Corey Heim entered the 2025 NASCAR Truck Series season having already competed in the series for two full seasons.
The 23-year-old Marietta, Georgia native went to the Championship 4 in both years (2023 and 2024) and combined for nine wins during that stretch with Tricon Garage, to go along with the two wins he earned during his second partial season with Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2022.
While most viewed him as a Cup-ready prospect even before the 2025 season, Heim signed with 23XI Racing as a development driver. In addition to running another full season in the Truck Series, he ran select races with 23XI Racing in the Cup Series and Sam Hunt Racing in the Xfinity Series.
The Toyota Racing Development star was dominant in the Truck Series, winning 12 of 25 races and capturing the championship. But he is still without a full-time ride for the 2026 season, and it has been confirmed that he will not be back behind the wheel of the No. 11 Toyota for Tricon Garage.
Corey Heim out at Tricon after winning 2025 NASCAR Truck Series championship
Kaden Honeycutt, who made it to the Championship 4 with Halmar Friesen Racing after being dropped by Niece Motorsports before the regular season ended, is set to replace Heim in 2026, while Heim will likely not have any full-time ride during the coming season for a number of reasons that continue to frustrate most NASCAR fans.
First of all, 23XI Racing have once again opted for Riley Herbst’s Monster Energy funding, thanks to the Herbst family-owned Terrible's gas station chain, even after he finished 35th of 36 full-time drivers in the point standings with a series-worst top finish of 14th.
In fact, in his four Cup starts, Heim beat Herbst’s season-best finish twice, and on both occasions, he also beat teammates Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace.
Then there’s the fact that Heim is presumed to be blacklisted by Joe Gibbs Racing. The clear-cut top Toyota destination at the Xfinity (now O’Reilly Auto Parts) level reportedly want no part of Heim due to his fractured relationship with Ty Gibbs from their days together in the ARCA Menards Series, even with two seats, plus select races in a third, still available – and yes, even with Gibbs having been competing in the Cup Series since 2023.
Of course, some believe that Heim would have effectively had a Tricon Garage ride available if he had wanted it, and that would make total sense after the success he's had over the past few years; perhaps he has simply outgrown the Truck Series at this point, or perhaps he is indeed putting together something a lot better.
But the fact remains that he doesn't currently have a full-time seat lined up anywhere else for 2026, and he won't be back full-time at the team with which he just won the title to cap off arguably the most dominant season in the history of the series.
It is expected that Heim will run select races with at least 23XI Racing (Cup) and Sam Hunt Racing (O'Reilly) again in 2026. But if a full-on Cup promotion to 23XI Racing doesn’t come in 2027, don’t be surprised if he gets out from under the Toyota umbrella and signs with a team actually willing to give him the promotion and the ride he’s clearly shown he’s ready for.