Corey Heim’s Rise Has Him Cup Ready… With Whom?

Nearly 22-years old, Corey Heim is at the top of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series field, including nearly winning the title a year ago.

Heim added to his win total with an impressive victory at North Wilkesboro Speedway, his third of the season and eighth of his career. He led a race-high 66 laps, earned nine stage points and won by 2.474 seconds, an especially high margin of victory at a 0.625-mile short track.

With 10 races completed in the 2024 Truck season, Heim has the most victories, stage wins and playoff points. He’s only four points behind Christian Eckes for the points lead, which carries with it an additional 15 playoff points.

Heim is poised for another deep playoff run, too. He is a legitimate threat to take his TRICON Garage team to victory lane at all races and he’s won at two playoff tracks: Bristol Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway.

His rise to the top has been well earned.

Remember, even though he lost the 2021 ARCA Menards Series championship to Ty Gibbs, Heim still accomplished one of the best single-season performances in ARCA history. Heim won six races and scored 16 top fives, 20 top 10s – yes, a top 10 in every race – and an average finish of 3.1.

His only DNF, at DuQuoin State Fairgrounds, resulted in a seventh-place finish. Unfortunately, Gibbs was better overall and Heim missed out by 37 points. Still, trailing Gibbs, a current Cup driver battling for a playoff berth, by 1.85 is a remarkable feat.

Of all the drivers I’ve covered in ARCA, serving as the site’s ARCA editor, Heim is the second or third-best driver to graduate from that series, right alongside Jesse Love and only behind Gibbs.

Heim then seamlessly transitioned into Truck racing in 2022. He won at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the first Truck race at the newly configured racetrack. He won the pole and captured the trophy at World Wide Technology Raceway. In a part-time capacity, he finished 14th and took home Rookie of the Year honors.

And now Heim has proven he’s worthy of a Cup ride.

Filling in for an injured Erik Jones at Dover Motor Speedway, Heim finished incident-free in 25th ahead of several current playoff-calibers drivers including Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace, William Byron and Christopher Bell. In the next race at Kansas Speedway, Heim ran inside the top 10 before his involvement in a last-lap spin with Austin Dillon relegated him to a 22nd-place showing.

Now, as silly season is reportedly…