After Corey Day signed with Hendrick Motorsports on a multi-year deal, all eyes were on the young American driver. Day, who is known for his exceptional skills on dirt, is slowly adapting to asphalt, and as a result, he was picked by one of the most successful and renowned teams in NASCAR. But while he grabbed ample attention in the ARCA Menards Series, NASCAR Truck Series, and Trans AM Series, his outings in the Midget Nationals have not been up to the mark.

Tracking back to his 2025 run, which Day termed “terrible”, Rick Hendrick’s prodigy is now looking forward to 2026 as he issued a verdict, just ahead of this year’s Chili Bowl Nationals.

Corey Day reflects on his 2025 Chili Bowl

As Corey Day is set to have his run, he went through a practice session on Sunday. Driving his midget, powered by NOS Energy Drink, the HMS prodigy lost control of his car and nearly toppled after making contact with the barrier.

Nevertheless, Day took control of his #4 midget and returned to the rack and went on. Following the conclusion of his practice, the 20-year-old shared his thoughts and went on to speak about his previous outings at the track.

“Last year we were terrible,” Day said in an interview with Matt Weaver on X. “So yeah, just going off, we had in 2024, and this is a new car. So what we did on the California swing this year. I guess 2025, last year now. Yeah just kinda playing with it.”

Corey Day competed in the 2025 Chili Bowl Nationals in the A-Main category, after finishing third in his preliminary night feature on Wednesday. This earned him a place on Saturday’s main event.

On Saturday, Day finished in an underwhelming 11th place, ahead of Hank Davis and behind Joe Gibbs Racing star Christopher Bell. Cup Series star, Kyle Larson, ended up winning the race, while Daison Pursley and Shane Golobic came home in second and third positions, respectively.

As 2025 is past now, the HMS Prodigy now has his eyes set on this year’s race. Speaking about this, here’s what Day further added:

“So you always do something different than outdoors when you come to this building. So you just kind of try and figure out what works best for your car and you know we were one end of the spectrum, that first practice session, and the other in there. Just kind of trying to find our limits. Both ends of it.”

This year’s Chili Bowl Nationals, often known as the Super Bowl of Midget Racing, will start on January 13, Monday, and will continue till the championship finale on Saturday, January 18. FloRacing will broadcast the event from the Tulsa Expo Center.

The upcoming event will be the 40th running of the prestigious race. Corey Day will compete against the NASCAR drivers, such as Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs, JJ Yeley, Josh Bilicki, Jesse Love, and Sheldon Creed.

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When Corey Day impressed Rick Hendrick

In December 2024, Hendrick Motorsports completed the signing of Corey Day. The young American driver, who has 11 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races under his belt, will take over the #17 car under full-time obligation.

Besides O’Reilly Auto Parts (also known as Xfinity Series till 2025), Day also participated in 30 pavement series such as the Truck Series, Trans AM, and, of course, Midget Racing. Seeing his raw talent, Rick Hendrick, the owner of Hendrick Motorsports, was left impressed.

“Corey impressed us with how quickly he adapted this year,” Hendrick said. “He’ll go into 2026 with less pavement experience than anyone in the field, but you’d never know it by watching him drive. The instincts and raw talent are off the charts, and he’s going to keep getting better with more seat time. Corey has a tremendous future, and we’re proud to have him represent HendrickCars.com.”

As Corey Day is the next big thing under the Hendrick Motorsports and HendrickCars.com umbrella, it will be interesting to see how the 20-year-old fares when his time comes to shine. As for now, all eyes will be on him at the Chili Bowl Nationals this week.