'Heim time' struck again on Sunday. Part-timer Corey Heim emerged victorious at NASCAR's Brickyard 400, securing his second Cup win in 15 starts. This marked the biggest moment of the 23XI driver's career so far and also ended team co-owner Denny Hamlin's dream of adding another crown jewel to his resume. 

Not only did Heim become the youngest winner of the prestigious race since Jeff Gordon in 1994, but he also denied Hamlin a chance to complete NASCAR’s grand slam, which includes winning the four crown jewels: Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600, Brickyard 400 and the Southern 500. He has already won the other three races.

During his post-race interview with TNT Sports, Heim spoke about how being aggressive on race restarts helped him. 

"I just had to be aggressive," Heim said during the live TV interview.  "I mean, it’s for the win, you know. I would have to see it back to see if I really did anything wrong. But I think we both thought it was for the win, you know, but he has every right to be a little frustrated with me, but I feel like he probably would’ve done the same thing. I just had to be on top of it. Got to go quick for the 22 (Logano) to be in position, so thanks to him. Man, it's crazy."

Heim started the Brickyard 400 in seventh place. The turning point came on a restart on lap 127 of 160. He took the lead of the race from Hamlin as Joey Logano tried to look for a three-wide move and gave Heim the push he needed to take the lead of the race for good.

Even after taking the lead of the race, Heim’s race was far from easy. He was closely followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell in second place and Joey Logano in third in the final few laps. Behind them, Chase Briscoe finished the Brickyard 400 in fourth while Denny Hamlin eventually finished in fifth. 

Corey Heim wins his second Cup Series race as a part-time driver

Within the span of just a few weeks, Heim has managed to bag his second win for the 23XI Racing team in just 15 career starts. With this win, he became the quickest driver to two wins since A.J. Foyt in 1965, who did so in 14 starts.  

Post-race, while talking to TNT Sports, he expressed his feelings. 

"I was hanging on for dear life once the shade went down and the pace picked up," Heim said during the interview. "My car got really loose. And I had never really been in a lot of clean air throughout the day, so that was the hardest I've ever fought in my life just to make sure I focused on exits and kept them in dirty air.

"I'm pretty out of breath. That was a workout. It was a dream come true. Winning at the Brickyard. That's unbelievable. Thank you so much, fans, for coming out here."

During the race, he led a race-high of 58 out of 160 laps. Besides this, the 23XI driver became the first part-time driver to win more than one Cup race in a season, a feat Davey Allison and Tim Richmond achieved in 1987. 

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Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Yash Kotak