For the second time in three races, Corey Heim found victory lane in a non-chartered (open) ride with 23XI Racing, the team for which he's been a development driver since the start of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Heim's Brickyard 400 victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway made him the first driver in more than six decades (A.J. Foyt, 1965) to win twice in his first 15 career Cup Series starts, underscoring the potential that the 24-year-old Marietta, Georgia native has and why his confirmation as one of the team's three full-time drivers for 2027 was a long time coming.
But also for the second time this year, Heim will not run the next Cup race after winning the previous event, as there are no open cars on the entry list at Iowa Speedway this weekend. The previous race's winner not returning for the next race happened only once across the 2024 and 2025 seasons combined.
Corey Heim out for the next three NASCAR Cup races
Heim has made one career NASCAR national series start at the four-turn, 0.894-mile (1.439-kilometer) Newton, Iowa oval, with that coming in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series (then the Xfinity Series) back in 2024 with Sam Hunt Racing. His third place finish in that event is his career-best at NASCAR's second-highest level.
After running four Cup races, two which saw him beat the three 23XI Racing full-time drivers, in 2025, his deal was expanded to include 12 races in 2026. Despite calls for that schedule to be expanded further, following his Naval Base Coronado victory and now his Indy triumph, that schedule has remained at 12 races, with no changes since it was initially announced.
Heim is set to return to the Cup Series for the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, August 29. He also competed at the track in the season-opening Daytona 500 back in February, placing 28th after leading laps.
Between now and then, the Cup Series is also set to contest races at Richmond Raceway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Heim has run eight Cup races so far this year. In addition to the Daytona race, he is also set to contest the playoff races at Darlington Raceway in September, Charlotte Motor Speedway in October, and Homestead-Miami Speedway in November to conclude the season.
After that, he is set to take over the No. 35 Toyota, which has been driven full-time by Riley Herbst since 2025, full-time, starting with February's relocated Clash exhibition race at Daytona to get the 2027 season unofficially underway – and then, of course, the 69th annual Daytona 500, to get the season officially underway.
Heim is no longer running the full Craftsman Truck Series schedule after winning the 2025 title with 12 wins in 25 races, but he continues to compete part-time for Tricon Garage in that series as well.
The Truck Series is not in action this weekend at Iowa, and Heim, who has won three times in six Truck starts so far this season, does not have any other Truck starts confirmed for 2026.
As a first-year full-time Cup driver in 2027, Heim would be eligible to compete in more than eight Truck Series races if he so chooses.
Sunday's Iowa Corn 350 is set to be shown live on USA Network to open up USA Sports' season-ending portion of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series broadcast schedule. Live coverage is set to begin at 3:30 p.m. ET. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and catch all of the action from Iowa Speedway!
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