Corey Day is flying this season. The young Hendrick Motorsports driver has finished inside the top 10 in all but one race so far in 2026. In fact, in Saturday’s race at Las Vegas, Day almost outsmarted his mentor, Kyle Larson, only to fall short towards the end.

Corey Day rues late restart against mentor Kyle Larson

Day began his race in 11th spot and stayed inside the top 10 for most of the race. But it was in stage three where he took the lead until a pit stop and a restart saw him lose it. It was at that point that Larson took the lead, built a gap, and took the checkered flag as the race winner.

But there were some points in the race where Corey Day and his mentor, Kyle Larson, raced side by side. It’s worth mentioning that this wasn’t the first time the two had battled on the field in the past few days. Day and Larson banged wheels during the High Limit race in Vegas.

And after their experience of racing together in the O’Reilly race, the young Hendrick driver addressed racing alongside Larson in his post-race interview.

“Super cool. I get to race with him, over there at the dirt track side by side, but haven’t ever really got to do it here. So, yeah, that was a lot of fun, can always learn a lot from him regardless of if it’s over there, over here. And yeah, was cool to cool to follow him,” he claimed.

As for what he learned from the race, Corey Day mentioned that having led some laps for the first time was nice. Having said that, he admitted to wanting to do the last restart over, making a different adjustment on his car.

Meanwhile, Larson himself showered praise on his mentee.

Larson saw shades of his younger self in Day’s aggressive driving

During an interview last season, after Corey Day’s aggressive display on track in an ARCA race, Kyle Larson was asked whether he sees similarities between Day and his own younger self. Larson recalled his own disastrous start at Homestead in the Truck race, where he ‘wrecked the field’ in a similar fashion.

He mentioned that Day not coming from a stock car background means he has a lot to learn.

“He’s obviously got an extreme amount of talent and I think he’s got a lot of hype but at the same time he’s so new to stock cars that he is really learning and having to learn quickly so I’m excited to kind of see how he progresses and as he understands the car more I think you’ll see less mistakes probably, less over aggression,” Larson described.

The #5 driver mentioned that even after 12 years of being in NASCAR, he still makes some risky-aggressive moves, which at times work out and at times don’t. But for Corey Day, Larson claimed he loves watching him as a fan and as someone who is learning quickly.

With that said, do you think Corey Day will end up progressing into a driver like his mentor, Kyle Larson? Let us know in the comments below.