This is definitely not how Rick Hendrick or Dale Earnhardt Jr. expected their day to unfold at the Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 race at Atlanta Speedway. Lap 105 turned into heartbreak in the blink of an eye for both team owners. Just as the battle for the lead intensified, Hendrick’s Corey Day found himself in the middle of a very heated social media storm, with fans squarely blaming the 20-year-old.

The No. 17 misjudged the entry into turn three and couldn’t quite get his car down to the bottom. The slight miscalculation proved costly as Day clipped the left rear of Carson Kvapil’s JRM No. 1 car while the two were fighting nose to tail at the front of the pack.

What started as a tight, aggressive duel instantly unravelled, sending both machines sliding up the banking and hard into the outside wall. With nowhere to go, Dale Jr.’s 2024 Xfinity champion, Justin Allgaier, was collected as well, the trio slamming the barrier and bringing out a pivotal caution.

In the immediate aftermath, Rick Hendrick‘s driver owned the moment. Over the radio, he sent a message that cut through the chaos.

“Tell (Carson Kvapil) I am sorry. I had no idea he was down until I peeled off,” he said. It was a candidate admission from a young driver who knew just how much their contact reshaped the race.

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For Day, it wasn’t too bad, as he managed to salvage his run after the wreck, adding to his competitive showing throughout the race. He had constantly hovered inside the top five, following Kvapil and Allgaier throughout the draft after stage two and positioning himself perfectly for a late race charge.

But the razor-thin margins of pack racing left no room for error; a fraction too high, a split second too late to turn in, and the promising run ended in crumpled sheet metal as Dale Jr.’s drivers saw themselves out of the race.

Kvapil’s afternoon had been shaping up as one of his strongest performances. The No. 1 car had cycled to the front multiple times, even getting a push to the lead on lap 100 and showing strength on both lanes.

Allgaier, meanwhile, had methodically worked his way forward despite starting at the rear for unapproved adjustments, keeping himself in contention when it mattered most.

Instead of battling to the checkout flag, two of three found themselves against the wall, victims of one misjudged entry that changed everything in an instant. And it is safe to say that the fans would prey on Day’s move as he walked away unscathed.

Social media lights up against Day amid risky wreck

The reaction online was instant and unforgiving. As soon as the recon folded, fans flooded social media with pointed questions and blunt criticism, many of them about Rick Hendrick’s star driver.

One fan wrote, “How is Corey Day full-time but Corey Heim isn’t?” a comparison that quickly gained traction as others echoed the sentiment.

As Heim has proven his ability by winning the 2025 truck series championship and has some part-time Cup starts lined up with 23XI Racing, fans were more than curious to know why Heim hasn’t secured a full-time Xfinity seat, adding more salt to the wound when comparing him to Day.

Another did not mince words either, asking flatly, “Has Day ever had a clean race? Seems like every time he is mentioned, it’s a caution.”

Others widen the scope beyond just Day. One post read, “Wreck Hendrick at it again,” suggesting a broader critique of the powerhouse pipeline and its prospects. This could also be the shout about Chase Elliott’s wreck at the Daytona 500 that brought out the caution.

While it may be a coincidence that Rick Hendrick’s drivers seem to be following the trend of bringing the yellow flag out, the fans aren’t letting this slide.

As the place of the turn three contact circulated, even Bryan Nolan, a motorsport reporter, couldn’t help but comment on the incident.

“Oh, Corey Day…You can’t do that. Especially to cars that you are working with,” he wrote, in a frustrating manner.

Day had been drafting and working in tandem with the very cars he ultimately collected, making the mistake feel like a breakdown and a betrayal at the worst possible moment.

Even drivers appear to take notice. Harrison Burton chimed in with a pointed remark, writing, “Dang 17 car on one today huh.”

The comment, subtle but sharp, reflected how visible Day’s aggressive moments had been throughout the race. Between the early contact on the lap 105 crash, Day’s car had been in the thick of the action.

Together, the reaction paints a clear picture. This wasn’t viewed as just another racing incident. To many watching; it was a lapse in judgment during a coordinated battle at the front of the field. And in a style of racing where cooperation dictates survival, the answer is exactly why the backlash hit as hard as it did.