Corey Heim arrived at the finish line, and at a career milestone, well ahead of schedule. The 23-year-old won the inaugural Anduril 250 at Naval Base Coronado on Sunday, claiming his first NASCAR Cup Series victory in just his 13th start and his first on a road or street course — at the first major NASCAR event held on an active United States military base.
The reigning Craftsman Truck Series champion, who is running only a partial Cup schedule this year before joining 23XI Racing full-time in 2027, beat his own team-mate Tyler Reddick in a tense closing-laps duel on the 3.4-mile, 16-turn Qualcomm Circuit. Reddick slipped in Turn 2 on Lap 73, and it took Heim three corners to complete the pass. The pair ran side by side before Reddick's crossover attempt into Turn 5 ended with contact that briefly pushed Heim toward the wall.
"I'm speechless," Heim said after an extended celebratory burnout. "We started the race, I think we started 13th. We fell straight back to 20th. Then put on our scuffs from qualifying, struggled just as bad. Hit the wall a couple of times and maybe knocked some good into the car. I have no idea.
"After Stage 2, I just took a deep breath. I had high expectations coming into this race. You don't see that every day for a young driver like myself. Just kind of took a deep breath, reset and went after it."
Heim crossed the line 10.365 seconds clear of Bubba Wallace, who recovered from a two-lap penalty to give 23XI its first one-two finish. Kyle Larson was third, ahead of Zane Smith and AJ Allmendinger. Reddick, a five-time winner already this season, faded to 25th after picking up a flat left-front tyre, and saw his championship lead shrink to eight points over Denny Hamlin.
The series leader took the blame for the contact rather than his pursuit of the win. "First and foremost, congratulations to Corey," Reddick said. "I tried to battle back and overdid it. I ran him straight in the wall. That wasn't right. I wasn't going to pass him for the win that way, especially a team-mate. It definitely stings."
The win owed something to a brutal restart on Lap 32 that took out several of the pre-race favourites. As the field fanned out at the front, Richard Childress Racing's Austin Hill ran wide of the Turn 1 apex and sandwiched Trackhouse Racing's Connor Zilisch into the concrete wall. Pole-winner Shane van Gisbergen, restarting third, had nowhere to go and ploughed into the back of Hill before spinning. All three cars were finished.
Zilisch, who had led eight laps — the first of his Cup career — laid the blame squarely on Hill. "He was pretty far from the wall and didn't give me any space," he said. "It was a big hit. Concrete walls are no joke, but I'm thankful for the safety of these cars and how far we've come as an industry." Hill admitted fault over the radio in the immediate aftermath with a simple "Sorry guys."
Van Gisbergen, who had sacrificed stage points to set up a tilt at the win from pole, was in no mood to dissect it. "A real shame. The Red Bull Chevy was really fast once the track rubbered up," he said. Asked what triggered the pile-up, he offered only: "Ask the next guys." And on how disappointed he was: "I'm filthy."
Post-race inspection confirmed Heim as the winner. The Cup Series heads to Sonoma next weekend.
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