Rick Hendrick and Jeff Gordon addressed the future of Corey Day at Hendrick Motorsports following the signing of Connor Zilisch.

In a press release on August 17th, Hendrick Motorsports announced they had signed Zilisch to a multi-year deal to drive their No. 48 Ally Chevrolet beginning in 2028. The deal with Zilisch comes a little less than a year after it inked a deal with Day in November 2025 to compete full time in the team’s No. 17 HendrickCars.com car in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. 

In a press conference to discuss Zilisch’s signing, Steven Taranto asked about Day’s future with the organization, “Can you just talk about what your plans for Corey are and also maybe what the future of your driver lineup might look like around Connor?”

Hendrick answered, “First of all, Corey Day is a tremendous talent and our plan is for him to be in our future for a long time. People don’t realize he’s only been on pavement about half a year. And so it’s going to be good to watch him grow.”

“And we have plans for him that go well beyond the next couple years,” he continued. “So when the timing’s right he’ll move up, but for right now Corey’s learning. We want to run for the Championship in the O’Reilly car next year and so we’re excited about him. I love the youth, enthusiasm. I love the energy and the talent.”

Gordon offered similar praise, “I would just add that I’m excited to get Connor with our current young driver lineup and I think he’s going to fit in very well with that. I think Rick said it all about Corey and his future. We know there’s a bright future there.”

“But right now Connor’s prepared and ready to step in and be, in my opinion, when ’28 comes around a championship caliber driver. And we’re going to make sure that he’s got a championship caliber race car and team to go along with that. And I think he’s going to fit in very well with Chase and William and with Kyle. So I’m excited when that day comes,” he added.

The praise for Day is not surprising. Back in November, Hendrick said, “Corey impressed us with how quickly he adapted this year. 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.”

Day has two wins, six Top 5s, and 15 Top 10s and one pole in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series this year. He is currently fifth in the points standings, 321 points behind current leader Justin Allgaier.

On top of his success in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, Day continues to compete on dirt. He’s competed in 22 features this year including a trip to Australia at the beginning of the year where he won at Perth Motorplex. He also has wins at the Dirt Track at Las Vegas, Eagle Raceway, Eldora Speedway, and Lernerville Speedway. His wins at Eldora came with High Limit Racing in its Double Down Duels event on July 15th and then with the World of Outlaws in the Knight Before the Kings Royal on July 17th.

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