After sealing the none-too-surprising deal weeks ago, 2025 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion Corey Heim was finally able to join his new team owner Denny Hamlin in formally announcing that he will compete for 23XI Racing fulltime next season driving the No. 35 Toyota.
The 23-year-old Georgia native has made nine sporadic starts over the last three seasons for the NASCAR Cup Series championship-leading organization including this weekend at Nashville Superspeedway.
Hamlin said starts like Sunday’s are intentional in providing Heim an opportunity to get laps at a variety of tracks without the pressure of competing for the title yet. Heim’s best finish in 11 Cup Series starts was sixth place at the half-mile Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway last year. He has competed four times this year in the No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota with a best showing of 15th at Kansas.
Sunday marks his third start at Nashville, where his previous best work is a 29th in his debut for 23XI Racing in 2024. The team has given him the green flag to shrug off pressure and instead just learn. And Heim is appreciative of the opportunities in advance of his first fulltime season, calling 2026 a “notebook year.”
“Don’t be afraid to take these bigger risks and figure out how to do the hard things and make mistakes this year so next year you can be prepared for things like that and learn lessons,’’ Heim said of his outlook.
“Not that I’m trying to go out and find the limit and knock the wall down every week. But that will help me feel more confident that I can take these bigger risks and figure it out. A lot of guys, I feel like, in their first couple years whether its Cup, O’Reilly or trucks, they find out how to push the limit by finding the limit and I feel like this is a year I can do that – but also be able to hit some race tracks I have more experience at to help me do that.”
Hamlin was all smiles introducing Heim as his newest hire. Clearly, he has high expectations.
“This is a decision we made and feel very optimistic about what Corey can bring to the team,” Hamlin said. “It took a lot of patience [to get the deal done] and he was very patient with us, but he’ll get the payoff in the long run.
“I think when I was his age I was still running like limited late models. … he’s far ahead of where I was at, at this point. It’s wild. I’ve been in the cup series pretty much since he was born.
“It’s going to be fun next year sharing the racetrack with him on a fulltime basis.’’
