It might sound strange, but momentum can, in some cases, make or break someone’s career. Just after his breakthrough victory at Talladega Superspeedway, Corey Day suddenly finds himself the subject of Cup Series speculation. Having had a 2024 development deal with Hendrick Motorsports, the 21-year-old is being mentioned as a potential option if a seat opens up. But as buzz builds around his future, the conversations have taken a sharper turn, especially with Connor Zilisch struggling for consistency and Denny Hamlin weighing in with a reality check.

Speaking on his podcast Actions Detrimental, Hamlin made it clear that the Talladega win was meaningful. However, it shouldn’t be a path to promotion. “Corey didn’t put a steering wheel wrong coming to the checkered,” Hamlin began and when asked directly whether Day could move up to the Cup next year, Hamlin gave his opinion straight away. “Oh man, that would be quick. I wouldn’t advise that.”

With Corey Day making noise in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and Alex Bowman going through a rough patch in a potential contract year, the idea of a shakeup at Hendrick Motorsports doesn’t seem far-fetched. A promotion to the No. 48 seat as soon as next season may seem aggressive, but it could serve a bigger purpose – speeding up Day’s learning curve while getting him consistent exposure to the demands of the Next Gen car at the highest level.

But Connor Zilisch’s story is a perfect reminder of why Hendrick Motorsports might want to take a patient approach with Corey Day. Last season at just 19 years old, Zilisch put together a dominant campaign in the O’Reilly Series, amassing 10 wins and leading 1,013 laps in what was widely viewed as a historic run. But the move to the Cup Series has been anything but smooth. Through 10 races this season, he has the third-lowest average finish (27.0) and fourth-lowest average starting position (28.3) of all full-time drivers.

While Day crossed the O’Reilly finish line first, Zilisch crossed the Cup’s finish line in 26th, three laps down. He’s currently 47th in the Cup Series standings. Carson Hocevar won the race. And that gap between expectation and output is precisely what Denny Hamlin is trying to protect Day from.

Focusing on that, he also flagged something bigger about the sport’s developmental pipeline. “60% of the drivers are paying for the rides, maybe more,” he said.

He basically described a system where finding genuine talent is getting harder, and where it is found, it’s easier to mishandle. When Day does eventually come to the Cup Series, Hamlin wants him to come in prepared, not just get there fast.

At 15, Day was the youngest USAC winner. After that, in 2024, he won five races in the High Limit Racing Series, which also included events at Riverside International and Lake Ozark.

Plus, he is a three-time champion of the Gold Cup Race of Champions between 2023 and 2025, an accomplishment that is similar to what his father, Ronnie Day, did. With another win on the ‘youngest’ docket, he was the youngest winner in the 83-year history of the Turkey Night Grand Prix in 2024.

That said, Hamlin did admit that Corey has had a good transformation, recalling that just a week before he won, someone in his motorhome was betting that Day would wreck somebody. “We’re only one week removed from that,” he said, before adding, “I think by the end of the year, he’ll be one of the favorites week in and week out.”

There is a very specific shift that Hamlin is talking about. Day has tended to tangle with other drivers, but not just that, he also tangles with himself. Now, however, that has been reducing. “He’s making moves that are very difficult, and he’s pulling them off,” Hamlin observed.

Still, to reinforce Denny Hamlin’s point of view on the Cup situation, there is another case to be made.

Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin’s Competitor Who Came in Early

In 2009, Joey Logano sat in the number 20 Joe Gibbs Racing car when he was just 18. He was called “sliced bread,” which meant the next big thing, someone who had elite equipment and came with a heck of a lot of expectations.

Logano did not have it easy. Having entered the cup car, he had not gotten what a veteran would call “drafting credit.” This means the trust that is built through clean racing at 200 miles per hour. Without it, experienced drivers would race him hard, and therefore, his development stalled.

The talent that made him unstoppable during the lower series did not translate well into the Cup Series. There was an inherent expectation that Logano would instantly become a champion as soon as he came to the Cup Series. However, there were several more seasons in his arc. Let’s take a few incidents into perspective here.

Preceding the races on Sunday, in 2012, Logano won nearly 50% of the Xfinity races that he got into. This was on Saturdays. Now, when he went into his races on Sundays, he was rarely able to maintain even a top-15 position in the Cup car. While a 2009 win in the Cup Series at New Hampshire was booked to his name, a lot of critics felt that, since the victory was shortened by rain, he did not earn it through speed.

Contrary to the expectation he came in with, in his four seasons with Joe Gibbs Racing, he had two wins in total, one rain-shortened. His average finish hovered between 18th and 20th. His best points finish was 16th in 2010, and after 2012, he was replaced by Matt Kenseth.

After his stint with JGR was over, he joined Team Penske in 2013, which allowed him to approach the series differently. After that, he went on to win three Cup Series championships: in 2018, 2022, and then 2024. So there was a turning point in that story. However, it came late because he was promoted to the Cup Series early on.