Hendrick Motorsports made some NASCAR news early this week in an announcement that top prospect Corey Day had signed a contract extension to race full-time in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and make his Cup Series debut in 2027. We now know a lot more about Hendrick’s plans for their future star.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway, Hendrick Motorsports president Jeff Andrews revealed that Day will run “five to six races” next season in the Cup Series. Those races will all be run as an open car with Spire Motorsports, part of Hendrick’s alliance, and not the Haas Factory Team as Corey LaJoie suggested.
NASCAR rules don’t allow for any team to run five cars in a race, preventing Day from racing for Hendrick Motorsports at any point for the foreseeable future. HMS is maintaining its current four-driver team next season of Kyle Larson, William Byron, Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman. In 2028, Connor Zilisch will replace Bowman as Hendrick’s fourth full-time driver.
Choosing Spire over Haas also seems to be an indication of the long-term plans for Day. If he fares well in those five to six Cup races in 2027, he could potentially become a full-time Cup Series driver in 2028 as a 22-year-old. If that were to happen, it now stands to reason that opportunity would come with Spire Motorsports and he would replace either Daniel Suárez (No. 7) or Michael McDowell (No. 71).
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While Hendrick hasn’t made a final decision on which specific Cup Series races that Day will compete in, Andrews shared that Larson and Jeff Gordon will “have tremendous input” in choosing the best tracks for Day next year. Of note, those opportunities are expected to come in “the middle-to-latter half” of the 2027 Cup Series schedule.
Day, who turns 21 years old in November, made The Chase in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in his first season and currently sits fifth in The Chase O’Reilly Series standings entering Saturday’s Nu Way 225 at World Wide Technology Raceway. With Corey Heim racing full-time in the Cup Series next year for 23XI Racing, Day will likely be viewed as one of the top three NASCAR prospects in 2027.
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