Corey Day achieved his first NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series pole position for the North Carolina Education Lottery 250 at Rockingham Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina, on Friday, April 3.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through a single-car, single-lap qualifying format. In this format, all 38 competitors vying for 38 starting spots cycled around Rockingham Speedway once to post the fastest lap amongst one another. The competitor who posted the fastest single lap was awarded the pole position.
During the qualifying session, Day, who was the sixth-fastest competitor during the event’s rain-shortened practice session earlier on Friday, clocked in a single pole-qualifying lap at 148.963 mph in 22.717 seconds. The lap was enough for the 21-year-old Day from Clovis, California, to claim the top-starting spot over Jesse Love.
With the pole, Day became the 217th competitor overall to win a pole position in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series division. He also recorded the 44th O’Reilly career pole for Hendrick Motorsports and the organization’s first at Rockingham since Brett Bodine achieved the previous feat in 1985.
Day’s pole position was also a momentous boost for the driver of the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry for Hendrick Motorsports, as he is coming off six consecutive top-nine results, including a career-best runner-up result last weekend at Martinsville Speedway. From the notes he garners while competing on the track, Day, who is ranked in seventh place in the 2026 driver’s standings, continues the pursuit of his first series’ victory.
“Yeah, [the lap] felt really good,” Day said. “We got a really, really good car, so thanks to my guys. It always makes my job easy when it’s that good. Super excited for the race tomorrow. Definitely in a good spot, and I think track position’s gonna be pretty crucial. It sets us up about as good as it can. It’s good to be putting these together. It feels good.”
Day will share the front row with Jesse Love, the latter of whom is the reigning O’Reilly champion and who clocked in his single-lap run at 148.545 mph in 22.781 seconds. Love initially won last year’s O’Reilly event at Rockingham, but was eventually disqualified due to his race-winning entry failing the post-race inspection process. Love, who is currently trailing points leader Justin Allgaier by 92 points, strives to both reel in Allgaier’s early advantage and achieve a redemptive victory at The Rock for Saturday’s main event.
Parker Retzlaff, Justin Allgaier, and Carson Kvapil will start in the top five, respectively. Taylor Gray, Sam Mayer, Brandon Jones, Sheldon Creed, and rookie Brent Crews completed the top-10 starting grid, respectively.
Notably, Sammy Smith, who was awarded the O’Reilly victory at Rockingham following Love’s disqualification this past season, will start 19th. In addition, Cleetus McFarland, who is driving the No. 33 Tommy’s Express Car Wash Chevrolet Camaro entry for Richard Childress Racing, will start 35th for his O’Reilly debut.
With 38 competitors vying for 38 starting spots, all made the main event.
Qualifying position, Best speed, Best time:
- Corey Day, 148.963 mph, 22.717 seconds
- Jesse Love, 148.545 mph, 22.781 seconds
- Parker Retzlaff, 148.278 mph, 22.822 seconds
- Justin Allgaier, 148.271 mph, 22.823 seconds
- Carson Kvapil, 148.168 mph, 22.839 seconds
- Taylor Gray, 148.096 mph, 22.850 seconds
- Sam Mayer, 148.084 mph, 22.852 seconds
- Brandon Jones, 148.031 mph, 22.860 seconds
- Sheldon Creed, 148.012 mph, 22.863 seconds
- Brent Crews, 147.850 mph, 22.888 seconds
- Austin Hill, 147.831 mph, 22.891 seconds
- Ryan Sieg, 147.818 mph, 22.893 seconds
- Rajah Caruth, 147.812 mph, 22.894 seconds
- William Sawalich, 147.400 mph, 22.958 seconds
- Anthony Alfredo, 147.342 mph, 22.967 seconds
- Harrison Burton, 147.342 mph, 22.967 seconds
- Jeremy Clements, 146.856 mph, 23.043 seconds
- Dean Thompson, 146.760 mph, 23.058 seconds
- Sammy Smith, 146.570 mph, 23.088 seconds
- Lavar Scott, 146.316 mph, 23.128 seconds
- Kyle Sieg, 146.127 mph, 23.158 seconds
- Patrick Staropoli, 146.082 mph, 23.165 seconds
- Austin Green, 145.994 mph, 23.179 seconds
- Brennan Poole, 145.455 mph, 23.265 seconds
- Josh Williams, 144.969 mph, 23.343 seconds
- Nathan Byrd, 144.677 mph, 23.390 seconds
- Blaine Perkins, 144.510 mph, 23.417 seconds
- JJ Yeley, 144.067 mph, 23.489 seconds
- Jeb Burton. 144 mph, 23.500 seconds
- Alex Labbe, 143.823 mph, 23.529 seconds
- Andrew Patterson, 143.524 mph, 23.578 seconds
- Ryan Ellis, 143.524 mph, 23.578 seconds
- Josh Bilicki, 142.972 mph, 23.669 seconds
- Dawson Cram, 141.762 mph, 23.871 seconds
- Cleetus McFarland, 141.129 mph, 23.978 seconds
- Joey Gase, 140.567 mph, 24.074 seconds
- Blake Lothian, 137.082 mph, 24.686 seconds
- Garrett Smthley, 0.000 mph, 0.000 seconds
The 2026 North Carolina Education Lottery 250 at Rockingham Speedway is scheduled to occur on Saturday, April 4, and air at 2:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network.
