Alon Day is the most successful driver in the history of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series to date. The Israeli joined the championship back in 2015 and immediately went to Victory Lane in EuroNASCAR PRO on his debut season. Eight seasons later, in 2022, the 31-year-old has four titles, 32 race wins and 37 pole positions to speak for an incredible journey. With his latest overall EuroNASCAR PRO win, the PK Carsport driver set the record and became the lone member of the most exclusive club with four championship rings in his hands.
In Day’s life it has always been all about motor racing. The Ashdod native started racing at the age of 10 with go karting. Afterwards, he competed in Europe and the US in several open wheel series before switching to GT3 racing. In 2015, Day made the move to the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series where his legacy will remain forever. In his first eight NASCAR seasons, he also made starts in the NASCAR Cup, Xfinity and Truck Series, becoming the first NWES driver to race in every NASCAR national series. Besides racing, Day earns his living by being a racing driver instructor, who loves sim racing and gaming in his spare time. Acceleration and speed are part of Day’s DNA and to beat him takes a lot of skill and luck.
2022 was not only a successful year for Day in EuroNASCAR racing but also in his private life. Day got married right before the regular season finale at Circuit Zolder and threw a memorable party to celebrate the most important thing on Earth: love! Honeymoon honeymoon had to wait though, because Day was totally focused on breaking the record and conquering the fourth title of his NWES career. The minute the off-season began, Day went straight into vacation-mode with the love of his life after the EuroNASCAR Finals.
The 2022 season kicked off well for Day, who scored his first win of 2022 in the second race at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, Spain. His second victory followed in Brands Hatch in the UK on Saturday, but on Sunday things got serious. A contact with Gianmarco Ercoli started a feud that was set to last until the last race of the season. Day got a penalty, Ercoli had to retire and therefore the championship battle got more and more intense.
At Autodromo di Vallelunga in Italy, Day and Ercoli shared the wins, but another contact between the Israeli and the Italian raised the tension between the PK Carsport and CAAL Racing driver. Fun fact: Ercoli, a former teammate of Day, drove the #54 Chevrolet that brought Day two titles in his career. At Autodrom Most, Day managed to break away in the points standings with his fourth win of the season.
Day had no time to breathe though, especially after the perfect sweep Ercoli laid down at Circuit Zolder in Belgium in October. After dropping their two worst results of the regular season, Day and Ercoli entered the 2022 NWES Finals separated by a mere six points. With double points on the line, it was a real showdown at Automotodrom Grobnik that decided the 2022 EuroNASCAR PRO championship battle.
The first final provided exactly what the fans expected: Day and Ercoli fought for the race win all 17 laps long, never separated by more than one second. The Israeli kept the Italian at bay and scored season win number five. Ercoli ended up second and the gap increased to 16 points in the overall standings. In the last race of the season, Day needed a top-5 result to win the title, Ercoli needed to win, plus some luck.
But NASCAR racing wouldn’t be NASCAR racing without a little drama in the end: Ercoli threw the hail-mary and wrestled his car past Day in Sunday’s race. The two title contenders made contact and Day slipped back to fifth, even sixth at one point, while Ercoli fought with Giorgio Maggi for the lead. The latter got into first position with Day doing his best to stay inside the top-5 to win the championship. A contact between Ercoli and Maggi with three laps to go decided the championship and Day secured the title by crossing the finish line in third, while Patrick Lemarie celebrated his maiden EuroNASCAR win.
The winningest driver in history also became the most successful driver to date with four championship wins – two with PK Carsport. In the all-time standings, Day sits ahead of Ander Vilarino with three titles and the duo of Anthony Kumpen and Loris Hezemans who scored two championship wins each. Kumpen plans to make his full-time comeback next season, so Day’s championship record will stand at least for three more years.
“It just feels great, each one of us wanted to win the championship really badly and we all worked so hard this season to show our best performance,” said the driver of the #24 PK Carsport Camaro, who lifted the beautiful Tijey Trophy in the air in Croatia. “And I think we proved to everybody the true performance of PK Carsport and myself. The championship battle wasn’t decided until the last minutes because our rivals were strong and always chasing us hard. It was an amazing but also tough year.”
One of the most memorable moments in the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series was the first race at Autodrom Most. “I recovered after losing the lead as I was involved in a wreck in the very first turn of the race. We were dead last and the car was totally broken. I fought myself back to fourth and secured the Pole Position with the fastest lap of the race.” But this wasn’t Day’s only top moment.
The Pole Award at Automotodrom Grobnik in Croatia was also an achievement, the Israeli will not forget: “We had a lot of stress after the free practice session on Friday. We all worked really hard to make the car faster for Qualifying. The satisfaction we got from grabbing the Pole Award was just amazing. This showed how everybody in this amazing PK Carsport team worked to make it happen!” The Pole Position was the foundation for Day’s crucial win on Saturday at the Croatian Riviera.
Day wrote history and filled new chapters in the history of NASCAR in Europe that will never be forgotten. It’s too soon to think about 2023, but what’s sure is that there are still a lot of blank pages left to continue the story and become a legend in the European NASCAR series like Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty and Jimmie Johnson are in the NASCAR Cup Series with their seven titles each. It’s up to the reigning champion to add another amazing story for the history books of EuroNASCAR.
