Adam Wall, who served as the crew chief for Cup drivers like Kyle Larson and William Byron for their limited Xfinity schedules, has recently shared his opinion on how fielding the Cup guys could help Corey Day, the newest addition to Hendrick Motorsports’ Xfinity lineup.
According to Wall, the preparation required for the Cup and Xfinity cars is similar. However, things get a bit tricky when the No. 17 team approaches the “driver prep” side of things.
Explaining the same, Wall said in a statement (quoted by Hendrick Motorsports),
“There’s a little balance here and there we have to work on when we get into the weekend, but the driver prep side of it is definitely more intensive when we get to having Corey (Day) in the car.”
Day needs to learn more about the NextGen car and its balance, the veteran crew chief suggested. One of the things that Wall wants his driver to grasp is how somebody’s run can change significantly throughout the race, making it look nothing like qualifying.
“So it’s been good to check the box of car speed with the Cup guys early in the year here so when we do get into the bulk of races with Corey, we can know that our process is pretty good on the car side and shift our focus more to him,” Wall added.
Besides his responsibilities at the Xfinity level, Corey Day will run eight Craftsman Truck Series races with Spire Motorsports with primary sponsorship from HendrickCars.com. Notably, HendrickCars.com also backs Kyle Larson’s No. 5 ride in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Kyle Larson has high hopes for the Hendrick Motorsports newcomer
Former Cup champion Kyle Larson knows talent when he sees it. When he saw how good Corey Day was in the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, Larson knew that the 19-year-old speedster could achieve greater heights of success at Hendrick Motorsports.
“Of guys who haven’t made it to the three series in NASCAR yet … he’s definitely the best prospect out there,” Larson said in a statement (via NASCAR). “I definitely endorsed him for sure because I’ve gotten the chance to race with him and firsthand see how good he is.”
Larson feels that Day’s driving style and racing prowess are similar to his own. Detailing the same, the Elk Grove native added,
“He’s probably the only one that I’ve raced with that I feel like looks like me out there. Same sort of driving style and all that, and very versatile and can hop in anything and figure it out.”
Besides Kyle Larson, Day received the nod from four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon, who now serves as the Vice Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. The young race car driver will now prepare for his upcoming Truck Series race at Rockingham Speedway, scheduled for April 26.
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Edited by Tushhita Barua
