“When Kyle Larson and Jeff Gordon say someone is the real deal, it certainly gets your attention.” Rick Hendrick said this about up-and-coming driver Corey Day. Although the 19-year-old is known to turn heads with his racing skills on the dirt track, he is stepping up big time this year after signing for Hendrick Motorsports. With a bunch of NASCAR Xfinity, Trucks, ARCA, and Trans-AM Racing events lined up, this schedule is backed by HMS. Now, he wasn’t expected to rack up wins in every race he competed in, but it seems like he could be on that trajectory after his performance at Nashville on Friday.
The race at Nashville was his 10th start in the Craftsman Truck Series and proved to be his best one. Climbing out of the #7 Spire Motorsports Chevy, he was greeted with hugs and high-fives. It has been a rough start for the young driver this year, unable to crack a single top 10. So this result was huge to boost his confidence and morale. This was evident from his post-race interview.
“Yeah, really good day from top to bottom. Qualifying got rained out, got to start 5th and really had to earn that one. To run Top 5 all day is super cool, I haven’t been able to do that yet, but ran Top 10 all day. Super excited to finally get a whole run together,” Day said in an interview with Brandon Crosslin.
The No. 7 ride is shared by multiple drivers, and seeing the likes of Kyle Busch and Carson Hocevar being able to win races must have been tough on that day. Before this top 5 result, the best finish he had was a 15th-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway. This was during a stretch of runs where he ran five consecutive races. So he is the lead driver of the team and which is why there are more expectations from him.
.@corey_day_ P5 maintained, and lead a lap @NashvilleSuperS. Great finish on the 19 yr old’s 10th @NASCAR_Trucks start.#NASCAR #RackleyRoofing200 pic.twitter.com/tulbzmEp5M
— Brandon Crosslin (@CrosslinRacing) May 31, 2025
Day also shared his take running on a concrete surface as opposed to asphalt. The only track that has similar type of surface is Bristol. So, he seems to have a knack for concrete track and is proving to be his strength “Yeah it’s definitely different. It’s very on top of the track. Bristol you got so much banking, it doesn’t give the concrete a huge justice. I felt super on top of the track, all race. Not a bad thing though, I think everyone feels that way. Which is really good to feel that the more laps I get, the more reps I get, the more situational awareness I’ll have, the better I’ll get.”
Despite the strong run, the 19-year-old isn’t putting too much stress on himself to repeat the same in the coming races. Rather, he is focused on his next assignment, the Xfinity race. All in all, this was a huge day for Spire Motorsports, as Rajah Caruth also found himself in the victory lane after his win at Vegas last year.
Rajah Caruth seals a spot in playoffs with a win in Nashville
It was a three-way battle that saw Rajah Caruth fend off Corey Heim and Layne Riggs to bag his first win of the 2025 season. Heim, who has bagged four wins already, kept up with the pace of the #71 truck, but he couldn’t make a pass. As the drivers crossed the start-finish line, the margin of difference was just over half a second. With this win, Caruth joins the likes of Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson as drivers to win multiple races for Spire Motorsports in the Truck Series.
“I didn’t expect that at all — those guys were breathing down my neck the whole run. My pit crew won that race. They won the race for us, got us off pit road twice. We’ve been off this year, but it was good to get it done tonight. That was a lot of fun. I asked myself, ‘How bad do you want it?’ I just tried my best, and we had clean air. Their stuff was better, but I just did my best. That was it,” Caruth said after the race.
It was 30-plus races since Caruth had last won a race and this result couldn’t have come at a better time for the team. With a spot in the playoffs, the focus for the #71 team will be to gain as many points as they can heading into the knockout rounds.
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