Young blood can bring enthusiasm, but also a lot of inexperienced moves. As the 2026 season got underway in NASCAR, several young faces started new chapters in the sport. One of them, vouched for by none other than two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, generated immense hype. However, Rick Hendrick’s newly recruited youngster is off to a rocky start, with Denny Hamlin probing his aggressive display in the past few weeks.

Denny Hamlin sounds off on ‘talented’ claims

“There’s been guys that come from dirt that have been successful, and there’s guys that have come from dirt. When I say come from dirt, they win, they dominate, they kick ass, and they get an asphalt, and that’s just not their thing,” Denny Hamlin said in a recent ‘Actions Detrimental’ episode. “Not everyone is as well-rounded as Kyle that can get in a dirt car and go set, you know, hot laps, fast time, and then go in a cup car with no practice and go set fast time. Like that’s an anomaly.”

Corey Day, a 20-year-old regular in the dirt racing world, entered NASCAR in 2026. But driving the No. 17 HMS Chevrolet in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series for just the first three races has landed Day in a feisty debate. The tall claims that Kyle Larson made about Day last year, regarding him being a trailblazer in NASCAR, given his dirt glory, look a little weak right now.

Over a week ago in Atlanta, Corey Day forced the action three-wide on lap 5, setting off a multi-car crash. It collected several drivers, including Kyle Seig, who went ballistic on Day in his comments. Then last Saturday at Circuit of the Americas, Day ruffled Connor Zilisch’s feathers. The latter had driven from the field’s rear to 5th position in the final laps, after facing brake issues. But as he was exiting Turn 2, Day appeared to slide up behind him, but made contact and sent Zilisch spinning wildly off the track.

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“I mean, how long does the experiment continue?” Denny Hamlin asked. “I haven’t seen a lot of great runs out of him. You’ve seen more mistakes than you’ve seen great runs. And like when I say mistakes, like big old blatant mistakes.”

Connor Zilisch had called Corey Day a ‘hack’ after the COTA trouble. With mounting frustration from rivals, one might compare Day with Carson Hocevar, who is notorious for his rowdy behavior. Day also finishes well after causing chaos – he clinched a 4th-place finish in Atlanta and landed in 5th in COTA. But Denny Hamlin said the two storm-brewers are not the same.

“And every weekend there’s some guys that are upset, and it’s very different than Carson Hocevar, right? It feels different like in the sense of like Carson’s just really, really aggressive and makes contact where Day just makes contact.”

Clearly, Corey Day’s wrecking moves are turning heads for the wrong reasons. But before his mentor could get a chance to respond, he had to tend to his own issues.

A heated debacle in COTA

Denny Hamlin questioned Kyle Larson’s choice of young racers in NASCAR. At the same time, however, Larson questioned his cooling suit choices at COTA. Early on in the race, Larson’s and several others’ cooling systems failed. Alex Bowman had to climb out of his car with over 20 laps left. AJ Allmendinger, who finished ninth, lay beside his car after the checkered flag and required fluids from medical staff.

Kyle Larson, on the other hand, somehow persisted and drove the No. 5 HMS Chevy to a 6th-place finish. But along the way, he confessed to feeling ‘nervous.’

“I felt good there at the end, but I was hot early in the race. I was getting nervous,” Kyle Larson said. “But I think it kind of cooled down outside, too, which helped. All in all, it was a great day for this No. 5 Chevrolet team. It was good to get our first top-10 finish of the season, and hopefully we can just build off of it.”

The weekend at COTA did not go smoothly for either Kyle Larson or his young teammate. Let’s see if both can overcome their problems in the upcoming races.