(Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)
DOVER, Del. — Corey Heim is ready to check the next box of his already impressive young career.
On Saturday, Heim will make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut in the A-GAME 200 at Dover Motor Speedway, driving the No. 24 for Sam Hunt Racing. The 20-year-old from Marietta, Georgia is considering it as an important step for his progression as a driver.
“It’s [a goal] I’ve been working on for a couple years and certainly just another step for my career,” Heim told The Podium Finish on Friday. “This organization has been working really hard the past couple of years and progressing and trying to keep up with some of the big dogs in the Xfinity Series. I think they’ve been doing a great job of that. So huge thanks to Toyota Racing and Sam [Hunt], of course, and his whole organization for everything they do.”
Heim came into the 2023 NASCAR season without any Xfinity races scheduled, but when seat time became available in the second SHR car, Heim booked his debut. His main priority this season is racing full-time for TRICON Garage in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, where he’s off to a strong start.
Two weeks ago, Heim notched his first victory of the season in a rain-shortened Martinsville Speedway race. He’s up to three wins on his career — the first two came last season in a part-time deal with Kyle Busch Motorsports.
“I feel like we would have had the speed to win regardless,” Heim said. “Just to have that showing, it gives everyone all that confidence, and you can kind of see the demeanor in that shop has picked up and everyone’s working hard.
“I knew that we were capable of winning a race, it’s just a matter of when, not if. So, we’re finally able to get that stress reliever win out of the way. The first one is always the toughest one, and I feel like the rest of them follow.”
(Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)
Heim hopes to carry that winning mentality over to Saturday, where there isn’t nearly as much pressure. He’ll have to learn the Xfinity car — which results in a completely different style of racing as the Trucks are aerodynamically dependent.
But Heim won’t have any on-track reps to build a notebook. Rain led to the cancelation of practice and qualifying, meaning Heim’s first laps behind the wheel of a Toyota Supra will be at the drop of the green flag. His 2021 Truck Series debut at Darlington Raceway came without practice and qualifying, so the circumstances are something that Heim said he’s gotten used to.
“It’s not the end of the day. Since it’s a 200-lap race, I’ll get there eventually,” Heim explained. “These cars have more horsepower, of course, so I feel like it might be a little more driver dependent. Every single driver I’ve talked to about just picking their brains on the series, they say you’re going to have a blast [and] it’s going to be a lot of fun.
“Xfinity is definitely a different set of people, you don’t really see a lot of people doing double duty between the two. Maybe a couple, but definitely a different set of drivers … it’ll definitely be stiff competition nonetheless.”
While he doesn’t have experience with the car, Heim has turned laps at Dover. He finished sixth in a lone ARCA Menards Series East start for Venturini Motorsports three years ago.
But to prepare for the high-banked concrete oval, Heim has utilized the Toyota simulator to learn how his car will react in traffic.
Connor Mosack has made five starts in the No. 24 car this year. (Photo: Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)
“Dover is not a super technical racetrack, but it’s definitely one that’s tough to race around other people,” Heim explained. “It’s really easy to overstep on exit and get into the wall and the elevation drop into the corner … The addition of [simulation] in the past couple of years has been really big as well with Toyota Racing and TRD. Those tools and the past experience is going to be big.”
Though it’s just a one-off in the Xfinity Series, Heim hopes that the experience will help him in the Truck Series. He explained that managing restarts with higher horsepower and navigating potential green-flag pit stops should translate to his championship hopes with TRICON.
But for Saturday, the expectation is simple: make no mistakes and hope to record a strong result.
“I’m going to do the best I can on my part,” Heim said. “I think just with the preparation I’ve had, I think I’m really confident in Sam [Hunt]’s stuff … he’s run good here in the past, he’s had some top-10 efforts and I feel like we can definitely back that up.”
The A-GAME 200 is set for Saturday, April 29 at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Parker Kligerman is on the pole via the qualifying metric.
