Freddie Kraft reveals ‘serious conversations’ of Corey Day replacing Alex Bowman in 48 car

It wasn’t that long ago that many in NASCAR were questioning whether Corey Day was ready for this level of racing as he made the transition from mostly sprint cars to asphalt and jumped into the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. Now he could be on the verge of getting a ride in the Cup Series.

On the Door Bumper Clear podcast, spotter and co-host Freddie Kraft revealed that he’s hearing there are serious talks about Day moving up into the No. 48 car of Alex Bowman sooner rather than later. Bowman signed an extension with Hendrick Motorsports in 2023 that took him through the 2026 season, but he’s had a tough year.

“Talking about Corey Day, talking about silly season’s kind of ramping up, now you hear a lot of sh*t, I would have thought Corey Day was a year away from getting in the 48 car or at least getting a chance to get in the 48 car,” Kraft said. “I think that there are some serious conversations of whether he might get in that car next year now.”

Day has been excellent so far this season. He’s sitting fifth in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series on points, but he has already logged nine top-10 finishes and four top-fives this year. He won at Talladega three weeks ago.

One of Kraft’s co-hosts on the podcast balked at the idea of Day taking Bowman’s seat so soon. But Kraft isn’t as sure it’s a bad idea.

“Just too soon, you think?” he asked. “I just don’t know why you, like, if you have a seat and you’ve got a guy you think’s talented enough, why would he not get in the car?”

NASCAR Hall of Famer Kurt Busch, who was a guest on the DBC show, quickly chimed in. He agreed with that line of thinking.

“That’s with the Gen 7 car, you want to get him in as quick as you can,” Busch said.

Co-host Tommy Baldwin then piped in, suggesting that if that was a legitimate consideration for Hendrick Motorsport, there are things that should be happening right now. Corey Day needs the step up now.

“They should be running him four or five races (in Cup) this year then in an open car, right?” Baldwin said.

Busch then ended the discussion by talking about how much more advanced the younger drivers like Corey Day are in this age than they used to be. It’s a much more manageable transition as a result.

“I mean Jack Roush took me straight from Trucks to Cup because he said, ‘I want you to make mistakes at the Cup level’ and not run the O’Reilly Series, not run the Busch Series back then,” Busch said. “I’m like, ‘Uh, OK, that means we’re going to be wrecking a lot of stuff.’ But yes, you want to get there as quick as you can in a sense.

“I mean, heck, my nephew, Brexton Busch, he’s turning 11 next week. He has more laps as an 11-year-old than I did before I got to Cup. That’s the younger generation is ripping laps all the time — dirt, asphalt, sim. The kids are absorbing it way quicker and way stronger than the generations before us.”