NASCAR’s newest street-course winner Corey Heim did not just leave San Diego with a trophy. He also left the Coronado circuit after adding another chapter to his simmering rivalry that already had a history.

Corey Heim has now revealed that Carson Hocevar actually texted him after his win at the Anduril 250, following their clash during the race, where Heim spun him out and ended his race-winning hopes. Heim won the race while Hocevar finished 19th.

Eric Estepp recently interviewed Heim on the latest episode of NASCAR Film Room, where he asked the 23XI driver what happened in the RV chicane.

“They had started racing each other, I’ll say, around mid-track, around Turn 8, and I could tell they were beating themselves up really bad,” Heim told Estepp in the interview.

“I was kind of just more focused on maximizing the track than I was trying to stay up his bumper, and one thing led to another and he was turned around.”

The history here is important because back in 2023 at Phoenix, Heim and Hocevar had another crash where Heim was fined $12,500 and docked 25 points for his actions. But with the San Diego incident, they're now even.

Heim then explained, “He was really cool about it. He said, ‘You know, I’ve had that coming for several years now, and, you know, congrats, enjoy it.’”

The response from Heim to Hocevar’s text was just as calm, with a simple, “Thanks. Yeah, fair enough."

However, while talking about the incident with Hocevar, it is necessary that we do not ignore the technical decision that granted Heim an unexpected victory. In fact, let’s read more about the same.

Bootie Barker’s tire call saved Heim’s San Diego run

Corey Heim’s San Diego win was helped with the call by Robert "Bootie" Barker, where he identified the issue to be the tires and not the car’s setup. Heim started 13th, then fell to around 20th, yet continued to struggle on the qualifying scuffs. At this exact moment, Barker avoided over-adjusting the No. 67 and instead waited for a better tire set.

Commenting on the same as reported by NASCAR.com, Heim said, “I don’t know if we made any adjustments. (Crew chief) Bootie (Barker) 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.”

Heim then later pitted with just 16 laps to go, as Kyle Larson entered the pits with him. This late stop, owing to Barker’s decision to trust the tire cycle rather than chase setup changes, restored Heim’s grip and pace on fresh rubber, allowing him to close on Tyler Reddick before making the winning move late on Sunday.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Uday Jakhar

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason