Corey Day has won back-to-back races in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, and he's won them in style. A week after outlasting Carson Kvapil in a thrilling late-race duel at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he made a three-wide pass for the win at Charlotte Motor Speedway and held off Jesse Love.
Day isn't going full-time Cup Series racing next year, but he's set to run select events in a fourth Spire Motorsports car and could move up as soon as 2028. And with his recent performance, you certainly have to think it's coming sooner rather than later.
Not bad for a guy everybody and their mother was ready to call a bust back in February.
Corey Day's breakout was the most predictable development ever for anybody who knows wheel
We've seen no shortage of young talents get called the "next big thing", and not all of them have panned out. But when the best driver in NASCAR is going around saying a guy he's personally mentored is even better than he was at the same age, you have to pay attention.
Such was the case with Day, who began his time in NASCAR by crashing and crashing some more. And because NASCAR fans only judge drivers based on their ability to keep their car in one piece (instead of, you know, how fast they are), this meant that a 19-year-old transitioning from a dirt background would never evolve or hone his skills.
We began to see flashes of the driver Day could become back at Dover Motor Speedway, when he charged through the field late to earn his first win on a non-superspeedway. He found extra speed by running a higher line than any other driver, at a track where passing was extremely difficult.
He then did it again at Vegas. While Kvapil clearly had much more car than Day in the closing laps, Day ripped the fence and refused to lose. Then, after a poor final restart at Charlotte, it took him half a lap to regroup and make the race-winning pass.
Oh, and in the meantime, Day has also cut down on the reckless mistakes.
After his pair of back-to-back wins, Day is only seven points back of the championship lead. He might very well win the title, in a format that requires consistency across three months as opposed to having the right day at the right time.
As recently as a few months ago, fans swore up and down that Day wasn't a Cup Series-level talent. Though it's negligible anyway after Hendrick Motorsports' announcement that Connor Zilisch will take over the No. 48 car in 2028, they'd tell you with a straight face they'd rather watch a clearly compromised Alex Bowman make repeated mental lapses instead of taking a chance on the California kid, because "he isn't ready yet."
Is he ready now?
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