We are under a week away from the scheduled start date for the 2026 NASCAR season, and reigning Truck Series champion Corey Heim will not have a full-time ride in any NASCAR national series. He is set to run a partial schedule for 23XI Racing at the Cup level.
Heim is a 23XI Racing development driver, but 23XI Racing have opted for Riley Herbst's money to keep him in their third car after a dismal rookie season which saw him finish no higher than 14th in 36 races, good for the worst top finish among all 36 full-time drivers, while teammates Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick both qualified for the playoffs.
For what it's worth, in four starts for 23XI Racing in 2025, Heim bettered Herbst's best finish of the year twice. On both occasions, he led the entire team.
While it was initially thought that Heim could always come back for another Truck Series season with Tricon Garage if nothing materialized, that has since been ruled out as well, with Kaden Honeycutt set to replace him behind the wheel of the No. 11 Toyota. He is simply expected to run a partial schedule, in addition to his partial 23XI Racing schedule in Cup.
Making matters worse, however, is the fact that there were two vacant seats in Joe Gibbs Racing's O'Reilly team for 2026, even after the confirmation that Toyota prospect Brent Crews would be taking over what was once the "star car" full-time after his 18th birthday in March.
However, the Toyota powerhouse opted for no changes, confirming returns for both Taylor Gray and William Sawalich. Veteran driver Brandon Jones had already been confirmed to return.
Joe Gibbs Racing announcement frustrates NASCAR fans
Gray's return makes sense, as he qualified for the playoffs and won a race en route to a seventh place finish in the championship standings. Sawalich, however, failed to make the playoffs.
But regardless of whether Sawalich's return was justified or not, Heim remaining on the sidelines was hard to justify. Unfortunately, it also effectively confirms what fans have known all along: he is blacklisted by Joe Gibbs Racing, all because of his ARCA feuds with Joe Gibbs' grandson Ty back in 2021.
This is a driver who just spent three full seasons (and the majority of a fourth) in the Truck Series and is sixth on the all-time wins list after a 12-win championship-winning season (that never should have happened).
He has been due for a promotion for at least two years, yet the one competitive team that could have given him a full-time ride in the next highest series has refused to do so.
Yes, Heim is directly tied to 23XI Racing, but don't think for one second that they would block a move to a Toyota team with which they literally have a technical alliance.
All things considered, with Heim apparently blacklisted at Joe Gibbs Racing, one would have to think that 23XI Racing can't afford to wait much longer to move him up to their Cup team full-time, especially after giving him a 12-race schedule for 2026.
At some point, Toyota could easily run the risk of losing him to another manufacturer, and with teams such as Team Penske and Hendrick Motorsports, among others, projected to have potential vacancies to fill for 2027, you'd have to imagine that they can't keep Heim hanging for much longer.
Yes, Legacy Motor Club also exists, and Heim filled in there for a couple races in 2024. They are also aiming to expand to three cars at some point in the near future.
But if the 23XI Racing ride doesn't come to fruition, and the Joe Gibbs Racing door remains locked, Toyota could lose one of its top prospects simply because he ruffled the team boss's grandson's feathers a half-decade ago.