Denny Hamlin commended Corey Heim’s racecraft after his maiden Cup win at San Diego. The team owner believes Heim has all the ‘intangible’ traits of a race car driver.
Hamlin has proved that he has an eye for talent. Tyler Reddick has turned into a championship-contending driver, while Heim has shown incredible pace in his limited Cup starts.
In an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR radio, Hamlin admitted that winning San Diego wasn’t in the team’s agenda for Heim. They hoped for him to work on a few goals as a part-time driver, but the reigning Truck champion took it up a notch.
“There’s like four different pieces of a race car driver that you got to have, and I just firmly believe Corey has all those and he has them already at a young age. He’s wise well beyond his years of age and his racecraft, and that is really, really hard. So it’s easy to get speed, not easy, but it’s a little easy to get speed, but then to have the racecraft with it, that really is how you end up finding someone that can win you a lot of races in a championship. And I think Corey is certainly destined to do great things in this sport,” Hamlin said.
Both Corey Heim and Tyler Reddick battled for the win on the final laps of Sunday’s Anduril 250. Reddick experienced a flat tire and paved the way for Heim’s win, but the reigning Truck champion had to work for it.
He caught a lucky break when race favorites Shane van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch got collected in a mid-race wreck. Nonetheless, Heim chased down the field before passing Reddick with three laps to go.
His previous best finish was a sixth at Bristol last year. NASCAR’s inaugural race at Naval Base Coronado marks Heim’s maiden top-10 this season.
Tyler Reddick tips his hat to Corey Heim after San Diego loss
Tyler Reddick had a fiery fight with Corey Heim on the final laps. The two had a back-and-forth until Reddick overshot Turn 5 entry and ran his teammate wide.
The season leader didn’t take advantage of the moment and allowed Heim to recover. On the same lap, Reddick’s tire blew out, forcing him to a 25th-place finish.
“It definitely stings. But, yeah, first and foremost, congratulations to Corey. I tried to battle back and overdid it. I really did. I ran him straight in the wall and that wasn’t right, so I wasn’t going to pass it for the win that way. That’s for sure, especially teammate. And yeah, it’s real shame,” REddick said in a post-race interview with NASCAR.
Corey Heim is slated for a full-time season with 23XI Racing next year, replacing Riley Herbst, who finished top-10 on Sunday.
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