For the first time since four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt accomplished it in 1965, more than six decades ago, a driver has won two NASCAR Cup Series events in their first 15 starts. That driver is 23XI Racing’s Corey Heim.
The Marietta, Georgia-native pulled off an improbable victory in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, leading a race-high 58 laps and holding off Christopher Bell and three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano during the final green flag run of the race, which lasted more than 35 laps.
Heim was set up perfectly by crew chief Bootie Barker to be in contention for the victory in the race’s final stage, needing the least amount of fuel amongst the leaders on his impending final pit stop, but a caution with 43 laps to go ensured that those stops all happened at the same time, and under caution.
After winning the race off pit road, Heim lost the lead to Denny Hamlin, who got a great push from the outside lane and his teammate Christopher Bell to get ahead of the No. 67 when Joey Logano attempted to make a three-wide move down into Turn 1.
However, a quick caution for an incident between John Hunter Nemechek and Ryan Blaney gave Heim, the defending NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion, an opportunity to regroup and try to get the lead back from the Joe Gibbs Racing driver on the following restart.
With Logano on his side, instead of looking out for himself, Heim managed to get ahead of Hamlin through Turn 1 and then made an aggressive block heading into Turn 2 to maintain the top spot for the final green-flag run, as Hamlin slipped down the running order.’
Heim, with a sideways No. 67 Field & Stream Toyota Camry XSE, managed to hold on against Bell and Logano in the closing laps, getting him a crown jewel victory at just 24 years old.
“That was a damn handful,” Heim said post-race. “I was holding on for dear life once the shade went down and the pace picked up. My car got really loose. And I never really been in a lot of clean air throughout the day, so that was the hardest I’ve ever fought in my life to just make sure I focused on exits and kept them in dirty air.”
“I’m pretty out of breath. That was a workout. It was a dream come true. Winning at the Brickyard. That’s unbelievable.”
Christopher Bell finished second, again, on Sunday, marking his sixth runner-up result of 2026.
After a dominant performance at North Wilkesboro, Joey Logano finished in third. It’s the first time the three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion has finished top three in back-to-back races since the Summer of 2023.
Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five. Brad Keselowski, Josh Berry, Ryan Preece, Carson Hocevar, and Tyler Reddick completed the top-10.
Todd Gilliland finished a very modest 24th at Indianapolis but brought home the $1 million with the In-Season Challenge, after Ryan Blaney was involved in a mid-race wreck and brought his wounded race car home in the 26th position.
Denny Hamlin leaves Indianapolis with an 84-point lead over Tyler Reddick to be the top seed in ‘The Chase’ with four races remaining until the post-season.
The NASCAR Cup Series will have an off weekend before returning to action at Iowa Speedway on Sunday, August 9. Coverage of the Iowa Corn 350 will take place at 3:30 PM ET on USA Network.
