Races at EchoPark Speedway usually come with plenty of action, and Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series event felt especially busy from the start. That was exactly the case for Corey Day during Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at EchoPark Speedway.
Right in the middle of all that was Day, who was involved in a lot of chaos during the entire race, but by the time it ended, he was standing there with another top-five finish to his name.
Early Trouble Sparks Tension in the NASCAR Field
Day is still considered one of the young names who joined the NASCAR ladder system with plenty of buzz and has been learning quickly with support from Hendrick Motorsports.
However, Atlanta turned into a major test of survival, and the drama started almost immediately after the green flag. Just a few laps into the race, Day made an aggressive move while battling in traffic and tried to slide underneath Ryan Sieg coming out of Turn 4, and went three-wide in the middle lane.
The move did not work out the way he hoped, and Sieg was forced up the track, where he slammed into the outside wall, and that incident quickly turned into a larger crash as several other drivers piled into the wreck, which ended Sieg’s night very early.
After being checked and released from the infield care center, Sieg was clearly frustrated and did not hide how he felt about the situation, “Yeah, it’s lap three, I think. So, we’re just riding, just kind of staying in the line, trying to get our line going, and then he’s got somewhat of a hole, and he just goes in it … I mean, what’s the point? It’s lap three. That’s just his normal race anyways, tearing up cars.”
For Day, the race continued, but this moment set the tone for what would become a chaotic night.
Damage and a Late-Race Comeback for Corey Day
Later in the race, things became even more complicated, as with 59 laps remaining, Day found himself battling near the front of the field with Carson Kvapil and Justin Allgaier, and that fight for the lead ended abruptly.
Day’s car pushed up the track during the battle, and contact between the cars triggered another crash involving the leaders, leading to both Kvapil and Allgaier suffering damage that forced them out of the race.
After the contact, Day reported over the radio that something did not feel right with the car, and at one point, he believed a tire might be going down. The team later discovered that the sway bar had broken after the incident, making handling even more difficult.
As the race moved into its final stretch, more incidents unfolded around the track while Day kept his car in one piece and began climbing back toward the front, and by the closing laps, he had worked his way back inside the top 10 and kept going.
Day crossed the line in fourth place, which matched the best finish he had previously achieved in the series in Las Vegas, and after the race, Day admitted he was surprised by how everything played out, “No I can’t believe it. Our sway bar was broke there after the contact with the #1 and the #7. I thought we were done after that, but we fired off with with really good pace after that.”
For a driver still gaining experience in NASCAR competition, this result was another step forward, but the road to get there needs to be way better and cleaner.
