NASCAR’s 23XI team recently gave 23-year-old driving recruit Corey Heim an agenda and a list of expectations.
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The goal is to prepare the 2025 Craftsman Trucks Series champion for 2027 when Heim joins the team as a full-time driver.
”Winning his first race here was not on our list of expectations,” 23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin said Sunday afternoon after Heim passed teammate and points leader Tyler Reddick on the third-to-last lap then won just ahead of Bubba Wallace to give 23XI its first 1-2 finish ever.
“I’m speechless,” Heim said after he scored his first NASCAR Cup victory in just his 13th start as a part-time starter on the team co-owned by Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan.
The victory came with a daring pass of Reddick between Turns 3 and 4 on the 73rd of 75 laps around the 3.4-mile, 16-turn temporary street course built on Naval Base Coronado. The drama continued as Reddick crossed behind Heim’s Toyota, getting into an inside passing position approaching the subsequent sharp left-handed turn.
But as Reddick realized the speed he was carrying could result in an accident eliminating both leaders, he braked and essentially turned the win over to Heim. Moments later, the right front tire blew on Reddick’s Toyota, dropping him to 25th.
Meanwhile, Wallace, who suffered a two-lap penalty earlier in the race when a crew error during a pit stop allowed a tire to come off the car, passed Kyle Larson to take second.
“If I could have one wish, it would be that all our teams were very proud of what we did today,” said Hamlin. With 10 laps to go, Reddick, Heim and Wallace were running 1-2-3 and Riley Herbst – who will lose his full-time job to Heim next year – was headed to a career-best eighth-place finish.
All four 23XI cars were running in the top six with three laps to go.
“Certainly, this was a banner day for our team,” said Hamlin, who finished 14th driving for Joe Gibbs racing to pull to within nine points of Reddick for the season points lead.
And while the pass of Reddick gave Heim the historic win in NASCAR’s first-ever race on a military base, the opportunity actually grew out of an incident 43 laps earlier when race favorite and pole-winner Shane van Gisbergen was taken out in an accident triggered by Austin Hill, who won Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race.
”That accident changed everything about the race,” said Larson. “Drivers who thought they didn’t have a chance started thinking the door was open.”
Heim was already thinking that way.
“I had a weird feeling coming into this weekend,” said Heim, who is listed as a test driver and a part-time Cup and O’Reilly Series driver for 23XI this season.
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“Nobody had ever been on this course before,” Heim continued. “No one had any more experience here than I had, which was none. So, I felt good about my chances.
“But, honestly, it’s hard to process what just happened. It’s unbelievable to be a part of this.”
The day didn’t start off great for Heim. He immediately dropped back from his 13th starting position on the grid to 20th as he ran through his first set of tires in less than 10 laps. His second set didn’t last much longer.
But while Heim was a rookie, crew chief Robert Barker III was a veteran of 600 races.
”He told me those were our two worst set of tires and things would be getting better,” said Heim. “I was worried, but he said: ‘Corey, we’ll be fine.’ I took a deep breath, reset and went after it.”
“I’m really surprised,” said Hamlin of Heim’s victory. As 23XI co-owner, Hamlin scouted and signed both Reddick and Heim for the young team. “Corey is a generational talent,” said Hamlin, who said he was proud of the way Reddick and Heim battled for the lead with less than 10 miles to go.
“I felt like Tyler was playing with me for a while,” said Heim. “I wanted to see if I could pressure him into a mistake. He raced me very fair. I was going to race him the same way. Winning this is so crazy. I’m sure I’ll get emotional in a little bit.”
“We were involved in so much today,” said Reddick. “Just having a shot at the end was great. I overdid it, though.”
“I thought this could be our day,” said Larson. “You don’t know how it was going to play out. I was in the top 12 all day. I thought it was great racing. I thought we adapted well. Then the track started gaining grip.”
Meanwhile, NASCAR was more than happy with its historic effort.
“This is more than a race,” said NASCAR operations chief Ben Kennedy. “It was a mission.”
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