‘I’m Not Usually This Happy to Finish 5th’: Corey Day Earns First Career NASCAR Top 5

LEBANON, Tenn. — NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series rookie Corey Day climbed out of his Chevrolet Silverado and was greeted by the hugs and congratulations of many after the series’ 200-mile at Nashville Superspeedway on Friday, May 30.

He had plenty to celebrate, too. After 10 career Truck Series starts and another two in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the 19-year-old finally secured his first career top-five finish in a NASCAR national series race.

“It feels really good,” Day told Frontstretch post-race. “I’m usually not this happy to run fifth, but it’s been a hard-earned fifth place for sure.”

It has been a rough start for the Spire Motorsports rookie in 2025 prior to Friday. The dirt racing phenom was selected and praised by current Hendrick Motorsports driver and 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson to drive in the lower tier series. However, the driver of the No. 7 had only posted best career result of a 15th-place finish twice so far, while other drivers of the No. 7 have won a collective three victories in only 11 events.

“We’ve had multiple times where we’ve been fast,” Day continued. “And either I’d messed up or just, circumstances haven’t gone our way.

“It feels really, really good to finally bring him a top five with a clean truck too.”

However, Friday afternoon started far more positively for the young driver. His No. 7 Chevrolet started fifth after qualifying was rained out and the starting order was set by the owners points standings. It was his second-best career NASCAR starting position, bested only by pole-winning lap at Las Vegas Motor Speedway earlier this year.

His efforts during the event were not much different. Day hovered around the top five for most of the race, shuffling only a few positions back and forth, finishing sixth and fourth in stages one and two, respectively.

“I could just cruise around and make moves on guys that I needed to,” Day said. “I was lucky it rained and got to start fifth. I think starting up front in these races helps a lot, being back there with how the aero side of these trucks are, it’s really, really hard to get to the front, much less with a clean truck.

“So, starting up front at all that, I think, was huge today.”

In the final restart entering the final stage, Day actually made a move around fourth-place Grant Enfinger and had climbed into third, only an arm’s reach and a slide job away from race leader and eventual winner, teammate Rajah Caruth.

However, the No. 7 settled for what was a final 47 green flag laps. He lost two positions to series regulars Layne Riggs and Daniel Hemric before it was said and done.

But the result was still a personal best for the Californian dirt racer. Fifth place and not only a first top five, but first top 10 as well.

“It was a great race honestly for me, top to bottom,” Day reported. “Didn’t hit the wall, didn’t hit anyone else, those have been big things for me that I’ve struggled with. I think trying too hard. So, from a mental side of things, I think it was a really good race for me just staying calm the whole race, but still making moves when I needed to and, you know, having a fast truck helps.

“I think it’s time I start showing these results.”

However, despite the breakout run, the youngster is taking a mature approach and tempering his expectations.

“I’m not going to go think I can run top five every week now,” Day declared. “Because there’s just so many variables in this stuff that you can lead the whole race and have something go wrong on your last pit stop and you’re in the back.

“So, really, I guess good for myself because now I know I can do it, but you know, I’m going to go run this Xfinity race tomorrow with way better competition and, you know, who knows?”

Day will make his third career Xfinity start on Saturday (May 31) at Nashville.