referring to came in an attempt to make a three-wide move on Ryan Sieg during the Echo Park Speedway race.
Day is still young, and he has only had 31 starts to his name across O’Reilly and Truck Series. With experience, he should be able to drive better and finish without causing wrecks. His results clearly show his potential and how far he can go, especially given his results so far this season in the #17.
