Corey Day — Driver Profile
Car: No. 17 | Team: Hendrick Motorsports | Manufacturer: Chevrolet Crew Chief: Adam Wall | Sponsor: HendrickCars.com Status: Full-time | Hometown: Clovis, California | Age: 20
2026 Season
Corey Day has been the most surprising performer of the 2026 O'Reilly Series season. The 20-year-old Hendrick Motorsports rookie won his first career O'Reilly Series race at Talladega Superspeedway on April 25, passing Sheldon Creed on the final lap to deliver Hendrick its first-ever O'Reilly Series win at Talladega. He sits fourth in points through 12 races and held that position despite ending the very next weekend on Lap 1 at Texas — a hard wreck off Turn 2 that took the No. 17 out of the Andy's Frozen Custard 340 before the race had really begun. The cushion he built from a season of top-10 consistency before Talladega — and the win itself — kept him in title contention.
2026 Stats (through 12 races): 4th in points (400 pts, -198) | 1 win (Talladega, April 25) | 4 top 5s | 9 top 10s | 1 pole
Career
Day is part of Hendrick Motorsports' first full O'Reilly Series program since 2006 — a significant organizational commitment. He came up through the Hendrick pipeline and enters 2026 as the clearest test case of what a fully supported HMS O'Reilly program can produce at the national level.
The Story
Day is leading laps, qualifying near the front, and finishing in the top 10 at a high rate — but hasn't converted that pace into a win. For a 20-year-old rookie with 164 laps led and a Martinsville runner-up already on the résumé, that's a story of remarkable promise. The win is coming. The question is when, and whether it arrives in time to matter in the playoff picture.