Hendrick Motorsports has provided an important answer about Corey Day's future, specifically, his limited Cup Series schedule in 2027.
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The development driver, who just signed a long-term extension with Hendrick Motorsports, will join Spire Motorsports as he makes his Cup Series debut and gains some crucial experience.
"Obviously, we're at our four-car limit, so to speak, under the 2025 Charter Agreement," Hendrick President Jeff Andrews said on Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway.
"So those five to six races that we're talking about will be with Spire Motorsports."
Unlike the lower series in NASCAR, the Cup Series teams can't simply field as many entries as they want in a particular week. The 2025 Charter Agreement limits teams to only three charters. Though Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports are both allowed to have four after being grandfathered in.
The teams with three charters are allowed to still enter a fourth car as an Open entry. This means that Spire Motorsports, a three-car team, can field an entry for Day to gain experience. This works well considering that the two teams have a working relationship.
This approach is similar to the one used by 23XI Racing while preparing for Corey Heim's full-time move to the Cup Series. The Toyota prospect spent the 2026 season competing in select Truck Series and Cup Series races, while winning in both.
Although Hendrick Motorsports isn't technically following 23XI Racing's approach for 2027.
Honestly, this is more of a one-and-done approach for NASCAR's winningest team. As Andrews explained, this isn't a Hendrick Motorsports development program; it's a "Corey Day Development Program."
So when will the dirt ace-turned-O'Reilly Auto Parts Series championship contender make his Cup Series debut? Andrews and Hendrick Motorsports are keeping the details under wraps for now.
What he will say is that a pair of multi-time champions will have a say in planning out Day's schedule for 2027. They will have to keep Day's development in mind while also focusing on his continued pursuit of an O'Reilly Series championship.
"Kyle Larson and Jeff Gordon obviously have a tremendous input on what those tracks are," Andrews said. "But yeah, we're working through that right now. I don't want to throw anything out there too far, but more likely the middle to latter half of the year is what we'll be looking at and targeting for those.
"And we'll try to mix that up with a mile-and-a-half and some short track things, and just kind of see how that schedule goes and how it coincides with his O'Reilly schedule as well."
