After watching Corey Day turn an inconsistent rookie campaign into back-to-back wins, Kenny Wallace sees similarities between him and Jeff Gordon and believes that Rick Hendrick and his executives have a bigger plan for the young driver.
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“This is Jeff Gordon all over again,” Wallace said on an episode of the Herm & Schrader podcast, highlighting how Day is adapting to stock cars after giving up dirt racing early in his career and then growing up racing sprint cars.
Before becoming a defining driver of the sport, Gordon also transitioned from open-wheel dirt racing to stock cars. This is where Wallace sees similarities between Gordon and Day.
However, he is not suggesting that Day’s career will unfold exactly like Gordon’s. Yet he believes Hendrick has found another inexperienced driver with the potential to become a major figure in NASCAR, similar to Gordon but with a longer journey.
Wallace has previously compared Day to Kyle Larson, who also went from being a dirt-track racing standout to achieving NASCAR fame through Hendrick Motorsports. After Day’s Las Vegas victory, Wallace said he could have sworn Larson was behind the wheel if he had watched the race without its sound.
He also predicted a bright future for Day and fellow rising star Corey Heim, declaring that the two could dominate conversations about NASCAR’s next generation in five years. While people were talking about Heim’s wins even before he competed full-time in the Cup Series, Wallace now sees a different parallel regarding Day’s overall development.
“It is not Kyle Larson, because we knew Kyle Larson was coming. Kyle Larson never wrecked a lot, but I do see this as Jeff Gordon,” Wallace explained.
The distinction comes down to Day’s learning curve. His transition from dirt racing to pavement and full-bodied stock cars has brought crashes and mistakes, particularly during the early stages of his NASCAR career.
Still, Wallace believes the 20-year-old is beginning to understand how to use his natural speed without allowing those mistakes to define him.
“It’s like he flipped the switch,” Wallace said.
That is a notable change from the criticism Day faced earlier this year. Hendrick’s decision to bring Connor Zilisch into its Cup programme from 2028 prompted questions from fans about where Day stood in the organization’s future, given that Zilisch is currently 21st in the Cup Series rankings, after climbing up from 34th in August. Meanwhile, Day was 5th in the O’Reilly Auto Parts rankings at the same time.
Wallace recalled the reaction: “I mean, it was two months ago where everybody was up in arms: ‘How dare Rick Hendrick sign Connor Zilisch? Why didn’t they sign Corey Day?’”
He disagreed with the idea that people overlooked Day, insisting that people had seen his potential before the recent victories.
“I knew he was coming; we all knew he was coming,” Wallace said.
His earlier praise after Las Vegas supports that confidence. While the Gordon comparison is a new step in his assessment, Wallace had already called Day a future star before the Charlotte victory. What makes things different now is that Day is producing the results to support the prediction.
Day won the opening stage at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but officials penalized him during the stage-break pit stops for driving through too many pit boxes. The mistake sent him back to 30th for the restart on Lap 54.
However, instead of laying low and recovering, Day charged through the field and reached seventh by the end of Stage 2, placing himself in a position to fight for the victory in the closing laps.
With 10 laps remaining, Day made a three-wide move on Jesse Love and Justin Allgaier on the backstretch to take the lead. He held off Love over the final circuits, winning by 0.728 seconds and securing his second consecutive victory. It was also his fourth win of the season.
The recovery mattered as much as the pass itself. Day had made a costly mistake, lost track position, and still managed to win against two experienced competitors.
In the same interaction with Kenny Wallace, fellow NASCAR veteran Rick Mast pointed out that Rick Hendrick had watched the race alongside senior executives, who celebrated Day’s victory together.
“Who stays around to watch that race? Mr. H. And who’s all around Mr. H? Not only is he there, but all the top executives of that group are there, and they’re all high-fiving when he wins the race,” Mast said.
For Wallace, that reaction fits his belief that Hendrick has a plan for Day’s future. The organization is watching the development of a driver it has made a long-term commitment to.
Hendrick Motorsports made that commitment official in September when it signed Day to a long-term development contract. The team acknowledged that his learning curve would be steep but praised his progress throughout his first full season in the O’Reilly Series.
Day will also make a few Cup Series starts in 2027 with Spire Motorsports while competing full-time for Hendrick in the O’Reilly Series. Because of the current charter restrictions, Hendrick cannot field a fifth Cup car.
Additionally, the public has not received further details on Day’s long-term path beyond 2027, which adds an element of intrigue.
For now, Day’s immediate goal is to convert his recent wins into a championship win. He climbed to third in the O’Reilly Series standings after Charlotte, just seven points behind leader Sheldon Creed, with four races remaining. The back-to-back wins helped him recover 85 points on the leader in only two outings.
The early-season mistakes have not disappeared from the story, but they no longer define it. Day is recovering from setbacks, making decisive moves when the opportunity arrives and putting himself in a position to win.
Wallace sees the same qualities that made Gordon’s move from open-wheel racing to stock cars so interesting. Whether Day ultimately reaches those heights remains to be seen, but his recent results have made one thing clear: Hendrick’s investment is beginning to deliver on its promise.