Now that the dust has settled on the 2025 season, Hendrick Motorsports driver Corey Day has reflected on his busiest NASCAR schedule yet.

Having previously raced in the Truck Series on a handful of occasions in 2024, the 20-year-old competed in several events in both the Truck and Xfinity Series in 2025.

The more races he did, the better his result seemed to become, and Day has been rewarded for that with a full-time drive with Hendrick Motorsports in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series (formerly Xfinity Series) for 2026.

Corey Day reflects on 2025

Day will be piloting the No. 17 Chevrolet next season, and admits he has learned a lot since the beginning of 2025, some of which came from making 'stupid' mistakes.

"I'd say the first half of the season was tough for sure because I was just making all the stupid mistakes which, unfortunately, you kind of need to make those," Day said.

"People can tell you that this is going to happen so don't do that, but until you go do it and feel it and feel why you don't need to do it, I just felt like I needed to make those and go through the growing pains, and that's what I did.

"I think it was good to do that and get it all out of the way and now I feel comfortable. And the other thing is I had to do that in four different race cars.

"I got a maximum of 11 races in one car, so, I had to figure it out four different times. It was tough, for sure, but I know next year my progression will be a lot faster and a lot smoother overall."

Day: Full-time drive what I was working towards

Looking ahead to next year, Day is excited to be driving the same car regularly, and feels it is a reward for his performances and results last season.

“That was what I was working towards this year,” Day told NASCAR.com after getting the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports drive.

“It wasn’t announced or anything, but my contract was written as next year was an option if this year went well. I guess I did a good enough job to get that option picked up.

“To say I’m going to run a NASCAR series full-time next year is something I’ve dreamed about doing since I was a little kid. It’s really cool.”