NASCAR
Corey Heim Leads 23XI Racing 1-2 Finish in San Diego Street Race
CORONADO, Calif. – History was made on multiple fronts in NASCAR’s inaugural San Diego Street Race at Naval Base Coronado. 23XI Racing’s bright young phenom Corey Heim saw all stars align in only his 13th Cup start. The reigning Truck champion in the No. 67 Toyota forced Tyler Reddick into a rare mistake, taking the lead away with three laps left. Thanks to a monster lead and Reddick cutting a tire, Heim cruised to a maiden Cup triumph. Ahead of going full-time in 2027, it’s now Heim Time for the first time ever on a Sunday.
Although Shane van Gisbergen was the overwhelming favorite coming in, he soon lost the lead to Ryan Blaney. Team Penske’s No. 12 Ford went onto win the opening stage, but SVG was not far behind. While trying to regain the lead late in Stage 2, the No. 97 made contact with Austin Hill up front. This massive melee took out both drivers, Connor Zilisch, and several others in a turn one parking lot. The second stage would eventually go to Ryan Preece.
An additional look at the incident on Lap 32. pic.twitter.com/NHm00Ekdx0
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 21, 2026
Once final pit stops cycled out, oil from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. set up a restart with 12 laps left. This run to the checkers slotted Carson Hocevar against Tyler Reddick. Hocevar grazing the wall would hand the lead to Reddick, but Corey Heim was waiting in the wings. Heim hunted down the 45 and stayed on his bumper, pressuring the points leader into a rare error. Reddick ran turn two wide, allowing Heim to take command in turn three with three laps left. A cut tire ended Reddick’s competitive run, giving Heim plenty of runway to ride to his first career Cup triumph.
COREY HEIM TO THE LEAD! pic.twitter.com/gD61uao21u
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 22, 2026
“I’m speechless,” Heim said. “I mean, we started the race, I think 13th, and 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. Bootie [Barker, crew chief] 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 2, I just took a deep breath. I had high expectations coming into this race. Even playing field for me. 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. Caught a couple breaks with some of the good guys out.”
“I feel like for a while I thought [Reddick] was kind of playing with me, but he was able to set the pace being the lead car. I was able to stick with him. I’m not really burning my stuff up. Five to go came. Time to put some pressure on him, see if I could get him to make a mistake. Sure enough, he did. I think he ended up breaking or something. I don’t know what happened to him. He doored me down there in [turn] five and gave it back to me. That’s something you don’t see every day. That’s a great teammate. I don’t know. Just crazy. It feels like a dream. I hope I don’t wake up from this dream.”
“This is insane. So thankful for 23XI, Mobil1, Toyota for this journey. I didn’t expect to come into my part-time season and win. Here we are. It’s crazy. Hasn’t even sunk in yet. I’m sure I’ll get emotional in a little bit, but it really hasn’t sunk in yet.”
A distant 10 seconds behind Heim was teammate Bubba Wallace, earning a career-best road course result. Kyle Larson, Zane Smith, and AJ Allmendinger were other top finishers. The rest of San Diego’s top-10 were: Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Riley Herbst, Ryan Blaney, and Michael McDowell.Thanks to Reddick finishing 25th and Denny Hamlin coming home 14th, the 45’s championship lead is down to eight points. Nine weeks remain in the 2026 Cup regular season, with the battle for the top Chase seed in a dead heat.
