There is just one race remaining until the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series postseason, which is set to mark the return to the "Chase" format that was first used from 2004 to 2013.
23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick is already locked into a top-four seed, after opening up the season with five wins in nine races, and teammate Bubba Wallace basically just needs to show up to Saturday night's regular season-ending Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway to solidify himself a spot in the 16-driver field.
Those two drivers, along with Riley Herbst, are the team's full-time drivers, but Corey Heim, who has won twice in his eight starts as the team's development driver this year, is also set to run three postseason races, as well as this weekend's Daytona race.
"We Win, You Win" goes for all 23XI Racing drivers
Beginning with the playoff opener, the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, Mobil 1 and 23XI Racing are teaming up to run the "We Win, You Win" program throughout the entire 10-race postseason.
Throughout the "Chase", every time a 23XI Racing driver wins a race, one lucky fan will win an all-expenses-paid trip to Charlotte Motor Speedway for a NASCAR Cup race in 2027. If a 23XI Racing driver wins the championship, each Grand Prize winner will also win a $2,311 cash prize bonus.
Fans can enter any time from now through Sunday, November 15, which is one week after the season concludes. They can do so by visiting Mobil1.com/23XIracetowin or by purchasing a qualifying five-quart bottle of Mobil 1 motor oil at participating O'Reilly Auto Parts locations.
"Any time we can give back to the fans, it’s a good opportunity," Heim told Beyond the Flag. "I can really relate to myself as a younger kid growing up. Any time I had a chance to get up close and personal with an organization or a team and kind of see the ins and outs of that, it’s a really cool deal. And of course, as a fan, any time you can better your experience, you’re going to take advantage of that.
"It’s cool to have fans be able to ride alongside us, and if we win, they win as well. And I think it’ll be a really cool opportunity for those guys. Hopefully we can be the team to do it. Of course it’d be awesome to win within the organization at 23XI, but hopefully I’m the one who can better that fan’s experience and take another trip to victory lane this year."
This initiative is particularly special since Mobil 1 very well could have limited it to 23XI Racing's playoff drivers, or even just their full-time drivers. But a Heim win (or wins) would also qualify, should he manage to return to victory lane at Darlington, Charlotte, or Homestead-Miami Speedway.
"I got my first ever Cup win at San Diego with Mobil 1 on my car, alongside O’Reilly," he continued. "So that’s always going to be a special place in my heart for sure, my first ever Cup win. I had them ride alongside my ARCA car as well and some of my Truck starts. I’ve met a lot of people through Mobil 1.
"They’ve been a Toyota partner for a long time and with 23XI as well. I haven’t done anything quite like this before. This is a new opportunity for us and definitely one of the cooler ones I’ve been a part of, but yeah, definitely have had a lot of experience on the Mobil 1 side. They’re a great organization."
With two wins, the first two wins of his career, in his three most recent starts, Heim could be just as much of a contender for race wins as anybody, even if he will only have limited seat time the rest of the year.
"Looking at Darlington and Charlotte, I feel like they are really good ones for me," he said. "I feel like I’ve had some good experience at Darlington. I’ve won the last two Truck races there. Being able to have that prior Truck experience, I’ve got a good four or five races there now.
"And then Charlotte also being a part of this year’s schedule. … those two races are going to be good opportunities for me. I feel like I’ve got my intermediate program a lot better this year. I’ve definitely got higher confidence in those two."
But first, Heim is looking forward to having another chance at running this weekend's race at Daytona, where he led laps late in the season-opening Daytona 500 before ultimately being forced to settle for 28th.
"Daytona was super interesting," he recalled. "I’ve never really been a part of a high fuel saving race like that before, but it was so interesting to me. From the Truck side, we kind of just go hard the whole time. There’s really no laying around. It was interesting to me to see kind of the strategy side of it and how important that fuel stop is and execution, and I think that actually set me up really well for Indy and I feel like I executed better in that race.
"Now we’re going back to Daytona. For me, it’s back-to-back races between Indy and Daytona and I’m looking forward to hopefully building off of that 500 start and getting better of course, but as far as leading laps, that was a pretty cool opportunity as well. So hopefully we can just lead the last one this time instead of the first handful of stage three."
Corey Heim reflects on his journey to the NASCAR Cup Series
As he prepares to make his final four Cup Series starts before becoming a full-time driver, having already been announced as Herbst's replacement for 2027, Heim reflected on how he has gotten to this point.
"My dad raced as a hobby when I was growing up as a kid," he said. "He raced a lot of Legends cars at Laneir and Atlanta Motor Speedway, and then he would always take me to the Atlanta Motor Speedway weekend. We’d go to all three series most of the time between Truck, O’Reilly, and Cup. We’d try to hit all three and, yeah, I’ve always been a huge racing fan.
"I was actually a pretty big hockey fan growing up as well. So I was kind of deciding between the two sports at a young age, but racing was the first thing I ever tried and I never really looked back from there. My dad’s definitely the culprit of my racing career and I’m definitely very grateful for him and his support to get to this point."
Now Corey finds himself as the first driver since A.J. Foyt in 1965 to have won at least twice within the first 15 starts of his career.
"I don’t know if there’s a specific moment that I knew that this is what I was going to be successful at or have the best chance of being successful at," he admitted. "But I think everything in my career sort of fell in the right direction. I think around the time I started ARCA, 2019, I ran a part-time season for Chad Bryant Racing and it was sort of just getting my feet in the door and making sure that this is what I wanted to do.
"And that happened to be the same time that I was around the age I’d go to college. So I didn’t know which direction I wanted to go, whether I wanted to pursue education or pursue a racing career, and I kind of gave it a shot."
It's hard to argue with his decision.
"2019 wasn’t the best year for me," he continued. "I don’t think I won a single race, but I had a really good opportunity with Venturini Motorsports the next year. I was also running some more late model stuff, and I’d consider that sort of my breakout year.
"My first ARCA win was in 2020 and then I think I won a handful of late model races as well. I think that was definitely the first year where I sort of knew that this is what I wanted to do and really put all my chips on the table for it."
His points-per-race average in his eight Cup Series starts this season is good for seventh-best in the series, and that's despite the fact that one of those results is a DNF.
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