Corey Heim rubs salt into Hocever wounds amid – Sports News
Corey Heim received the Brickyard 400 after being flipped off by Carson Hocevar (Image: Getty)
23XI Racing protege Corey Heim rubbed salt into Carson Hocevar’s wounds after successful the Brickyard 400, having been flipped off by the Spire Racing star. Heim, 24, scored his second win of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season on a part-time foundation, successful on the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday.
The development driver, who received the 2025 NASCAR Truck Series championship final season, has been working the odd Cup Series race for 23XI since 2024. His expertise noticed him be confirmed because the third full-time Cup driver for Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan’s co-owned 23XI in 2027, changing Riley Herbst, and he has already confirmed why the workforce was proper to advertise him to the seat.
In May, 23XI confirmed that Heim would be part of Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace of their three-driver Cup line-up. Less than a month later, he scored his maiden Cup Series win. Heim received the Anduril 250 situated on the Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, one of NASCAR’s most extremely anticipated races of the season.
Heim went on to secure one other top-10 end two weeks later at Chicagoland, after which adopted it up with a win within the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis three weeks later, doubling his profession Cup wins complete. The No. 67 driver’s win didn’t come with out controversy, although.
Pole-starter Hocevar flipped him off. On Lap 91, Heim peeled onto pit street simply forward of Hocevar, prompting an animated response from his NASCAR rival.
Heim, who will drive full-time for 23XI in 2027, received his second Cup race of 2026 (Image: Getty)
Running alongside Heim on the apron, Hocevar prolonged his center finger out of the window because the pair entered the pits. Moments earlier, Heim had yielded to workforce proprietor Hamlin, however he didn’t afford Hocevar the identical room. Heim went on to win the race, whereas Hocevar handed the checkered flag ninth. “I handed him a big fat L,” Heim mentioned.
“I was blocking him, not really too bad, I thought,” Heim continued. “I mean, I was trying to just hold my position, and I never threw like a bad block. I was just trying to protect my entry, and he didn’t like it, but he lost and I won, so I don’t really care.”
“Huh. You guys love talking about a guy who finished ninth. I mean, holy crap,” he added when instructed the place Hocevar completed. “Yeah, I mean, all I did was make sure he stayed behind me, and I did, and I finished in front of him.
“I don’t worry about a narrative or a genre. Like, he’s got a ton of talent, and he’s going to win a lot of races, and I’m focused on myself and trying to do the same. That’s really all there is to it.”
Hocevar admitted after the race that there’s no love misplaced between the pair. The one-time Cup race winner went so far as to say they don’t like one another. The unhealthy blood between the 2 stretches back to the 2023 Truck Series title decider.
Hocevar made contact with Heim, spinning him out of championship competition, earlier than Heim responded moments later. The ensuing warning additionally dashed Grant Enfinger’s hopes of the title, leaving Ben Rhodes to secure his second Truck Series championship.
“I’m just a fan, wanted to wave. He’s number one. He won,” Hocevar mentioned. “It’s fine. We don’t like each other, but we race really hard and his stuff’s super-fast, obviously.
“Yeah, the car he’s in, but he does a really, really good job with it. I’m looking forward to, when we get our stuff a little better, being in front of him, and maybe holding him off.”
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