Corey Day has become a force to be reckoned with after completing seven races in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
The 20-year-old Day from Clovis, California, is reeling off a six-race stretch of finishing in the top nine. And, half of those were top-five results. They included a career-best runner-up result this past weekend at Martinsville Speedway. The results have made Day the highest-positioned rookie candidate in the O’Reilly driver’s standings in seventh place.
Day’s results mark a drastic change for the driver. He is currently campaigning in his first full-time stint in the O’Reilly division while driving the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry for Hendrick Motorsports, an entry to which he was announced to pilot in 2026 last November.
In the early portions of his first O’Reilly campaign, Day was strapped with both a DNF and a 27th-place result following the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway. It came after he was involved in a late multi-car accident. He was then embroiled in controversy after several on-track run-ins over the next two events between EchoPark Speedway and Circuit of the Americas (COTA). The run-ins involved names like Justin Allgaier, Carson Kvapil, Ryan Sieg and Connor Zilisch. They also led to Day being scrutinized over his performances.
Amid the run-ins, Day has both rallied and utilized the learning experiences on the track. He has registered top-10 results at venues he had not previously competed at in the O’Reilly division before this season. Thus far, the list includes EchoPark Speedway, COTA, Phoenix Raceway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Darlington Raceway.
Through seven events of the 2026 season, Day has had a previous encounter with a single track from the list. It happened at Martinsville, a track where Day competed with Hendrick Motorsports both times in 2025. Compared to respective finishes of 21st and 13th during the previous season, Day drastically improved last weekend at the “Paperclip.” He notched a runner-up result and led 37 of 250 laps.
Following his runner-up result at Martinsville, Day highlighted the notes he utilized from his previous encounters at the track. They had enabled him to acquire more notes, elevate his on-track performance and achieve strong top-10 results.
“[I] Learned a ton,” Day said at Martinsville on the CW Network. “Third time back at [Martinsville] in an O’Reilly’s car. [I was] Just able to put those notes to use and get some notes as well. [It] Feels really good to be getting these finishes and putting the work in and seeing it pay off.”
Day’s on-track results this season go beyond his current seventh-place ranking in the 2026 O’Reilly driver standings. The Californian, who was mired in 24th place in the driver’s standings following Daytona, holds an average-finishing result of 8.7. It’s the fourth best among full-time O’Reilly competitors. He has also led 46 laps, which is the fifth-best among full-time competitors. Day is also three spots ahead of the next highest-scored O’Reilly rookie candidate in the driver’s standings, Rajah Caruth.
Day’s next O’Reilly event of the 2026 season is this upcoming weekend at Rockingham Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina, a track to which he competed for the first time this past season in the Craftsman Truck Series with Spire Motorsports and finished 22nd. As Day prepares to compete at Rockingham in an O’Reilly’s car for the first time, there is much anticipation for his strong start to this season as he nears a first trip to Victory Lane in the series.
Corey Day’s 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season continues with the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Rockingham Speedway on Saturday, April 4, at 2:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network, MRN Radio and SiriusXM.
