SONOMA, Calif. — Corey Day is returning to his racing roots. Well, sort of.
The second-generation California racer, who has shown his prowess on the dirt tracks of his home state since his early teenage years is returning to the Golden State this weekend to compete in the Trans Am Series event at Sonoma Raceway.
It will be the second Trans Am start of the season for Day, who is also running stock car events in ARCA, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
The 19-year-old Hendrick Motorsports development driver does have a test last fall at Sonoma to fall back on as he enters the weekend aboard the Team SLR No. 17 Chevrolet Camaro.
Day competes in the TA2 class.
“I’m super excited. I got to test there in November and it was a lot of fun. It’s a California race, so I’ve been able to spend a good bit of time at my parents’ house (in Clovis) after having moved to Mooresville in January,” Day explained earlier this week. “It’s awesome that I get to be home for a week and then go race.
“It makes me feel like when I started my sprint car career out there. I’ve got sprint car and Xfinty Series races at Texas the following weekend, otherwise I could have done the TA2 race at Laguna Seca, which is even closer to my parents’ house. And I actually lived in Monterey for the first eight years of my life. But it’s all good.”
The weekend also serves as good preparation for Day when he returns for the ARCA/NASCAR weekend at the circuit in July.
“I think it’s super fun. When I tested there, it was an absolute blast. The elevation change is a lot of fun and it just feels like a very unique track,” Day explained. “There are a lot of different corners that are really tight, others that aren’t. There are hard-braking zones and there are not-so-hard braking zones. There are slow sections, fast sections, it’s got about everything you could want on a road course, in my opinion.
“Being a California guy, I just love the thought of racing there, and getting some quality laps there will be super beneficial, too, for the NASCAR and ARCA weekend there in July.”
Day believes getting a good qualifying lap will be important to his success at Sonoma.
“It will be super important to get a good qualifying lap and start as close to the front as possible. It’ll be good to go back to a track I have turned good laps at,” Day said. “I gained a lot of experience in my Sonoma test in November and have a lot of mental notes about things that I could take back there this weekend. That’s the thing, I feel like I took good enough mental notes to where, when I go out on the track, I know where to go already.
“Coming from the dirt racing world, my biggest challenge is remembering all the corners and different lines on a road course, and how to connect the lines. I feel confident in my ability to get around there and confident in the car that TeamSLR is bringing me, so it should be a good weekend.”
Watch this weekend’s Trans Am event LIVE on SPEED SPORT 1.
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