Corey Heim stays positive after coming close to first Xfinity Series win
HAMPTON, Ga. — Corey Heim has only made 11 starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this year, all 11 coming for the Mooresville, North Carolina-based Sam Hunt Racing. In that short time, the full-time Craftsman Truck Series competitor has put together an impressive resume, tallying three top-five finishes and a seventh-place showing at Loudon.
His most recent entry came this afternoon in the Focused Health 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he was challenging for the win on the final lap before contact with Austin Hill caused the Marietta, Georgia native to brush the wall, sending him back to the fifth position.
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“I thought it was in my best interest to stay high,” Heim said on pit road after his day at Atlanta. “We didn’t have a ton of raw speed, but we had great handling, so I wanted to try and get to the top of the 21 — and we did that — but he just kinda ran me out of room. That’s not to say I would have do the exact same thing if I was in his spot, that’s just a product of this superspeedway racing.
“You have to be aggressive and take advantage of your opportunities. I thought I put ourselves in a really good spot there. It just wasn’t meant to be.”
Handling was an issue multiple drivers faced throughout the 250-mile event, with drivers fighting loose throughout the race. Heim was no stranger to the effects of a hot and slick afternoon on the high banks of the 1.5-mile track.
“It seems like this place is slicker and greaser every time we come back,” Heim said. “I mean, I don’t have any prior Xfinity Series experience here, but just based on the talk around the garage, this place seems to lose a ton of grip every time we come here. With it being so much hotter in the spring or winter time when we came last time, it certainly made for a less-gripped kind of race.”
Still, despite not achieving the result Heim or the No. 26 Sam Hunt Racing team may have hoped for, Heim is proud of the fast race cars that the team provides and takes every opportunity he can get behind the wheel and continue to learn at this stage in his game.
“Any seat time at my stage in development is really crucial,” Heim said. “Any kind of laps at any kind of track and car I can get into is pretty crucial for my development. That’s what I am here to do, to help Sam Hunt Racing find speed and I think we had a win today internally but certainly wanted the big one, just wasn’t meant to be.”
Sam Hunt Racing has been competing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series since the 2019 season and has amassed 26 top-10 finishes with 11 top fives. However, the team still chases its first win in national series competition.
Although team owner Sam Hunt feels the time is coming for the No. 26 team, he chooses to focus on the team’s upward trajectory rather than looking at just results.
“It’s really exciting,” Hunt said, standing beside his top-five Toyota Supra. “I think we’ve made a ton of improvements on our (superspeedway) cars, hybrid package cars. I am really encouraged by that, just grateful for Toyota and TRD for supporting this deal and helping us get through this weekend. We obviously love Corey and want to see him racing on Sundays.
“It’s frustrating for sure, to get put up in the fence like that, trying to win our first race. It hurts. It’s a good points day for us, but definitely frustrated to be put in the wall there at the end.”
Amid frustration after being on the doorstep of the breakthrough victory, the team owner, in his sixth year of competition, can’t say enough about the hard work his team and the drivers who have been at the wheel put into the team every week.
“You know, we’re a small group,” Hunt said. “Everybody does a lot; everybody works really really hard and, you know, It is a humble effort and for us to have this kind of speed and this kind of shot to win at this level is a testament to Corey and all of the guys and girls at the shop, so really proud.”