By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer

Through the chaos that was Saturday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway, rookie Corey Day survived it all to score his career-best result of second in an O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver entered the sixth round of 2026 with five straight top-10 finishes and was looking for that next step up the competitive ladder.

But he didn’t anticipate it happening at the Virginia half-mile.

“This place is not the place I’d expect my best finish to come, but I am good with it,” Day admitted.

Starting seventh, Day only managed two stage points on the afternoon. His surge to the front occurred in the final stage during the slew of cautions started and stopped the field six times in the last 100 laps.

“A lot of learning for me today,” he said. “I feel like every time I come back here I learn more and more, I start further ahead and I end further ahead than what I showed up with.”

Following a massive restart accident with 15 laps to go, Day was left standing alongside Justin Allaier, the 30-time race winner and championship point leader.

This is where the real learning began.

“Obviously, he’s great at restarts,” he said. “That’s something that I don’t have much experience yet with, which is the front row. I am definitely going to go back and study him there and see how he’s so much better — or try to see at least.”

Day exits the Paperclip now seventh in points.

“Overall, a great day,” he said. “Thanks for HendrickCars.com, Mr. and Mrs. Hendrick, all my [No.] 17 guys for busting their butts and giving me such a good car.”