NASCAR News: Corey Day charges to NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series pole at Rockingham

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — Corey Day (pictured) waited until nearly the end of Friday’s qualifying session at Rockingham Speedway, then delivered a lap that nobody could touch.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

The 20-year-old Hendrick Motorsports driver ripped around the 0.94-mile oval in 22.717 seconds (148.963 mph), grabbing the pole position for Saturday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 250—and the first pole of his young NASCAR Xfinity Series career.

Day will lead the field to green alongside defending series champion Jesse Love, who had held the provisional pole at 148.545 mph until the next-to-last car on track knocked him off the top spot.

It was a fitting bit of payback for Love, who won last year’s Rockingham race on the track… only to be stripped of the victory when his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet failed post-race inspection for a rear suspension violation. Sammy Smith was awarded the win instead.

After climbing from his No. 17 Chevrolet, Day admitted he felt something special right away.

“If I had to guess, I thought I rolled through Turns 1 and 2 really, really good,” he said. “My car just felt super solid through the center of the corner. I was definitely confident with it there. We’ve had organizational tests here the last couple years, and that definitely helps—getting those extra laps around this place.”

Day has been on a tear lately, finishing ninth or better in his last six starts and sitting seventh in the standings. Friday’s pole only added to the momentum heading into a huge weekend for the series.

Parker Retzlaff qualified third at 148.278 mph. Justin Allgaier, the series points leader and winner of the last two Xfinity races at Darlington and Martinsville, will start fourth in his JR Motorsports Chevrolet. Teammate Carson Kvapil lined up fifth, giving JRM two cars in the top five.

The results continued a remarkable streak for the organization: JRM has won the last five Xfinity races. One more victory Saturday would tie the all-time record of six straight set by Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008. Even more impressively, at least one JRM car has finished in the top 10 in 64 consecutive races — the second-longest such streak in series history.

Taylor Gray will start sixth, followed by Sam Mayer, Brandon Jones, Sheldon Creed and rookie Brent Crews to round out the top 10.

With the season’s first Dash 4 Cash event on the line, the stakes are high. The four highest-finishing series regulars on Saturday will advance to compete for the $100,000 bonus two weeks from now at Bristol Motor Speedway. The top performer among those four at Bristol walks away with the cash.

For now, though, all eyes are on the front row: a rising star in a Hendrick machine alongside the defending champion hungry for redemption at the same track that took his win away one year ago.

The North Carolina Education Lottery 250 is set for 2:30 p.m. ET Saturday on The CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Rockingham NASCAR O’Reilly Series Qualifying Results