After finishing in second place at Darlington Raceway back in April, Chase Elliott returned to the NASCAR Xfinity Series behind the wheel of the No. 17 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, the team for which he competes full-time in the Cup Series, at Pocono Raceway a few weeks ago.
He finished in fourth place after trouble and contact with Justin Allgaier on a late restart ultimately knocked him from the lead. As it turns out, the No. 17 car was taken back to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina, and Rick Hendrick's team ended up being slapped with several hefty penalties due to a technical infraction.
The No. 17 Chevrolet hasn't been back since, and Elliott does not have any plans to drive it again before the 2025 season ends. But this weekend, it is set to return, and it's the driver with the most starts behind the wheel of the car so far this year who is set to drive it once again.
Corey Day is set to replace Elliott for this Saturday afternoon's Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma Raceway.
The 19-year-old Clovis, California native has made three starts so far this season. He made his Xfinity Series debut at Martinsville Speedway and finished in 21st place, and he added finishes of 16th at Texas Motor Speedway and 11th at Nashville Superspeedway.
Day is effectively set to become the car's primary driver moving forward, even though he won't compete every weekend.
In addition to this weekend's 79-lap race around the 12-turn, 1.99-mile (3.203-kilometer) Sonoma, California road course, he is set to drive the No. 17 entry in the upcoming race at Iowa Speedway, plus the playoff races at Bristol Motor Speedway, the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, and Phoenix Raceway.
Rajah Caruth and Jake Finch are expected to drive the car at some point before the season ends as well, but schedules have not yet been confirmed for either one of them.
William Byron and Kyle Larson have each driven the No. 17 Chevrolet twice this year, like Elliott, and Alex Bowman has driven it once. Nobody else is currently lined up to drive it later this year.
As for this weekend's race, tune in to the CW Network at 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 12 for the live broadcast of the Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 from Sonoma Raceway. Start a free trial of FuboTV now if you have not already had the chance to do so!