On the last lap at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, Carson Kvapil thought he would be sailing into the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship lead. That was before he saw a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet bounce off the wall and zoom past him full throttle. The JR Motorsports car finished second by a mere 0.287 seconds.
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Corey Day, in the No. 17 HMS Chevy, was the most dominant driver on the day, and he walked away from Vegas with 75 points. He won stage 1, finished second at the end of stage two, and led 136 of the 201 laps. Day pulled off a move most drivers wouldn’t, and for that he thanked his sprint car foundations.
“For me, I know what I’m doing in a late-race scenario like that,” Day told the media, including FloRacing. On pavement, not as much. I think, honestly, a little bit of sprint car came out in me, hitting the fence, running the fence, all that sort of thing. That’s a sprint car driver and me just not lifting and getting everything I can out of it.”
“I think a stock car guy in my position probably would have made some different decisions there late in that race,” Day added. “But it worked out, so I’m not going to think about other ways I could have done it.”
Day moved into stock cars and began racing on asphalt in 2024. At his core, he is a sprint car driver, and the move that he pulled to get past Kvapil on the final lap was something straight out of the sprint car driver’s playbook.
On the last 13 laps, as Day closed in and lapped traffic, Kvapil was right behind him, and the JRM No. 1 and HMS No. 17 swapped the lead four times. Kvapil finished with 3 laps led, all of which came during the closing 13 laps.
On the final lap, Day was running the outside line, neck and neck to Kvapil. The HMS No. 17 hit the wall with its rear right on the exit of turn two but kept his foot on the throttle.
Day caught his car and kept putting the pressure on Kvapil. Coming out of turns three and four, Day kept running closer to the outside wall and bumped twice. The second bump sent him flying ahead. And at no point did he give up the throttle. Straightening on the final stretch, Day used the momentum off the wall to get ahead and cut in front of Kvapil, ensuring the HMS got past the finish line first.
Three wall bumps on the final lap, most stock car drivers would have left the car or the momentum they were trying to build. But for Day, it was the kind of wall-hugging racing that he had growing up racing sprint cars at dirt tracks.
Even Kenny Wallace pointed to Day’s brilliance that made the NOAPS race look like a complete spectacle in Vegas. Wallace compared Day to the HMS star who played a crucial role in getting him into the Hendrick pipeline.
“Last night, Kvapil had that race won. And that damn Corey Day, if I were to turn the volume down and watch the race, I’d have sworn that was Kyle Larson in that car.” Wallace said. “And it was Kyle Larson that told Rick Hendrick, ‘You gotta hire Corey Day. He’s the next me.’ And now it’s finally coming to fruition.”
Day is already locked into his current No. 17 HMS seat in NOAPS for 2027. Hendrick sees him as a long-term prospect, and the 20-year-old will get his first taste of top-tier stock car racing in the Cup series next year.
Day is scheduled to run 5 to 6 races next year in a Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. HMS has four Cup cars, but they also have four full-time Cup drivers for 2027. The aim is to get Day ready to eventually go full-time in the Cup Series, which is why HMS will ease him in through their technical alliance with Spire. Although the schedule isn’t confirmed yet, the races are supposed to be those in the mid to latter half of the season.
But the timeline on Day’s rookie Cup season is still unclear. Alex Bowman has already announced that 2027 will be his last full season in the No. 48 Chevrolet as he plans to retire from Cup racing.
Connor Zilisch, who is having a rough rookie season at Trackhouse Racing, has already been confirmed as the next No.48 driver. The other three drivers, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, and William Byron, are already locked in long-term, so neither of those seats is likely to free up anytime soon.
But Day’s progress is one that HMS will monitor closely, hoping that he can work as the perfect substitute driver if and when required. HMS felt that requirement this year when Bowman was ruled out from four races after being diagnosed with vertigo.
While the eyes are on his long-term future at HMS, Day will have his own sights set on the present season. With just five races remaining, Day will be hoping he has another win at the very least to have a shot at the title. Currently, he sits 41 points off leader Sheldon Creed.