Corey Day Overcomes Adversity to Win Blue Cross NC 300 at Charlotte!
CONCORD, N.C. — Corey Day delivered a potential season defining performance Sunday Night, October 11, at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Day overcame an early pit-road penalty and charged through the field making a decisive late-race move to capture the Blue Cross NC 300. Day also now has won back-to-back races for the first time in his career.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Day established himself as a contender early, as he won the opening stage though it did not come easy. On the opening laps Day's car was on the edge and found himself on the cusp of crashing when Jesee Love made it three wide for the lead. However, Day was able to save the car to not only keep it going straight, but also somehow maintain the lead.
Day's pit road penatly didn't come until the break after stae one. In stage two, Day worked himself from the rear of the field to finish 7th.
During the race it was clear there were only two other competitors for Corey Day. Those competitors being Justin Allgaier, who had excellent long run pace and won stage two, as well as Jesse Love, who seemingly fired off the best on the short runs.
On lap 149 Allgaier's long run car prevailed as he passed Love for the lead. On lap 157 the caution came out, and both Allgaier and Love put on their final set of tires. Allgaier won the race off pit road and was seemingly on his way to a momentum changing win.
But, that isn't what happened. Instead in a twist after the race went back green on lap 164, Justin Allgaier would lead, but his car suddenly was not good enough to pull away. In fact on the part of the run Allgaier had been best at all day, he began to blunder, and Jesse Love started to show promise.
On lap 183, Allgaier caved in and made a mistake, scraping the wall in the final corner, causing him to not just lose the lead, but also second too before just getting 2nd back before the yellow.
On lap 186, the final caution came out settting the field up for a 10 lap dash to the end. With Love as the control car the field charged into turn one with Allgaier racing his might out to edge out love. But instead of either of those two prevailing, it was Day who made a big move to the bottom to get around both cars entering turn three taking the lead.
In the closing laps Day tried his best to run down Love, but it was never close to enough. Corey Day won his 4th race of 2026, and sits 3rd in the standings -7 points behind Sheldon Creeed, as Day has gained 85 points in two races.
UP NEXT:
The NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series heads out west to Phoenix for its fourth to final race of the 2026 season. Earlier in March it was Justin Allgaier who won. Allgaier will seek a sweep as heading into Phoenix he sits -15 points off the lead. The Timberland Pro 200 will take place Saturday, October 17, at 7:30 P.M. ET. Coverage of the race can be found on the CW, ESPN +, and MRN.
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