NASCAR team expanding to three cars for upcoming Cup Series race
By Asher Fair
In celebration of Mobil 1's 50th anniversary, 23XI Racing are set to bring back the No. 50 Toyota for the race at Nashville Superspeedway, which is scheduled to take place on Sunday, June 30.
The Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan-owned team, which typically field only the No. 23 Toyota for Bubba Wallace and the No. 45 Toyota for Tyler Reddick, have fielded the No. 50 Toyota on one occasion so far this season. They entered the car at Circuit of the Americas for Kamui Kobayashi back in late March. He finished in 29th place.
But in the upcoming 300-lap Ally 400 around the four-turn, 1.333-mile (2.145-kilometer) Lebanon, Tennessee oval, they are set to field the Mobil 1-sponsored entry for Corey Heim, who competes full-time for Toyota's Tricon Garage team in the Truck Series.
Corey Heim set for NASCAR Cup Series return
Heim, who also serves as 23XI Racing's reserve driver, recently made the first two starts of his Cup Series career thanks to his role as Legacy Motor Club's reserve driver.
Standing in for the injured Erik Jones behind the wheel of the No. 43 Toyota at Dover Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway, he finished in a respectable 25th and 22nd place, respectively.
The Ally 400 is set to mark just the fourth ever race in which 23XI Racing have run more than two cars since they entered the Cup Series back in 2021. They fielded a third entry twice last year, though they utilized the No. 67 as the car number.
Travis Pastrana made his Cup Series debut behind the wheel of the No. 67 Toyota in last year's season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, finishing in 11th place, and Kobayashi made his series debut at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, finishing in 33rd.
Heim placed fourth in last year's Truck Series race at Nashville after being knocked out of the event in 2022. It is expected that the No. 50 Toyota will make at least two additional appearances throughout the remainder of the 2024 season, though no further drivers or locations have been confirmed. 23XI Racing remain one of the top candidates to purchase a third charter for 2025.
dark. Next. NASCAR Cup Series team owner says 'the sport's going to die'. NASCAR Cup Series team owner says 'the sport's going to die'
The Ally 400 is the first race of the second half of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, making it race 19 of 36 on the schedule. While it is the third race after the switch from Fox's portion to NBC's portion of this year's broadcast schedule, it is the first race actually set to be shown live on NBC this season, as opposed to the NBCUniversal-owned USA Network. NBC is set to provide live coverage starting at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 30.
feed