Corey Day had a bad day at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The NASCAR garage, however, has been having a collective bad wave of sadness since Kyle Busch departed their ranks. Mere days before, Kyle lost his life to pneumonia and sepsis. Life, though, must go on. So, 20-year-old Corey Day sat in Kyle Busch’s No. 7 Chevrolet truck to race in Charlotte. It was a tribute that completely turned around on him by Lap 47.

“Yeah, crazy weekend, for sure, just with weather delays and obviously the situation this week with Kyle,” Day said afterward. “It’s just terrible.” He said this in a post-race interview, shared by Noah Lewis on X.

The way he said it meant everything. Under ongoing circumstances, it’s clear that this was no ordinary substitute driving. Day grew up watching Busch race. Like a lot of drivers, he learned by watching a lot of Kyle Busch videos frame by frame. Especially, Kyle’s ability to attack the traffic on the field.

It was on Thursday that Corey was called to drive the Spire Motorsports truck. By then, Kyle was in the hospital, his condition serious. He passed away hours later at the age of 41.

The team had a chance to park the truck, but they decided to do a tribute instead. Yes, Day had to drive it, but all elements on that truck were untouched. His name is on the window and the patriotic HendrickCars.com paint scheme. Before the race, the crew stood silently around the truck on pit road while the entire speedway held a moment of silence.

Before the main race, qualifying was cancelled due to rain. This put Day in the pole position on race day. That’s why his comments afterward sounded less like frustration and more like guilt.

“So I’m just personally very upset at myself for the decision there on the track,”

“All I wanted to do today was have a good run for these guys, and I ended it in a terrible way.”

Everything happened fast, and in a split second, both Day and the truck were upside down.  The crash was during Stage 2 of the North Carolina Education Lottery 200. Day had slipped back from the lead after struggling with handling the truck, but he was still running sixth on Lap 47. Then Gio Ruggiero got a huge drafting run down Charlotte’s backstretch.

Ruggiero moved low. Day shaded down to block. Ruggiero moved back up. Day reacted again, but the move was too late. The right front of Ruggiero’s truck clipped Day’s left rear corner. That small touch did the job.

The No. 7 snapped sideways, spun backward toward the infield gap, and then lifted completely off the ground. All four tires hung in the air while the truck rotated flat above the track. It finally slammed back down before pounding the inside SAFER barrier. The impact then shot the damaged truck back into traffic, where Mini Tyrrell crashed into it.

Day later admitted the airborne moment felt completely different from anything he had experienced in sprint cars.

“Yeah, it was scary, obviously, because it’s going towards the inside wall,” he said. “I’ve been in the air in a sprint car before, but not in a NASCAR.”

“So just glad it stayed on all fours.”

Day climbed out of it on his own and was released from the infield care center without injuries. But emotionally, he looked wrecked.

The timing is what sets it apart from being just another incident. This was already an emotional weekend for the entire sport. Drivers were racing with black No. 8 decals. Fans had built memorials outside tracks from Charlotte to Daytona. Some left flowers. Others left M&M’s, a callback to Busch’s most famous Cup Series years.

And in the middle of all that, Day was trying to honor someone he genuinely admired.

Kyle Busch’s No. 7 Truck Had Already Become Part of His Legacy

What made Sunday hit even harder was the history behind that truck itself. This was not a random fill-in ride. Busch had driven the Spire Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet himself in the past three Truck Series seasons after selling Kyle Busch Motorsports to Spire in 2023.

Even after stepping away from owning a team, Busch stayed deeply involved in helping build Spire’s truck program. He took those races seriously, too.

Busch made 10 starts in the No. 7 truck between 2024 and 2026. He won three times. His final Truck Series win was just days before his death at Dover, where he completely owned the field. Busch swept both stages, led 147 laps, and collected the 69th Truck Series win of his career.

Drivers like Corey Day also benefited directly from Busch’s involvement. Busch used those races to help younger prospects understand race craft, truck balance, and tire management. Day had already driven the same No. 7 truck for Spire in 2025, so when Busch was hospitalized, the team already trusted him with the seat.

But there was another connection there, too. Earlier this year, Kyle Busch visited Plaza Park Raceway in California to support his son, Brexton. That happened to be the same dirt track where Day grew up racing. Day stopped by the Busch pit area that night, talked with Kyle, and spent time around the family.

While they did not have a relationship that can be ‘named’, Day is clearly a part of the group that knows that they’ve lost a gem in the NASCAR field. Therefore, he felt like he let down the people carrying Busch’s memory through one of the toughest weekends NASCAR has seen in years.