Corey Heim Continues Magical Summer, Captures Victory at the Brickyard

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Once again, it’s Heim Time in the NASCAR Cup Series.

The touted rookie finished at the top of the pylon for the second time this summer, parlaying a part-time schedule into another Cup Series win, outdueling Toyota teammate Christopher Bell down the stretch to capture the victory in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Taking advantage on a pivotal restart with 33 laps to go, Heim ascended to the lead over Denny Hamlin, throwing a block on his team owner Turn 2, to move into control of the race with Christopher Bell moving up to second place for the final run to the finish.

Heim and Bell would separate themselves from the rest of the field, with the two running in lockstep as the laps clicked away.

Try as he might, Bell just could not find a way around Heim to try and take the win for himself, with Heim streaking across the line 0.287 seconds ahead of him to bank the crown jewel win.

The victory marks the second win for Heim in the last six weeks, after scoring his first career win at San Diego in mid-June.

COREY HEIM WINS THE BRICKYARD 400 FOR 23XI RACING 🤯 pic.twitter.com/eoiUp6h974

— TNT Sports U.S. (@TNTSportsUS) July 26, 2026

“That was a damn handful. I was hanging on for dear life once the shade went down and the pace picked up,” said Heim. “My car got really loose. And I had 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. Thank you so much, fans, for coming out here.

“Caught a break early with the pit cycle. And just executed all day. Made no mistakes. My team, 23XI did a fantastic job with my Field & Stream Camry. First race with Field & Stream too, that’s awesome. First race, first win, so we hope we can keep it going.”

Bell noted that the characteristics of Indianapolis that make it such a track position dependent race track did not play into his favor down the stretch for him to be able to get past Heim.

“Nobody was going to pass unless there was a huge mistake,” said Bell.

“It’s been Indy for whatever, it’s been three years since we’ve been coming here. The Xfinity cars race really good. The Cup cars it’s just tough. It’s just tough. And everybody knows that. It’s the same for everybody. So, it becomes an execution race. The 67 executed well.”

Joey Logano moved up to third and set about running the two Toyotas down to try and spoil the party, but once he caught up to them, dirty air became his downfall and he would have to just settle for a podium finish.

Logano joked that he was hoping to reel the two Toyotas in like Tony Stewart did to Kevin Harvick when he won the Brickyard 400 in 2007, but it wasn’t meant to be.

“I didn’t quite pull off the full Tony Stewart experience, but it was fun catching them,” said Logano. “But I hit the three to four car lengths back and all of a sudden, you’re just a half-tenth quicker and then you’re not quicker at all. And then we’re just there.

“So, at that point, you’re just hoping that the 67 and the 20 get raced in and there’s a chance to get them side by side and you’re close enough to capitalize.”

Logano went on to give Heim his props, noting that the young hotshot is going to be someone he and the other drivers in the field will have to contend with going forward.

“We’re going to be battling him forever. He’ll be here longer than me. He’s a lot younger than me, but he’ll be here the whole time,” said Logano.

“Just a solid race car driver. Does the right things, doesn’t get over his skis, doesn’t get nervous, doesn’t look like. He just executes really well. I don’t know how old he is. I know he’s fairly young, but he’s not like he’s a teenager anymore. It’s like he’s got some good experience, a good head on his shoulders.

“And he’s got fast race cars right now and they capitalize. So yeah, good for him. I don’t know if I get a thank you for the push at the end. I gave him good push. I don’t know what that means anything, but maybe he’ll remember it someday.”

Native Hoosier Chase Briscoe finished the day in fourth place for his best finish yet in the Brickyard 400, followed by Denny Hamlin rounding out the top-five finishers, having fallen victim to the track position game after that final restart that boosted Heim to the win.

“I think we were fortunate to get the lead on that jump. So, you start thinking about it’s possible,” Hamlin said. “But yeah, I know that it comes down to these pushes, especially when everyone knows kind of where the leader’s going to go. And the 22 obviously did a great job pushing the 67, but we just could not keep him from clearing and he had control.”

The remainder of the top-10 went to Brad Keselowski, Josh Berry, Ryan Preece, pole sitter Carson Hocevar, and Heim’s 23XI teammate Tyler Reddick.

Todd Gilliland was able to finish ahead of Ryan Blaney to win the In-Season Challenge and the $1M prize that comes with it, as he ended the day in 24^th place in his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford, with Blaney finishing in 26^th, having gotten caught up in a crash in the late stages of the race.

The Cup Series heads into the final off weekend of the 2026 season before getting back in action at Iowa Speedway on August 9. Four races remain in the regular season to set the 16-driver postseason field.