Day Lands Four Truck Races With McAnally-Hilgemann

Corey Day will make his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Corey Day Racing)

STATESVILLE, N.C. – The pavement world got put on notice Monday: a sprint car talent lauded by Kyle Larson as someone he feels is “a little bit like racing myself” is set for his NASCAR debut.

Clovis, Calif., teenager Corey Day – a full-time ‘High Roller’ with Kubota High Limit Racing and one of the dirt world’s premier young stars – will run four NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races this fall with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, starting Thursday night, Sept. 19 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.

He’ll also compete at Kansas Speedway on Sept. 27, Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway on Oct. 26, and in the Nov. 8 season finale at Arizona’s Phoenix Raceway.

Day will drive the No. 81 Chevrolet Silverado RST – a fifth MHR entry – at Bristol and Martinsville, while he’ll wheel the team’s full-time No. 91 Chevrolet Silverado RST at Homestead and Phoenix.

HendrickCars.com, the online home for Hendrick Automotive Group, will sponsor Day in all four of his Truck Series starts. The company previously backed Day in his ARCA Menards Series debut at Salem (Ind.) Speedway in July.

For Day – an 18-year-old who has already put up impressive accolades in sprint cars and midgets, similar to how Larson began his career – the chance to take a bigger step into the pavement realm is one he wasn’t going to pass up.

“I’m excited to make my start in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series,” Day said. “I haven’t made many non-dirt racing starts but I’m ready to begin learning more about this type of racing. I know I will face some challenges, but I feel confident in my ability to learn, and I know that I have great support behind me with HendrickCars.com and McAnally-Hilgemann Racing. I just hope to represent them well.”

Day’s elite talent and rapid ascension to prominence on the dirt has been well documented over the past three years, beginning in 2021 when he became the youngest USAC National Midget Series winner in history at just 15 years old.

He’s added a NARC-King of the West Sprint Car Series title and Make-A-Wish Trophy Cup victory since then, as well as a Chili Bowl preliminary night score and wins with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway back in June and at Silver Dollar Speedway’s famed Gold Cup Race of Champions last September.

Day sits fifth in High Limit points this year with a Midweek Money Series score and seven national series triumphs to his name, the most recent of which came in the $100,070-to-win Gold Cup finale for his second straight victory in California’s richest sprint car event.

If all that wasn’t enough, Day even won in a JR Motorsports-prepared late model stock car back on April 28, during the first night of pavement racing in his young career, making MHR owner Bill McAnally even more eager to see what Day is capable of on the NASCAR stage.

“We can’t wait to see what Corey can do in one of our Chevrolet Silverados,” McAnally said. “It’s clear to see the raw talent and speed that he has in a sprint car, and we’re excited to help him get acclimated to NASCAR racing.

“Corey has shown to be a quick learner over the course of his career and we’re looking forward to him joining our team in these four races.”

Day’s four-race Truck Series slate with MHR will be led by team general manager and veteran signal-caller Chad Norris.

Norris first sat atop a NASCAR pit box in 2005 with Roush Racing (now RFK Racing) and won NASCAR Xfinity Series races with Hall of Famer Matt Kenseth, Marcos Ambrose, Trevor Bayne, and Spencer Gallagher. He also has a Truck Series victory with Brett Moffitt, which came in 2020 at Kansas Speedway.

As for Larson – who shares the HendrickCars.com colors with Day – the 2021 Cup Series champion may have described the young phenom best during an appearance on Kenny Wallace’s Conversations with Kenny podcast back in February.

“I don’t see anybody even close to [Day’s] talent level, and he’s still in high school. He’s basically me,” Larson noted. “He’s better than I am, or [better than] I was, obviously, at that age. He is in a lot better rides than I was at that age, too.

“His racecraft, his maturity on the track, off the track … all that is really, really good,” Larson added. “He can run harder than anybody on the racetrack and be in control. So, he’s definitely the next kid coming up that probably will make it [to NASCAR].”

“Making it” starts Thursday night for Day in the UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics at Bristol, with broadcast coverage slated for 8 p.m. ET, live on FS1, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.