Dale Earnhardt Jr. Insists Corey Day “is a Good Guy” After Controversial O’Reilly Series Wrecks

NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. has shared his thoughts on the controversial incidents involving Corey Day at COTA.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Insists Corey Day “is a Good Guy” After Controversial O’Reilly Series Wrecks

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Corey Day (Via imago and @corey_day_/X)

Hendrick Motorsports’ No:17 O’Reilly Series driver Corey Day has had a nightmare start to the 2026 season. He is yet to produce a strong run that establish him as the prodigy he is expected to be and has been involved in controversial wrecks all three weekends this year. His most recent victim was Connor Zilisch last Saturday at COTA and the Chevy driver was not impressed.

Despite all these drama NASCAR Hall of Famer and two times second division champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. got the back of Corey Day. On the latest episode of the Dale Jr. Download podcast, the JR Motorsports co-owner insisted that Day is a good guy, and the youngster is not causing the wrecks intentionally. The mistake has to with his lack of experience in a superior machinery on asphalt.

He is a good guy. He is in … he’s not in over his head, but dude is drinking from a firehose. He’s got a lot of racecar.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said via Dale Jr. Download.

In the same conversation the veteran also talked about the close association between his JR Motorsports team and HMS with the O’Reilly Series starts. The No:17 Chevy team shares JRM notes and is kind his fifth team. Day is seen as one of Junior’s drivers.

That 17 car coming out of the Hendrick shop, we share all of our notes with them, everything that we do well they have. They know this information. They’re a fifth team of ours. Their crew chief, Adam, he used to work here as a crew chief, they’re in our meetings. Corey Day was in our comp meeting yesterday.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. asserted.

It was always the plans from Rick Hendrick and Jeff Gordon, when they started the partnership. They want the JRM drivers to see and treat Day as one of their teammates, which will provide him a better learning experience.

They’re a fifth team. They just happen to race out of the Hendrick building. And that’s the way it has to work. That’s the way Mr. Hendrick wants it to work, Jeff Gordon, everybody that we all want that 17 car as a teammate to us. And we all, everybody except for the drivers, seem to get that idea.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. added.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Rick Hendrick had a serious conversation with Corey Day

In the same podcast later, Junior explained the meeting he and JRM boss Rick Hendrick had with Corey Day after the COTA chaos. Their motive was to help the youngster underhand how he wants to him to succeed and develop without being detrimental to each other.

Dale Earnhardt Jr and Rick Hendrick
Dale Earnhardt Jr and Rick Hendrick (via Hendrick Motorsports)

JR Motorsports can’t afford to have their championship chasing cars regularly being takes out by one of their own and the duo also doesn’t want the fans to have a negative perception of the youngster. They are determined to make achieve his potential in NASCAR.

We all got together. Rick had a conversation with Corey and we’re all trying to help him understand, look man, we want you here. We believe in you. We believe you’re a winner. But we have to do this without being detrimental to each other. I know it looks ugly for fans who are watching it. It’s hard for our teams. But it’s part of the process of trying to school up these guys to become the drivers that we think they’re capable of becoming.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said.

If Corey Day wants to be the next Kyle Larson as he is expected to be, he needs to clean up his racing and learn to take calculated risks. He also has to earn back the respect of the garage and learn to become a better teammate to succeed in the sport.

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