Corey Day earns first career NASCAR O'Reilly win in Talladega

On Saturday afternoon, he secured his inaugural victory in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at the Ag-Pro 300 held at Talladega Superspeedway. Driving the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, he led only the final lap to achieve his first trophy in his debut full-time season.

The 20-year-old sprint car driver from California delivered the first O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win at Talladega for the Hendrick team, known for its multiple NASCAR Cup Series championships. Additionally, this weekend's victory was dedicated to a special "guest" crew member, former NFL star Jason Kelce, who donned Hendrick blue and assisted with tire transport on pit road.

Love commenced the race from the pole position in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, maintaining the lead for the majority of the event by leading 37 laps. However, with six laps remaining, he was overtaken as competitors maneuvered around his car, both high and low, which allowed Creed to seize the lead with five laps to go.

Sam Mayer, Creed’s teammate from the Haas Factory Team, demonstrated impressive performance throughout the afternoon. He was positioned as the leader with two laps remaining in a three-wide front row that included Creed and Day.

As is often the case at Talladega, contact during the final intense laps of the race disrupted the leading pack, resulting in Mayer’s No. 41 Chevy and Jeb Burton’s No. 27 Jordan Anderson Chevrolet, a two-time former winner, colliding with the outside wall.

Despite leading three times for a total of eight laps, Creed concluded the race in 25th place. Burton, who narrowly missed victory last year, finished in 26th place.

JR Motorsports teammates Carson Kvapil and Justin Allgaier, winners of the first and second stages respectively, were unable to recover from a mid-race green flag penalty for “impeding” cars on the track during the final stage of the race.