After a record-breaking season that led to a championship, expectations were that Corey Heim would make it as a full-time NASCAR driver. However, that was not to happen as he continues to juggle between the Cup and Truck Series. This has left insiders surprised as Heim continues to impress people across the NASCAR community.
Corey Heim leaves NASCAR Insiders surprised and impressed
During a recent episode of PRN’s Fast Talk podcast, host Doug Rice expressed his disappointment at Heim being denied a full-time driver spot for a team in NASCAR.
The young driver has picked up from where he left off last season and is still dominating the Truck Series standings.
“Corey Heim, I don’t know in what universe that you live, Brad [co-host], that a guy that had unprecedented success last year is having a piecemean a deal together, it’s unfathomable to me,” said Rice.
In 2025, Corey Heim won the Truck Series championship, securing a record-breaking 12 wins throughout the season. He led over 1600 laps, which also became a record for a single season, with an average 1.4 finish in the playoffs.
“In what universe do you live that a guy who had unprecedented success last year is having to piecemeal a deal together?”
Corey Heim is the Truck points leader, and hasn’t even run all of the races
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By all measures, Heim had a season for the ages in 2025. But despite that, he was decided to be used as a part-time driver for 2026 across Cup and Truck by 23XI Racing.
Co-host Brad Gillis reminisced about Heim’s first-ever Cup race with 23XI at Nashville to highlight how brilliant a racer Heim is.
“This is the race with five overtime restarts. Corey Heim is like running right up near the top 10 and doing it quietly, not spectacularly, just putting his head down and driving,” said Gillis. “And he goes into a season in the Truck series where he actually misses a race, but has all but one race with single-digit finishes and just an insane amount of talent and really a high racing IQ.”
The driver’s dominant run in this year’s Truck Series in 2026 is special, but according to the rules, it would all account for nothing.
Heim finds himself in a tricky spot for 2026
In three starts so far, Heim already has two wins and one top-five finish, showcasing dominance that has not been seen in a while as far as Truck Series racing is concerned.
These results ensured that Heim is the current points leader, in a prime position to compete, but because of the waiver rules that NASCAR introduced last season, if a driver misses a race, he would not be allowed to compete for the championship.
The exceptions to the rules are medical or health-related emergencies, but in Heim’s case, neither is the case.
This waiver rule introduced has previously affected Grant Enfinger in 2021. Similar to Heim, Enfinger missed the second race of the season and missed out on competing for the title.
NASCAR has not announced if it is going to move away from this rule, despite Heim dominating the field in the manner he has. If they decide to keep their stance, Heim’s future in the Truck Series races this year would be in question, as there would be no point in racing without having a chance to win.
