Corey Day Dazzles On Path to Second Consecutive O'Reilly Series Win

The 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season began with questions about why Hendrick Motorsports decided to go all-in on Corey Day, as the 20-year-old racer ruffled the feathers and bent the fenders of some fellow Chevrolet teammates early in the season.

Fast forward to October, and there are no more questions as Day capped off an incredible drive in the closing laps of Sunday night's Blue Cross NC 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway to secure his second consecutive race win.

With 10 laps to go, Day looked to be in trouble. But as he appeared to be trapped in the middle of a three-wide battle for the third position behind Justin Allgaier and Jesse Love, Day got an incredible run off of Turn 2. As he rocketed down the backstretch, Day fired his No. 17 Chevrolet to the bottom lane, his car stuck, and he was able to breeze past Allgaier and Love to take the lead.

"Man, I don't know. I think [Love] got really loose, from what I could see up there in front of [Allgaier]. I think it messed them both up, and that was just enough for me to get a good run off of it, and take my run," Day explained of his rally back around Love and Allgaier. "That was crucial."

Day wouldn't look back, as he held off Love over the final few laps to score the win by a margin of 0.728 seconds. The win marks Day's fourth of the season, his first full-time season in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.

"Man, what a job by my guys. I screw up and take too many boxes on [pit] entry, and just to have the car to do that, the execution on pit road. Just everything to finish one off like that is so cool," Day stated.

And after back-to-back wins at Las Vegas and Charlotte, Day is all of a sudden in the thick of the championship battle. Day now ranks third in the Chase Grid, and he sits just seven points behind Sheldon Creed, the series point leader. It's an incredible rally for Day, who looked to be out of contention for the championship after a run-in with William Sawalich at Gateway resulted in a 33rd-place finish.

Is he now the favorite to win it all?

"Oh, I don't really know," Day smiled. "These are good places for us. So, I'd like to think so, but we still have to execute these last four [races]."

Love, who led a race-high 80 laps, and scored the most Stage Points on the night, moved up a spot to third in the championship standings. Now, the driver of the No. 2 car, who is looking for his second straight NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series championship, is just two points behind Creed, the point leader.

Speaking of Creed, he suffered from an early-race incident with Sammy Smith, which mired him through the opening Stage of the race, and most of the second Stage. But in the end, Creed was able to claw back to salvage a third-place finish to narrowly hang onto his point lead.

Justin Allgaier, the favorite to win the championship heading into the Chase who also looked to be heading to Victory Lane late in Sunday's race, faded down the stretch, but was still able to exit Concord, NC with a fourth-place finish. Allgaier now sits fourth in the championship fight, 15 points behind Creed.

Carson Brown, a Richard Childress Racing development driver, was able to snag a fifth-place finish in just his second career start, driving the No. 32 Chevrolet for Jordan Anderson Racing.

Brandon Jones, Austin Hill, Anthony Alfredo, Taylor Gray, and Brennan Poole rounded out the top-10 finishers in the Blue Cross NC 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

It was a great night for some of the championship contenders, but it was a rough evening for a few of the Chase contenders.

Sam Mayer ran great for the majority of the race, but in the closing laps, he picked up damage and a tire rub, which led to him finishing 24th, one lap off the pace.

While it was a rough result for Mayer, it was a catastrophically bad night for JR Motorsports teammates Carson Kvapil and Rajah Caruth.

Both drivers suffered mechanical issues. Kvapil's led to a vibration which caused a right rear tire to go down. After roughly 29 laps behind the wall, Kvapil came back on track to score a 32nd-place finish.

Kvapil, who entered the night as the runner-up driver in the championship standings, dropped to fifth in the standings on Sunday night.

As bad as that was for Kvapil, Caruth wasn't as fortunate. The driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet had an issue with his car as well, which led to him colliding with another car on track. Caruth would retire from the race after completing just 126 of the 200 laps.

Updated Chase Grid (Four Races Remaining)

1. Sheldon Creed, 2,294 points
2. Jesse Love, -2
3. Corey Day, -7
4. Justin Allgaier, -15
5. Carson Kvapil, -40
6. Sam Mayer, -59
7. Taylor Gray, -87
8. Austin Hill, -94
9. Sammy Smith, -106
10. Parker Retzlaff, -126
11. Brandon Jones, -141
12. Rajah Caruth, -180

Blue Cross NC 300 Race Results

(C) indicates a Chase contender
# indicates a Rookie of the Year contender
(i) indicates a driver ineligible to score points

What's Next?

Next up for the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series is the Timberland PRO 200 at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, October 17. That race will be televised on The CW, and coverage is set to kick off at 7:30 PM ET. The Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of the race.