In preparation of a full-time move to the NASCAR Cup Series with 23XI Racing, where he has served as a development driver since 2025, next year, reigning Craftsman Truck Series champion Corey Heim is running part-time schedules in both the Cup Series and the Truck Series this year.
He entered this past weekend's Truck Series race at Richmond with three wins in six Truck starts (and five wins in 14 national series starts overall) this year, and he came away with a runner-up finish behind Tricon Garage teammate Kaden Honeycutt, who replaced him full-time in the No. 11 Toyota that he drove to win 12 of 25 races on the 2025 schedule.
The Richmond race was Heim's third in the No. 1 Toyota this year; he has also driven the No. 5 Toyota on four occasions. But this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, he will not run the Truck Series regular season finale.
Corey Heim replacement confirmed for Richmond
Set to replace Heim in the No. 1 truck this weekend is John Hunter Nemechek, which is a part of an interesting recent development as a whole.
When NASCAR adjusted the rules for full-time Cup Series drivers running Truck Series (and O'Reilly Auto Parts Series races) before the 2026 season, they reiterated that those drivers, even those who don't yet have three seasons of Cup experience, would still be ineligible to run the regular season finale in both lower series.
Somewhere along the line, they clearly discontinued that rule without making it public knowledge, because Nemechek is one of three Cup drivers set to run this weekend's race. The others are Connor Zilisch and Christopher Bell.
Even if full-time Cup drivers with under three years of Cup experience were allowed to run it, Nemechek (and Bell) still wouldn't have been permitted to do so.
But again, the rule must have changed, only giving more ammunition to those who have long accused NASCAR of making up the rules as they go, and those three drivers are indeed set to compete in both the Truck Series regular season finale on Saturday afternoon and the Cup Series race at the same track on Sunday afternoon.
Nemechek has only run two Truck Series races so far this season, both for Halmar Friesen Racing back at the start of the year. He hasn't competed in a Truck race for Tricon Garage since 2023.
Heim confirmed to Beyond the Flag this week that he is planning on running more Truck Series races between now and the end of the season, to go along with the four Cup Series starts he still has planned after becoming the first driver since A.J. Foyt in 1965 to win twice in his first 15 career starts, but he doesn't yet know where he'll be back in the truck.
Tricon Garage's No. 1 Toyota still has confirmed vacancies for five remaining races, while the No. 5 Toyota has confirmed vacancies for all seven postseason races. Because Heim is not a full-time Cup driver, he would be allowed to compete in any many Truck Series playoff races as he pleases.
The Team EJP 175 is set to be shown live on Fox Sports 1 from New Hampshire Motor Speedway beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET this Saturday, August 22. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss it!
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