When 23XI Racing most recently fielded the No. 67 Toyota for Corey Heim on the streets of Chicago in early July, it did not go according to plan.
For the first time since the November 2018 race at Texas Motor Speedway, there were more than 40 cars on a NASCAR Cup Series entry list for a race other than the season-opening Daytona 500, meaning that one of the five part-time non-chartered (open) cars would fail to qualify.
With the No. 67 Toyota being one of three open cars fielded by teams that field multiple full-time entries, the popular picks to miss the race were either the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford, driven by Josh Bilicki, or the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet, driven by Katherine Legge.
But Bilicki and Legge both got in, as a mistake from Heim in qualifying left him as the slowest of the five open qualifiers, and for the first time since Timmy Hill failed to get into the Texas race nearly seven years ago for Garage 66 (then known as MBM Motorsports), a "DNQ" was handed out for a race other than the "Great American Race".
Corey Heim, 23XI Racing aiming for Richmond redemption
The good news? This weekend at Richmond Raceway, the No. 67 car is back, and Heim is set to drive it. The even better news? There is only one other part-time open car on the entry list, that being the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, which Jesse Love is set to drive.
So Heim is locked into the race for his third start of the year, and despite the embarrassment of what happened in the Windy City, he could be one watch in Saturday night's 400-lap Cook Out 400 around the four-turn, 0.75-mile (1.207-kilometer) Richmond, Virginia short track.
Heim, who leads the Truck Series point standings by a country mile and leads the series in wins with seven after winning at Richmond on Friday night, made his first Cup Series start of the year at Kansas Speedway back in May, and he beat all three of 23XI Racing's full-time drivers – Bubba Wallace, Riley Herbst, and Tyler Reddick – that afternoon.
He returned for the June race at Nashville Superspeedway and made a mistake which led to contact with RFK Racing's Brad Keselowski, knocking him out of the race.
Saturday night's Cook Out 400 is set to be shown live on USA Network from Richmond Raceway starting at 7:30 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV today and don't miss any of the night-time short track action!