Hendrick Confirms Team Corey Day Will Drive For Part-Time In Cup

When Hendrick Motorsports announced a long-term extension with Corey Day, which would include another full-time season in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series and a part-time run in the NASCAR Cup Series, details about Day's 2027 Cup opportunity were sparse.

In the initial announcement on Thursday, Hendrick Motorsports said details on Day's Cup Series schedule would be announced at a later date. Fast forward to Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway, Jeff Andrews, General Manager and President of Hendrick Motorsports, officially confirmed the team that Day will compete for in the NASCAR Cup Series during the 2027 season in a press conference.

Andrews also confirmed that Hendrick Motorsports is looking to have Day compete in five to six NASCAR Cup Series events next season.

With Hendrick Motorsports having four Chartered entries in the NASCAR Cup Series, one of only two teams grandfathered in with four Chartered entries (Joe Gibbs Racing is the other), they are unable to field a fifth part-time entry in the series per the Team Charter Agreement.

Hendrick Motorsports has reached an agreement with Spire Motorsports for Day's part-time campaign in the NASCAR Cup Series.

"Obviously, we're at our four-car limit, so to speak, under the 2025 Charter agreement, so, those five-to-six races that we're talking about will be with Spire Motorsports," Andrews explained during the press conference.

As for what tracks Day will compete at in the NASCAR Cup Series, that remains a moving target for Hendrick Motorsports, but expect them to come mid-to-late 2027.

"Obviously, there will be a variety of tracks. Kyle Larson and Jeff Gordon will obviously have a tremendous input on what those tracks are. But yeah, we're working through that right now; I don't want to throw anything out there too far," Andrews said. "But more likely, the middle to latter half of the year is what we'll be looking at and targeting for those."

Andrews continued, "We'll try to mix that up with mile-and-a-half, and some short track things, and kind of see how that schedule goes and how it coincides with his O'Reilly schedule, as well."

Day, who has been a quick study in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, as he has two victories and ranks fifth in the Chase for the Championship in his first full-time season behind the wheel of the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, is excited to get the Cup Series experience.

"I think for me, the cars are obviously just very different. So, I'd definitely like to get to a place that I feel comfortable at," Day said. "You know, I have the track or the new track aspect out of it. And I feel like that would help, but the car is so different. So, just for me, I think finishing all of the laps of every race I'm in would be my first goal. And then, just learning the racecraft."

Day continued, "I'll have a lot to learn, that's for sure."

Day, 20, finished runner-up last weekend at Darlington Raceway, the opening race of the nine-race NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase. The driver, who ranks fifth in the Chase Grid, is looking to claw his way to the top of the standings over the final eight races of the season.

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