2025 NASCAR preseason prospect rankings: Is Corey Day the next Kyle Larson?

Corey Day can't avoid the comparisons. As a successful sprint-car racer, he naturally would get compared to Kyle Larson, arguably the most accomplished sprint-car racer to find success in NASCAR.

And it isn't just the media making that comparison.

"Watching his style, I feel like that's what I look like a lot out there with how hard he runs," Larson said last year. "I was not that in control at [age] 18, but he's very in control with how hard he runs. He's very calculated.

"I feel like he makes really smart, quick decisions out there on the track. ... I'm excited to kind of see where his career ends up."

Where it is now is having signed with Hendrick Motorsports in December. He will drive a mix of national series events this year, coming off a season where he won 10 features, primarily in sprint cars, as well as becoming the youngest winner at Turkey Night at Ventura (Calif.) Speedway — the youngest winner ever in that race. 

Day, who is now 19 years old, doesn't sweat the comments from Larson as bringing too much pressure or too much attention on him. Those endorsements and his performance has vaulted him into the top 10 of my preseason prospect rankings.

"I love hearing it," Day said. "I definitely looked up to Kyle for a long time. I'm 19, but I was a young kid still when Kyle was doing Kyle things. It's super cool to always hear and I don't put the pressure on me — I know that him speaking the praises he does, all the fans are going to hold me to a higher standard.

"At the end of the day, I've just got to go do my job. That's what he's speaking the praises about."

The biggest challenge for Day, who will run a schedule that includes select Xfinity and truck and ARCA races, will likely be dicey and brutal NASCAR