TOYOTA RACING – Corey Heim
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 11, 2026) – 23XI Racing driver Corey Heim was made available to the media on Wednesday prior to the Daytona 500.
COREY HEIM, No. 67 Robinhood Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
What do you feel like is the goal this weekend for you?
“I don’t know if there’s a specific goal in mind in the race I think I obviously want to be a good Toyota teammate, and not only for my 23XI (Racing) teammates, but to get Toyota to victory lane as a whole. In general, I think our main goal is to make the race (Daytona 500), and 23XI and Toyota are on board to help me do that, so that’s a promising feeling, to be actively supported like that. Number one, get in the race. Number two, kind of just take it one-by-one in terms of the stages go and hopefully be in the mix at the end.”
Were you hoping that you’d be full time somewhere this season?
“I think as a competitor you always want to compete for a championship. But, at the end of the day, being able to get a feel for the Cup Series and the top level, maximizing my schedule as far as increasing the amount of races. Last year, I only had four starts versus 12 this year, so being able to my schedule a little bit was good for me from the beginning but also hitting some really good races. Kind of getting a feel for the higher-pressure races in general, just going forward that a little bit extra because it’s the big races. Getting a feel for is always good, so feel pretty good about it.”
Do you feel any pressure to go out and prove yourself this year?
“Yeah, I relate it back to when I was first starting out of the Truck Series. It didn’t feel like I was not ready by any means, it just feels like you’re yet to prove yourself. You don’t have those statistics and those runs behind you to look back on and be like, ‘I can’t do this.’ We had some good runs last year and definitely a lot of promise but getting out there and running in the top five is definitely not an easy thing to do in the Cup Series and it’ll probably take a little longer than it did in the Truck Series for me. Looking back at 2021, when I was running select races for KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) at the time, it was a similar feeling to just you don’t have that proof that you can run up there yet. I know it’s inside of me, but to go out and actually execute that is yet to be done. That’s definitely my priority this year.”
What do you feel you can bring to 23XI Racing and what can you learn?
“Yeah, think I can help them more as I get more laps. I’m pretty green to Cup Racing and it’s hard to help them a ton as I don’t know as much about the car as Bubba (Wallace) and Tyler (Reddick) do. But I’m hoping by the end of the year that I’m acclimated enough to have a good enough understanding of the race car and provide better feedback. It’s cool Tyler said that (that he learned from Corey at Kansas last year). Glad I could help him in some way. It’s kind of a one-way street, he helps me a lot more than I help him at this point, but I have great teammates and they’re doing a great job helping, and so are my Toyota teammates as well.”
What does it mean to have the chance to qualify for and race in the Daytona 500?
“Yeah, certainly a lot of pressure not being locked in the field, but to be here in general is very cool. Being here is really cool and seeing how many people care about this event, show up for this event and it being the first points-paying race of the year, and my first race of the year. Great to knock the rust off as well, to compete at the highest level, in the biggest race, at least to have a chance at it, is a rewarding feeling. When I was a kid, I was so excited to wake up and watch the Daytona 500 and to now hopefully wake up and race in it. It’s a cool feeling and just hoping tonight and tomorrow go well.”
Is there any good advice you’ve received?
“I don’t know of anything specific. I’ve gotten a lot of advice, not only from drivers, but a lot of the people at 23XI Racing, just from their experience of racing their way in. It’ll be interesting to see what everyone takes away from the Duels. It’s hard to give advice without having a sample, right? I’ve hardly been around a (super)speedway in a Cup car yet. Think it’s all been good advice so far. Everyone at 23XI is trying to accomplish the same goal. Happy to be around a great group of people.”
How are you approaching these next few days?
“Yeah, at the end of day, have to take it one event at a time. Depending on how qualifying goes, we may be able to breeze through the Duels no problem, and not worry about it. You don’t really learn to expect the worst as a race car driver, but to prepare for the worst. Prepared to race in through a Duel if need be and I feel prepared to go out there and execute that without making any crucial mistakes. That’s not something that’ll be easy by any means with so much out of your control on a speedway, but prepared to execute to the best of my ability.”
How important is it to maximize every opportunity you get this season?
“I still consider myself a developing driver, so any anything I can get into, from a Truck, to a Cup car, to a late model, whatever it is, to continue to develop, continue to learn and maximize, potentially for Sunday racing. It’s definitely a big chapter in my life. The last three years, I’ve gotten really used to Truck racing. Not that you’re not racing under a big spotlight, but this is obviously the biggest stage in American Motorsports, so being able to start it off at the Daytona 500 in a part-time season is a big deal for me. Hoping to maximize that and set myself up in the future.”
Did your start in the Bristol night race last season add confidence?
“Yeah, for sure. We had a pretty tough stretch leading up to that race. We started off really well at Kansas with a top-15, and then didn’t have good races after that. Ending the year as far as how well we were able to do in our last race and to brush off those past races. Definitely glad to have ended the year on a high note and know the potential is still there, if I can just piece a race together the way I need to. That’s the motivation for this year.”
Can you learn from what happened at Chicago last year in preparing for qualifying here?
“Honestly, probably less than you would think. I felt like from the Chicago practice, I felt like we had a good shot to qualifying top-10, top-15, and my mindset was, ‘I’m going for pole. Going to go like heck and see if I can be in the top-10 at the end of this thing.’ And just pushed too much and wrecked in qualifying, and missed the show. And missing the show was never even in my head, I was just going for it. But, you come to Daytona and so much is out of your control. You have eight open cars for four spots. I feel like now, all you’re fixated on is making the race. In a way, I missed the (Chicago) race last year, I don’t want to do that again this weekend. At the end of the day, the mindset is so different. The way you make it in is so different. Still in the back of my mind that I don’t want to do it twice.”
Since joining 23XI Racing, have you had a chance to speak to Michael Jordan and if so, what was that like?
“Yeah, he’s (Michael Jordan, team co-owner) a lot more involved than most people think. After pretty much every Truck win last year, he reached out to me with congratulations and every time I ran good, bad or indifferent in a Cup car, he’d reach out and share some words. I always thought that was motivating to have an owner, but also an owner that’s very involved and motivated. Think everyone knows he’s probably a busy guy but seems like he always makes time to pay attention and stay in the loop with the 23XI side of things. Him and Denny (Hamlin, team co-owner) have been just awesome so far. Didn’t know what I was expecting getting into it, but definitely a lot of support.”
Is it hard to be patient in your specific scenario?
“I’ve actually had several of these years where it’s been sort of a transition from part-time to full-time. I don’t exactly know what I’m doing in 2027 yet. I think full-time is close, but when I went from late model to ARCA, I had a sort of a part-time ARCA year in there before I was full-time. ARCA to Trucks, same thing, kind of weird part-time year in the Trucks. So, kind of used to these transition years. But, the thing that’s kind of nice is not having the championship points in the back of your head. Of course, as a competitor, you always want to compete for points and a championship, but it kind of helps you digest the races a little easier to not have that points situation looming in the back of your head. So yeah, no stranger to that by any means and I think these opportunities will be good this year.”
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