SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Corey Heim arrived at the finish line — and at a career milestone — way ahead of schedule.
Winning a pitched battle against 23XI Racing teammate Tyler Reddick in the closing laps of Sunday’s Anduril 250 at San Diego Street Course at Naval Base Coronado, Heim won his first NASCAR Cup Series race in his 13th start and his first in the top division on a road or street circuit.
It took Heim three corners to make the winning pass after Reddick slipped in Turn 2 on Lap 73 to give the 23-year-old reigning NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion an opening. The teammates ran side-by-side through Turns 3 and 4, with Reddick trying a crossover move into Turn 5 on the 3.4-mile, 16-turn course, the first purpose-built NASCAR circuit on a military installation.
Reddick scraped the outside wall, made contact with Heim’s No. 67 Toyota—pushing him toward the wall—but ceded the position and later suffered a flat left-front tire before finishing 25th. Reddick saw his series lead drop to eight points over 14th-place finisher Denny Hamlin, the 23XI co-owner with NBA legend Michael Jordan.
Heim reached the finish line 10.365 seconds ahead of Bubba Wallace, giving 23XI the first 1-2 finish in organization history. Wallace rallied from a two-lap penalty for a loose wheel that dislodged from his car and rolled between Turns 9 and 10.
Kyle Larson ran third, followed by Zane Smith and A.J. Allmendinger.
To Heim, recently announced as a full-time driver for 23XI starting next year, the victory in one of NASCAR’s most important races of the season bordered on the surreal.
“I’m speechless,” Heim said after completing an extended celebratory burnout. “I mean, we started the race, I think we started 13th. We fell straight back to 20th. Then put on our scuffs from qualifying, struggled just as bad.
“I don’t know if we made any adjustments. (Crew chief) Bootie (Barker) kept telling me these were our worst two sets of tires, we were going to be fine. He was right. I couldn’t believe it. We strapped another set of tires on, and we were just fine. Hit the wall a couple of times and maybe knocked some good into the car. I have no idea.
“After stage two, I just took a deep breath. I had high expectations coming into this race. Even playing field for me (as a debut race). You don’t see that every day for a young driver like myself. Just kind of took a deep breath, reset and went after it.”
Heim led only the final three laps, and though he is running a limited schedule with 23XI this season, Reddick afforded his young teammate significant respect. The series leader declined to take advantage when contact between their two cars got Heim’s Camry briefly out of shape during the battle for the lead.
“I thought I was going to be able to hold him off there,” said Reddick, a five-time winner this year. “Yeah, we kind of just struggled with rear tire life all weekend long. Yeah, I got beat by our own stuff, so…
“We’ll try to figure this out. It definitely stings. First and foremost, congratulations to Corey. I tried to battle back and overdid it. I ran him straight in the wall. That wasn’t right. I wasn’t going to pass him for the win that way, especially a teammate.
“It’s a real shame. I don’t know if I cut the tire during, before or after (the contact with Heim’s car). I’m not really sure. Really needed a good points day. Had another really bad one, so… We’ll try and scrape together and have a decent finish in Sonoma (next Sunday).”
Moments after a restart on Lap 33, a violent wreck in Turn 1 wiped out a handful of notable contenders. Racing side-by-side with Connor Zilisch at the front of the field, Austin Hill locked up his brakes and forced Zilisch into the outside wall.
Zilisch hit the concrete barriers with jarring force and bounced into the path of Trackhouse racing teammate and pole winner Shane van Gisbergen, who seconds earlier had backed out of a three-wide situation with Zilisch and Hill.
“It’s just unfortunate to end the day like that for both Red Bull Chevrolets with Shane and I,” said Zilisch, who led eight laps before exiting in 37th place. “We had a really fast car today. We got out front and it felt really good, but that’s how it goes sometimes.
“I had a lot of fun leading my first career Cup Series laps. Just super proud of this entire No. 88 team, but hate to see the day end this short. When you have a chance to go win a race and you’re in a prime spot to do so, but get put in a position like that, it’s extremely tough.”
Van Gisbergen was equally disappointed.
“A real shame,” said van Gisbergen, knocked out of the race in 38th place. “The Red Bull Chevy was unreal fast once the track kind of rubbered up. Yeah, a real shame.”
The Toyota of Ty Gibbs nosed into van Gisbergen’s Chevrolet and also sustained heavy damage, but Gibbs recovered to finish 15th.
The race featured seven cautions for 11 of the 75 laps. There were 20 lead changes among 13 drivers, with ninth-place finisher Ryan Blaney leading the most circuits (12), followed by Larson with 11. Reddick led nine laps before Heim tracked him down in the closing stage.
Blaney won the first stage under caution, with Ryan Preece taking Stage 2. Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Riley Herbst, Blaney and Michael McDowell finished sixth through 10th, respectively.
NASCAR Cup Series Race – Anduril 250
- (13) Corey Heim(i), Toyota, 75.
- (12) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 75.
- (14) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 75.
- (4) Zane Smith, Ford, 75.
- (15) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 75.
- (16) Chris Buescher, Ford, 75.
- (23) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 75.
- (24) Riley Herbst, Toyota, 75.
- (3) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 75.
- (9) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 75.
- (7) Ryan Preece, Ford, 75.
- (30) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 75.
- (6) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 75.
- (26) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 75.
- (11) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 75.
- (28) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 75.
- (22) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 75.
- (19) Joey Logano, Ford, 75.
- (2) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 75.
- (38) Erik Jones, Toyota, 75.
- (5) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 75.
- (31) Austin Cindric, Ford, 75.
- (39) Cody Ware, Chevrolet, 75.
- (18) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 75.
- (17) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 75.
- (20) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 75.
- (21) Kevin Magnussen, Chevrolet, 75.
- (36) Jimmie Johnson, Toyota, 75.
- (35) Josh Berry, Ford, 75.
- (34) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 74.
- (25) Cole Custer, Chevrolet, 72.
- (27) William Byron, Chevrolet, 68.
- (33) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, Radiator, 59.
- (29) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 59.
- (32) Noah Gragson, Ford, Accident, 37.
- (10) Austin Hill(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 31.
- (8) Connor Zilisch #, Chevrolet, Accident, 31.
- (1) Shane Van Gisbergen, Chevrolet, Accident, 31.
- (37) Christopher Bell, Toyota, Engine, 28.