Rick Hendrick has a knack for finding hidden gems and prospects that could lead the team’s Cup Series project. And going by their recent announcement, it seems like they’ve found a new racing prodigy. Eighteen-year-old sprint car star Corey Day will make his ARCA debut with Pinnacle Racing Group this weekend.

Initially, he was only supposed to compete in a single ARCA race. However, with the backing and sponsorship from HendrickCars.com, Corey Day will run an additional two ARCA races. Following his debut at Salem Speedway, the teenager will also pilot the No. 28 and No. 82 cars at Bristol Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway.

Day is accustomed to racing the sprint cars and the midgets on the dirt track. But he debuted in his first pavement race driving a JR Motorsports Late Model stock car at Hickory Motor Speedway. He won the race after leading for almost the entirety of 40 laps, marking his first pavement race. With three more events lined up, he is expected to nurture and develop himself in the stock car racing scene.

Pinnacle Racing Group has already garnered four wins in the ARCA Menards Series this season. Connor Mosack and Connor Zilisch have led the charge for the team so far. Zilisch is signed to Trackhouse Racing and is touted to be the next superstar driver in NASCAR. The addition of Corey Day to this development group is an exciting prospect. Given that HMS star Kyle Larson hails from a similar background, fans were quick to draw similarities between the two. Also started predicting his future in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Corey Day: Future Hendrick Motorsports driver?

Although Corey Day is a seasoned sprint car driver, a lot of fans felt he had the potential to burst out on the NASCAR stage. Now that he has taken his first steps in that direction, they were pleased to see him associated with a powerhouse NASCAR team. “Hell Yea!!! Great Signing @HendrickCars I Have been hoping for Corey to get signed by @TeamChevy @TeamHendrick.”

Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell have a background in sprint car racing. Although he’s just warming up to stock car racing, this fan saw him making it to the Cup level, driving one of the HMS cars. “Won’t be long before he will be in a Hendrick Cup Car 😎. I have a feeling. @DaleJrand @KyleLarsonRacin had something to do with this. He’s a great talent.”

Day currently competes full-time in the High Limit Racing Series, which is co-owned by none other than Kyle Larson. So as soon as the announcement was made public, fans started making assumptions about Larson’s involvement in promoting Day, “I’m pretty sure @KyleLarsonRacinhelped make this happen! Let’s go!!!!.”

Hendrick Motorsports has taken an unorthodox approach to hand-picking their future NASCAR star. It started with Kyle Larson and William Byron; this year they also backed Rajah Caruth in securing his full-time ride in the Truck Series. It’s fair to say that the team bets on prominent talents who have grown to become successful racers. So seeing HMS invest in a young driver, Corey Day caught the attention of many fans, “If he has hendrick backing he must be worth checking out.”

Even his soon-to-be teammate, Connor Zilisch, shared his thoughts on Day’s arrival to the team. “Excited to have @corey_day_with @RacePRG at a few races this year! Maybe I can be your teammate in a sprint car at some point too🤠.”

The California native does have a winning habit when he steps on the racetrack. It will be interesting to see how well he adapts to ARCA racing.