Hendrick Motorsports — Team Profile
Series: O'Reilly Auto Parts Series | Manufacturer: Chevrolet Base: Concord, North Carolina | Organization Tier: Elite
2026 O'Reilly Program
Hendrick Motorsports is running its first full-season O'Reilly Auto Parts Series program in 20 years in 2026, built around 20-year-old Corey Day in the No. 17. This is not a side project — it is a structured developmental investment from one of NASCAR's most accomplished organizations, with Adam Wall atop the pit box and HendrickCars.com as the primary sponsor.
| Car | Driver | Crew Chief |
|---|---|---|
| No. 17 | Corey Day | Adam Wall |
The Organization
Hendrick Motorsports was founded in 1984 by Rick Hendrick and is based in Concord, North Carolina. HMS is NASCAR's most decorated Cup organization — home to 14 Cup championships and drivers including Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. The organization fields four Cup cars while running the single-car O'Reilly program as a formal development lane for the first time since the early 2000s.
2026 Story
The Hendrick O'Reilly story is Corey Day, and Day got his win — a final-lap pass of Sheldon Creed at Talladega on April 25 for his first career O'Reilly Series victory and Hendrick's first-ever O'Reilly win at the track. Through 12 races he sits fourth in points with one win, four top-fives, nine top-tens, a pole, and a Martinsville runner-up. The Texas weekend that followed Talladega ended on Lap 1 — a hard wreck off Turn 2 that took the No. 17 out of the Andy's Frozen Custard 340 — but Day held fourth in points on the cushion he had built. For a 20-year-old rookie in a Hendrick car, the profile is what HMS came back to the O'Reilly Series for.
The organizational question is patience. Hendrick returned to the O'Reilly Series because it believes the level is worth using as a development runway — not because it expects championships in year one. But in a sport where every result gets read against the team's name, the patience required to let Day develop will be tested more at HMS than it would be at any other organization.
Key Connections
Recent Races — Dover All-Star Weekend, May 15–17, 2026
BetRivers 200 (O'Reilly Series, May 16): Corey Day won in the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet — his second career O'Reilly Series win, first at Dover. The pass came with four laps left, up against the outside wall. Read the recap.
NASCAR All-Star Race (Cup, May 17): HMS went home with no top-five drivers. Kyle Larson, the three-time All-Star Race champion and Friday practice leader, was eliminated in a nine-car wreck in Stage 1 along with Chase Elliott. HMS remains the all-time winningest All-Star Race team with 11 trophies. Read the recap.