Race report

Corey Heim stuns NASCAR with Brickyard 400 win as part-time Cup driver

In his 15th career start, the rookie 23XI Racing driver held off Christopher Bell by three tenths to claim his second Cup victory of 2026 in his first weekend racing at Indianapolis

Corey Heim has shocked the NASCAR world again, winning the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in his 15th career start. Heim had never completed a lap at IMS before this weekend, but leaves as the winner of one of NASCAR’s crown-jewel races.

Earlier this year, Heim out-dueled 23XI Racing teammate Tyler Reddick for his first Cup win at San Diego. At Indianapolis, Heim passed 23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin before holding off Christopher Bell for victory.

Heim became the first driver since A.J. Foyt in 1965 to claim his first two Cup victories within his opening 15 starts. He's also the youngest driver to win the Brickyard 400 since Jeff Gordon in 1994, and is also the first part-time driver to have a multi-win Cup season since Davey Allison and Tim Richmond in 1987.

Watch: Heim hangs on to win Indy: 'That was a damn handful!'

"Yeah, that was a damn handful," said Heim. "I was hanging on for dear life once the shade went down and the pace picked up. 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 to just 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.

"Caught a break early with the pit cycle. And just executed all day. Made no mistakes. My team, 23XI did a fantastic job with my Field & Stream Camry. First race with Field & Stream too, that's awesome. First race, first win, so we hope we can keep it going."

Bell finished second, just three tenths behind Heim at the checkered flag. Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe, and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five.

Brad Keselowski, Josh Berry, Ryan Preece, Carson Hocevar, and Tyler Reddick filled out the remainder of the top ten.

Stage 1

Hocevar led from pole and quickly opened a 2.5-second advantage. Austin Dillon was the first to pit after rapidly dropping through the field, worried about a tire issue. His brother Ty Dillon got a blend line violation soon after that, prompting teams to remind their drivers about the unique pit exit procedure at IMS.

Hocevar pitted from the lead at the end of Lap 32, giving Suarez the top spot, but he immediately came under attack from Reddick. Suarez resisted the challenge, and came down pit road the following lap with a big lockup.

Larson and Gibbs both pitted earlier than Hocevar, and successfully pulled off the undercut.

Hamlin and over half the field ran the first stint long, with most waiting until ten laps to go to come down pit road.

Larson was in position to win Stage 1, but disaster struck five laps from the end as he blew a left-rear tire. Larson slammed the wall and his race was over.

Gragson doored Zilisch in frustration under caution after making heavy contact with the Trackhouse driver shortly before the yellow.

Another Trackhouse driver had some drama under this caution, as Van Gisbergen stopped his car in the grass while he took his steering wheel off and adjusted it. He lost little time during the brief but unusual stoppage.

The stage ended in a one-lap dash, with Gibbs claiming the Stage 1 win over Heim, McDowell, Hocevar, Byron, Hamlin, Suarez, Briscoe, Buescher, and Reddick.

Stage 2

Pit road was fairly empty during the stage break, and on the restart, Gibbs held the lead with McDowell, Heim, and Hocevar following.

Early in the stage, Chase Elliott hit the wall after contact from Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and had to pit under green with a flat tire. Eventually, Elliott went behind the wall for repairs.

About halfway through the stage, Gibbs pitted from the lead. Hocevar followed him in but emerged from pit road directly behind new leader Heim, albeit one lap down. Trapped a lap down, he aggressively tried to unlap himself, only for Heim to block him at every opportunity.

When Heim later headed for pit road, Hocevar pulled alongside and expressed his displeasure with a hand gesture.

The next caution was for Daniel Dye, who crashed into the wall with a flat tire. The caution ended the stage, handing Ross Chastain the Stage 2 victory as he ran low on fuel.

Chastain won Stage 2 ahead of Gilliland, Gibbs, Hamlin, Heim, Hocevar, Preece, McDowell, Nemechek, and Suarez.

Stage 3

Corey Heim, 23XI Racing Toyota; Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota; Joey Logano, Team Penske Ford

Photo by: Logan Riely / Getty Images

While Chastain and Gilliland pitted during the stage break, Gibbs and Hamlin were now on the front row.

Gibbs remained ahead until a debris caution with 45 laps remaining. He then brought the entire field down pit road right on the edge of the fuel window.

Heim won the race off as several drivers opted for a two-tire call, shuffling the order. Wallace endured a chaotic stop in which he struck members of his pit crew, although none appeared seriously hurt. He got a bump from behind just before reaching his box in the lead-up to that incident.

On the restart, Logano looked to the inside of Heim, thinking about a three-wide move for the lead before backing out. However, that was enough for Hamlin to take the lead away.

Moments later, Blaney went spinning after contact from Nemechek, who attempted to go up the middle in a three-wide move but the door closed before he got there.

Zilisch, Herbst, Hill, Mears, and Allmendinger were also collected in the ensuing melee. Blaney had damage, but soldiered on as he was battling Gilliland for the $1 million prize in the In-Season Challenge.

On the final restart with 34 laps remaining, Hamlin received little drafting help and Heim reclaimed the lead. Hamlin attempted to dive under Heim in the short chute between Turn 1 and 2, but Heim slammed the door.

Hamlin lost all momentum and slipped back to fifth, leaving Heim in control of the race. Heim spent the rest of the race being shadowed by Bell, trying his best to keep his clearly loose No. 67 Toyota under control. Logano also closed in from third, but neither he nor Bell could get a big enough run to do anything about Heim.

As Heim won the race, Gilliland collected the $1 million In-Season Challenge prize, finishing 24th as a wounded Blaney finished 26th -- just six tenths behind.

Watch: What a time! Corey Heim wins thrilling Brickyard 400

RACE

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	C. Heim 23XI Racing	67	Toyota	160	3:08'20.414		7
2	C. Bell Joe Gibbs Racing	20	Toyota	160	+0.287 3:08'20.701	0.287	6	35
3	J. Logano Team Penske	22	Ford	160	+0.972 3:08'21.386	0.685	6	34
4	C. Briscoe Joe Gibbs Racing	19	Toyota	160	+5.720 3:08'26.134	4.748	9	36
5	D. Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing	11	Toyota	160	+6.120 3:08'26.534	0.400	6	44
6	B. Keselowski RFK Racing	6	Ford	160	+6.805 3:08'27.219	0.685	6	31
7	J. Berry Wood Brothers Racing	21	Ford	160	+7.513 3:08'27.927	0.708	6	30
8	R. Preece RFK Racing	60	Ford	160	+8.471 3:08'28.885	0.958	7	33
9	C. Hocevar Spire Motorsports	77	Chevrolet	160	+9.072 3:08'29.486	0.601	8	40
10	T. Reddick 23XI Racing	45	Toyota	160	+10.338 3:08'30.752	1.266	6	28
11	C. Buescher RFK Racing	17	Ford	160	+10.971 3:08'31.385	0.633	6	28
12	T. Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing	54	Toyota	160	+11.556 3:08'31.970	0.585	6	43
13	C. Custer Haas Factory Team	41	Chevrolet	160	+14.406 3:08'34.820	2.850	6	24
14	A. Cindric Team Penske	2	Ford	160	+16.675 3:08'37.089	2.269	6	23
15	Z. Smith Front Row Motorsports	38	Ford	160	+17.451 3:08'37.865	0.776	6	22
16	S. van Gisbergen TrackHouse Racing	97	Chevrolet	160	+17.834 3:08'38.248	0.383	7	21
17	D. Suarez Spire Motorsports	7	Chevrolet	160	+18.123 3:08'38.537	0.289	6	25
18	M. McDowell Spire Motorsports	71	Chevrolet	160	+18.479 3:08'38.893	0.356	5	30
19	A. Bowman Hendrick Motorsports	48	Chevrolet	160	+19.404 3:08'39.818	0.925	6	18
20	R. Stenhouse Jr Hyak Motorsports	47	Chevrolet	160	+19.761 3:08'40.175	0.357	8	17
21	W. Byron Hendrick Motorsports	24	Chevrolet	160	+20.271 3:08'40.685	0.510	7	22
22	N. Gragson Front Row Motorsports	4	Ford	160	+21.619 3:08'42.033	1.348	7	15
23	R. Chastain TrackHouse Racing	1	Chevrolet	160	+24.072 3:08'44.486	2.453	7	24
24	T. Gilliland Front Row Motorsports	34	Ford	160	+24.296 3:08'44.710	0.224	10	22
25	A. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing	16	Chevrolet	160	+24.499 3:08'44.913	0.203	11	12
26	R. Blaney Team Penske	12	Ford	160	+24.846 3:08'45.260	0.347	7	11
27	E. Jones Legacy Motor Club	43	Toyota	160	+25.156 3:08'45.570	0.310	5	12
28	B. Wallace 23XI Racing	23	Toyota	160	+25.699 3:08'46.113	0.543	6	9
29	A. Dillon Richard Childress Racing	3	Chevrolet	160	+26.562 3:08'46.976	0.863	9	8
30	T. Dillon Kaulig Racing	10	Chevrolet	160	+36.563 3:08'56.977	10.001	9	7
31	C. Ware Rick Ware Racing	51	Chevrolet	160	+37.097 3:08'57.511	0.534	8	6
32	J. Nemechek Legacy Motor Club	42	Toyota	158	+2 Laps 3:08'24.213	2 Laps	8	5
33	A. Hill Richard Childress Racing	33	Chevrolet	125	+35 Laps 2:37'56.299	33 Laps	12		Accident
34	C. Zilisch TrackHouse Racing	88	Chevrolet	122	+38 Laps 2:30'09.174	3 Laps	8	3	Accident
35	C. Mears Beard Motorsports	62	Chevrolet	121	+39 Laps 2:29'18.938	1 Lap	9	2	Accident
36	R. Herbst 23XI Racing	35	Toyota	120	+40 Laps 2:29'12.768	1 Lap	7	1	Accident
37	C. Elliott Hendrick Motorsports	9	Chevrolet	119	+41 Laps 3:09'03.725	1 Lap	6	1
38	D. Dye Live Fast Motorsports	78	Chevrolet	93	+67 Laps 1:39'50.918	26 Laps	6		Accident
39	K. Larson Hendrick Motorsports	5	Chevrolet	43	+117 Laps 37'44.885	50 Laps	3	1	Accident
View full results