Some way, somehow, Corey Heim is still without a full-time ride for the 2026 NASCAR season, despite having spent three-plus seasons in the Truck Series and despite having won the 2025 series championship with a 12-win season that was arguably the most dominant in the history of the series.
Another rising star named Corey has actually beaten him to a full-time seat.
Hendrick Motorsports plan to run the No. 17 Chevrolet full-time in the Xfinity-turned-O'Reilly Auto Parts Series for the first time in 2026, and they have no plans to rotate drivers in and out of the car like they did when they ran it part-time. Instead, Corey Day is set to drive the entry full-time in 2026.
Corey Day lands Hendrick ride for 2026
The 20-year-old Clovis, California native ran 11 races for the team during the 2025 season and recorded two top 10 finishes, including a top finish of fourth place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway toward the end of the season. He also finished ninth at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
Day is primarily known for his dirt racing career, but his NASCAR experience is not limited to the 2025 Xfinity Series season. He also ran nine Truck Series races for Spire Motorsports this past year and recording a top finish of second place at Lucas Oil Raceway Park, along with a fifth place finish at Nashville Superspeedway.
As for Corey Heim, the seemingly obvious landing spot of 23XI Racing at the Cup level is evidently off the table, as the team once again plan to have Riley Herbst in the No. 35 Toyota due to his Monster Energy funding. Heim is set to remain the team's development driver and is expected to run part-time across all three national series in 2026.
It is widely believed that, despite being a Toyota Racing Development driver, Heim is blacklisted by Joe Gibbs Racing due to his feuds with Ty Gibbs from their days together in the ARCA Menards Series.
So if Toyota and 23XI Racing don't promote him to the Cup Series before too long, perhaps they might run the risk of letting him get away to a rival team.
And then perhaps Hendrick Motorsports could indeed have two drivers named Corey under contract.