Corey Heim grabs surprise first win at Naval Base Coronado
It was Heim Time in southern California on Sunday.
Corey Heim shocked the NASCAR circuit with his first career Cup Series victory Sunday afternoon, battling teammate Tyler Reddick and taking the checkers in the inaugural Anduril 250 road race at the Naval Base Coronado in San Diego.
Heim’s No. 67 Toyota got beside Reddick, who soon had tire problems, with just over two laps left. He moved by and led a 1-2 finish for 23XI Racing by beating teammate Bubba Wallace by 10.365 seconds in the 75-lap race that had seven cautions.
The win came in the 13th career Cup start for the 23-year-old Heim, the defending Craftsman Truck Series champion.
“I feel like for a while there he was playing with me because he was setting the pace as the lead car,” said Heim, a Marietta, Ga., native who joined Jimmie Johnson in recording his first win in his 13th start. “I was able to stick with him and not really burning my stuff up. (With) five to go came and it was time to put some pressure on him and see if he’d make a mistake, and sure enough he did.
“It feels like a dream. I hope I don’t wake up from this dream.”
Heim’s win was the fourth straight for Toyota but ended the three-race winning streak of Denny Hamlin, who brought his No. 11 home in 14th and is only eight points behind points leader Reddick, who was 25th.
Kyle Larson, Zane Smith and AJ Allmendinger were the final drivers in the top five.
In the third of four road races on NASCAR’s Cup Series schedule, polesitter Shane van Gisbergen led the first three laps, but Ryan Blaney moved past the road-course ace shortly before Johnson’s No. 84 Toyota slammed into the tire barrier.
Blaney led a hard-charging Wallace, who climbed to the runner-up spot halfway through the 20 laps that comprised Stage 1, but Chase Elliott stalled and had a lengthy first pit stop.
Christopher Bell (fractured left wrist) came to pit road on Lap 13 and did a scheduled driver change, with Brent Crews hopping into the seat of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Meanwhile, cars slowly traveled around the 19-turn, 3.40-mile track, a street course featuring visuals of an aircraft carrier, other ships and water near the base.
An error by his pit crew resulted in Wallace losing a right front tire under green, creating the second caution and ending the segment under caution with Blaney’s No. 12 Ford leading Ryan Preece, Larson, Ty Gibbs and Allmendinger.
About halfway through Stage 2 on Lap 32, Austin Hill, Connor Zilisch, Gibbs and van Gisbergen wrecked hard at the front of the field on a restart, damaging the outside barrier in a nine-car accident and creating a red-flag period.
“I got a pretty good start and then kind of backed out of it to let them go -- didn’t want to be three-wide,” said van Gisbergen, seeking his eighth road course win in 15 starts. “Then, not good from there.”
Larson led late in Stage 2, but he pitted his No. 5 with two laps to go and turned the top spot over to Preece, who took the checkers.
Riley Herbst, Chris Buescher, Allmendinger and Blaney followed behind Preece’s No. 60 Ford.
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