Toyota Gazoo Racing NA Photo
KANSAS CITY (May 10, 2025) – 23XI Racing and TRICON Garage driver Corey Heim was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR race weekend at Kansas Speedway.
COREY HEIM, No. 67 Robinhood Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
No. 11 Safelite + Foster Love Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
How excited are to you run both races this weekend?
“I’m definitely really excited. This is actually my favorite track, so to be back here is awesome. To run double duty and have a chance at three straight wins in the Truck Series tonight is a special opportunity, and for Sunday, really excited to be running with 23XI Racing in robin neon Robinhood scheme. Such a cool opportunity to have a company like Robinhood on our Camry. A lot of Robinhood users are young, and early in their investing career like me, so really cool, full circle moment for myself and 23XI Racing. I really can’t wait.”
Did you get to pick this one?
“Yeah, I don’t think I really had a pick for my races for this year, but I was able to sit down with 23XI Racing and kind of discuss what makes sense. With this being my opening Cup race on the 2025 campaign for myself, being able to run it in 2024 was a big reason why I was able to knock the rust off a little bit. The last time I raced a Cup car was pretty close to a year ago – I think it was in June of last year. It was probably important for me to come out and not look like a fish out of water the first time back and be able to lean on some prior experience and come back to Kansas. I had a little bit of say myself, but I think it just made sense on both sides.”
What do you need to get out of these races?
“That is a good question. I don’t think personally, I set rock solid goals or standards for any of these races. I think a lot of it is just preparing to the best of my ability and executing to the best of my ability. Looking back at the Kansas race when I filled in for Erik Jones last year, there was a lot of things that stood out to improve on, I think that is the first step – just go the right direction and progress the right way. Those specific things are what I want to get better at, but I think with the resources that 23XI Racing has been able to give to me over the last couple of months to prepare for this race, I feel like I’ve got a good opportunity to come in and perform very well, so I think at this point, it is just about executing on the things I’ve learned this year with 23XI and definitely super excited. I just have a lot of resources and opportunities being a part of this organization. Don’t have rock solid goals personally, but I think just going out and executing on the things I studied for is the main thing.”
What makes Kansas your favorite track?
“I think I feel really comfortable when I come here, and I think that is just the prior experience I had here. I’ve got probably six or more ARCA races here and six or more Truck races here. Just that experience alone makes me feel comfortable and very prepared coming into this race. I feel like there is not so many things that I’m having to soak up during the week and prepare on, like for instance, Dover last year – my first Cup race ever. I had been there once in an ARCA car, I think, before that race – just the extra stress it took to prepare for that race and be ready before and all of those things that I was learning about the race track, added on to being in a Cup car for the first time was really tough. Kansas is a place that I have a lot of laps, and I think that helps with my comfort.”
What was the opportunity like to throw out the first pitch for the Royals game last night? Is it good to have a crossover between two sport organizations?
“It was a cool experience. I learned about it for the first time about a week and a half to two weeks ago. I didn’t hesitate that I wanted to be there, and I wanted to be a part of it. Honestly, I’m not super educated about it or the MLB, but I learned a lot about it last night just being a part of it. The first pitch made me pretty nervous to be honest. I was probably more nervous about that than I will be tonight or Sunday. I feel like it went pretty well. I think the crossover between those two organizations is pretty important just to kind of broaden everyone’s horizons. I actually saw some NASCAR fans at the game last night that will hopefully be at the game this weekend, and it seems like Kansas City has a lot of good, supportive fans in all accounts – the Chiefs, the Royals and NASCAR, so I feel like bringing those fans to NASCAR races and vice versa is very important.”
I also noticed you threw it from the mound.
“Yeah, I did. I was just talking about that earlier. Someone was telling me that Kurt Busch told them that you have to throw it from the mound, so I decided to go throw it from up there.”
Did you get a strike?
“No, no. I was close. I think it was a ball. I was telling the people that were at the game with me last night that if it was a lefty batter, I probably would have taken their ankles out (laughter), but I got pretty close.”
How does Kansas translate to the other mile-and-a-half tracks?
“It is definitely good experience being here. I feel like a lot of people kind of overlook how different they all are. For example, the preparation for Texas this last week is night and day from the preparation for Kansas from the overall race strategy and track position matters a lot more at certain race tracks. I feel like here, you can pass a lot easier, for lack of a better word, than most intermediates, so the preparation and the strategy is a good bit different, but really regardless of the track type or where we are running, any laps in a Cup car is huge just because how different these things are than a Truck and a Xfinity car – what I’m used to. Yes, going to intermediates help going to other intermediates, but I think just laps in general are huge. I was fortunate to be a part of the wheel force test with TRD this year, which was big for me as well. That was a good warmup. That was a couple of weeks ago, so a good warmup for this weekend. Regardless of what track, I think laps are really big in this car.”
You have this and Chicago lined up, but the number for 23XI can go up, right?
“Yeah, that is the goal for sure. This track and Chicago for sure, and then in between will be Nashville.”
Is Nashville also custom made for you to have success in the Cup Series?
“Yeah, I think Nashville being a race that I’ve run last year. I ran with 23XI last year, my only start to this date with that team. So to be able to go back and dive in with the exact team that I raced for and then go back and try to improve on that is a really cool opportunity – just to be able to sit down with those guys that developed me at 23XI and hopefully, improve on that going into that race, but once again, it just goes back to experience. Any place that you have laps at and you can go back and study and try to improve on that is really big, especially with this car. So yeah, have a lot of starts there with the Truck races and that Cup race last year, so it all helps for sure.”
Who are you specifically working with at 23XI?
“For the most part, I’ve worked with the analytics department and the sim department, if you will. They have a static simulator at the shop that I work on, a couple of hours a week. I sit in the weekly analytics meetings to try a learn a thing or two and I feel like I always do. It certainly pays off.”
Who heads the analytic and sim teams?
“The analytics team is John Vining (Data Analytics Engineer). He is actually an engineer on my team this week. I believe he was with the 45 team last year and got off the road. Now he is just traveling with the 67 and is full time in the analytics department. Then I work with Keegan Leahy (Performance Consultant) – former pro driver, that now works with 23XI full time on the sim stuff. He is kind of the main guy that I work over there for sure.”
Would you like to see more intermediates spread out on the Truck Series schedule?
“I think I pride myself in the last couple of years on being good on all kinds of different race track. The intermediates have been very kind to me in the Truck Series for sure, but I felt like earlier in my career, I was one dimensional on the short tracks and I broadened my horizons and developed and got a lot better at the intermediates and the road courses, even some superspeedway stuff. I feel like for myself, and where I’m at in my career, any opportunities, especially on those tracks we don’t see very often – for example the superspeedways in the Truck Series, we don’t get a lot of opportunities – bettering myself on the tracks that I might be uncomfortable on right now is a big deal for me, even though it is intimidating for me when you haven’t been on them a lot. It is definitely necessary for me to develop and be really good on a full time Cup campaign in the future. That is my main priority.”
How would you describe your progression in your Cup Series starts last season?
“A lot of it was just being more comfortable with myself. The last thing you want to do as a rookie in the Cup Series is go out and do something stupid and make yourself look bad. I think I did a decent job of that in my first three Cup starts. I feel like I progressively was able to get more comfortable and be more aggressive without feeling like I was going to do something stupid if that makes sense. My first couple of restarts at Dover, I remember I was just trying to stay in line and not look out of place, by the end of Nashville, I was trying to get three wide on guys and barrel it off in there and do everything I can to get track position. I feel like when I was a rookie in the Truck Series, it took me a lot longer to find that comfort, but I think with the resources at 23XI, and being able to work with those guys on bettering myself and being more comfortable and being more comfortable being aggressive, that has really helped me a lot and gone a long way. I think just the main thing is to be able to put yourself out there and put yourself in the limit without doing something wrong or something stupid.”
If you could pick one track to race on the Next Gen car on, what would it be?
“I think Kansas would probably be a good one.”
Any track?
“No, I think that is it. Kansas is the one (laughter). It goes back to the laps I have here. It just pays off so much going into the race and being able to prepare and execute on things that I’ve researched and studied for, but I think if I was equally as prepared on all tracks, I would love to race the Daytona 500. I think that would be really cool too.”
What do you make of that when you hear people talking about you being Cup ready?
“I don’t really let that get to me too much. I just focus on the current opportunities that I have at hand. I definitely feel like I’m ready to make Cup starts – I don’t know if I’m ready to be a full time Cup driver, that is what I’m learning as I go. I certainly feel like I am, but it is going out and proving that. I’m really happy with the opportunities that Toyota and 23XI have given me the past couple of years. I’m very happy with my 11 crew on the Truck side, and the 67 guys on the Cup side. I think I have a lot of things going for me in the right direction, and I’m very happy with my opportunities.”
How do you not get impatient?
“I think a lot of it comes back to how good our 11 team is in the Truck side right now. When you are winning races and competing very consistently it’s fun and you are having a good time. It is rewarding. I feel like if maybe I was struggling more on the Truck side or maybe seeking other opportunities, I feel like it would be different, but I’m really happy with my opportunities in the Truck Series. We are competitive every week, and it is really fun. It is rewarding – that is the main thing.”
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