Corey Heim, the 23-year-old driver currently setting the pace in the NASCAR Truck Series and splitting Cup duties in the No. 67 Toyota for 23XI Racing, has quickly become a centerpiece in discussions surrounding the sport’s next talent. But unlike many of his peers who had a leg up thanks to family ties within the industry, Heim cut his path the hard way.
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Though his father, Ray Heim, raced Legend cars, he didn’t come from deep pockets or big-name sponsors. His dad himself made ends meet working in the gambling sector and sold used slot machine monitors to bankroll his local racing dreams. Determined to light the spark early, Heim’s father handed him a go-kart at just four years old.
In Jeff Gluck’s 12 Questions segment for The Athletic, Heim pulled back the curtain on his unvarnished journey. He said, “I started racing locally in Cumming, Georgia, and at the Lanier quarter-midget track up the road.
“When I first started out, it was a very low-budget operation because it was more of a hobby for us. I didn’t like losing, like most people, and was skeptical whether I wanted to continue racing.”
By the time he was around seven or eight years old, Heim already had one foot out the door. It wasn’t trophies that kept him in the game; it was the friendship. The ties he built at the track convinced him to stick it out during lean times. As he put it, “When you’re not doing as well as you want to be, it’s not very fun.”
Things began to turn when his father’s business gained traction. With more resources in hand, the family made the leap to Late Model racing. Success followed, and with the right people falling into place and a better financial footing, they soon stepped up to ARCA. From there, Heim’s stock only rose.
In the dry spells, Heim turned to iRacing to sharpen his skills. He credits sim racing with keeping his competitive fire lit and believes it played a crucial role in building his racecraft during the early years. “My dad always told me he didn’t have enough money to fund ARCA racing, so it was always in the back of my mind like, ‘I’m just going to keep doing it until I can’t anymore,’” Heim recalled.
That moment never came. His father’s growing business opened the door to ARCA, and Toyota came knocking soon after. The dominoes kept falling into place. In 2021, Heim got his break with Kyle Busch Motorsports, making three starts in the NASCAR Truck Series, with a best finish of 11th at Martinsville.
And then in 2023, he landed a full-time ride in Tricon Garage’s No. 11 Truck. Since then, he’s run with the bit between his teeth, closing out the last two seasons P4 and P2 in the standings. Along the way so far, Heim has also made 20 Xfinity Series starts and five in the Cup Series.
Now, with 23XI Racing in the thick of a legal tussle that could reshape its charter status, Heim may be inching closer to locking down a full-time Cup seat sooner than expected. If that happens, the young driver who started with secondhand parts and a shoestring budget could soon be running with the big dogs week in and week out.
