Corey Heim gets first NASCAR Cup Series win at Naval Base Coronado
Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images
CORONADO, Calif.—Corey Heim arrived at the finish line—and at a career milestone—way ahead of schedule.
Winning a pitched battle against 23XI Racing teammate Tyler Reddick in the closing laps of Sunday’s Anduril 250 at San Diego Street Course at Naval Base Coronado, Heim won his first NASCAR Cup Series race in his 13th start and his first in the top division on a road or street circuit.
It took Heim three corners to make the winning pass after Reddick slipped in Turn 2 on Lap 73 to give the 23-year-old reigning NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion an opening. The teammates ran side-by-side through Turns 3 and 4, with Reddick trying a crossover move into Turn 5 on the 3.4-mile, 16-turn course, the first-ever purpose-built NASCAR circuit on a military installation.
Reddick scraped the outside wall, made contact with Heim’s No. 67 Toyota—pushing him toward the wall—but ceded the position and later suffered a flat left-front tire before finishing 25th. Reddick saw his series lead drop to eight points over 14th-place finisher Denny Hamlin, the 23XI co-owner with NBA legend Michael Jordan.
Heim reached the finish line 10.365 seconds ahead of Bubba Wallace, giving 23XI the first 1-2 finish in organization history. Wallace rallied from a two-lap penalty for a loose wheel that dislodged from his car and rolled between Turns 9 and 10.
Kyle Larson ran third, followed by Zane Smith and AJ Allmendinger.
To Heim, recently announced as a full-time driver for 23XI starting next year, the victory in one of NASCAR’s most important races of the season bordered on the surreal.
“I’m speechless,” Heim said after completing an extended celebratory burnout. “I mean, 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.
“I don’t know if we made any adjustments. (Crew chief) Bootie (Barker) kept telling me these were our worst two sets of tires, we were going to be fine. He was right. I couldn’t believe it. We strapped another set of tires on, and we were just fine. Hit the wall a couple of times and maybe knocked some good into the car. I have no idea.
“After stage two, I just took a deep breath. I had high expectations coming into this race. Even playing field for me (as a debut 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 led only the final three laps, and though he is running a limited schedule with 23XI this season, Reddick afforded his young teammate significant respect. The series leader declined to take advantage when contact between their two cars got Heim’s Camry briefly out of shape during the battle for the lead.
“I thought I was going to be able to hold him off there,” said Reddick, a five-time winner this year. “Yeah, we kind of just struggled with rear tire life all weekend long. Yeah, I got beat by our own stuff, so…
“We’ll try to figure this out. It definitely stings. First and foremost, congratulations to Corey. 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 teammate.
“It’s a real shame. I don’t know if I cut the tire during, before or after (the contact with Heim’s car). I’m not really sure. Really needed a good points day. Had another really bad one, so… We’ll try and scrape together and have a decent finish in Sonoma (next Sunday).”
Moments after a restart on Lap 33, a violent wreck in Turn 1 wiped out a handful of notable contenders. Racing side-by-side with Connor Zilisch at the front of the field, Austin Hill locked up his brakes and forced Zilisch into the outside wall.
Zilisch hit the concrete barriers with jarring force and bounced into the path of Trackhouse racing teammate and pole winner Shane van Gisbergen, who seconds earlier had backed out of a three-wide situation with Zilisch and Hill.
“It’s just unfortunate to end the day like that for both Red Bull Chevrolets with Shane and I,” said Zilisch, who led eight laps before exiting in 37th place. “We had a really fast car today. We got out front and it felt really good, but that’s how it goes sometimes.
“I had a lot of fun leading my first career Cup Series laps. Just super proud of this entire No. 88 team, but hate to see the day end this short. When you have a chance to go win a race and you’re in a prime spot to do so, but get put in a position like that, it’s extremely tough.”
Van Gisbergen was equally disappointed.
“A real shame,” said van Gisbergen, knocked out of the race in 38th place. “The Red Bull Chevy was unreal fast once the track kind of rubbered up. Yeah, a real shame.”
The Toyota of Ty Gibbs nosed into van Gisbergen’s Chevrolet and also sustained heavy damage, but Gibbs recovered to finish 15th.
The race featured seven cautions for 11 of the 75 laps. There were 20 lead changes among 13 drivers, with ninth-place finisher Ryan Blaney leading the most circuits (12), followed by Larson with 11. Reddick led nine laps before Heim tracked him down in the closing stage.
Blaney won the first stage under caution, with Ryan Preece taking Stage 2. Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Riley Herbst, Blaney and Michael McDowell finished sixth through 10th, respectively.
NASCAR Cup Series Race Number 17
Race Results for the Anduril 250 - Sunday, June 21, 2026
San Diego Street Course - San Diego, CA - 3.4 - Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 75 Laps - 255. Miles
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 6/21/2026 @ 08:41 PM Eastern
Stage 1 Stage 2
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Pos Pos Status Tms Laps
1 13 67 * Corey Heim(i) Mobil 1/O'Reilly Auto Parts Toyota 75 0 Running 1 3
2 12 23 Bubba Wallace Xfinity Toyota 75 35 Running 1 2
3 14 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 75 3 42 Running 2 11
4 4 38 Zane Smith Hard Rock Casino Tejon/Hard Rock Cafe Ford 75 33 Running 1 3
5 15 16 AJ Allmendinger Celsius Chevrolet 75 5 4 45 Running
6 16 17 Chris Buescher Body Guard Ford 75 3 39 Running 2 7
7 23 1 Ross Chastain Kubota Veterans Honor Chevrolet 75 8 33 Running
8 24 35 Riley Herbst Monster Energy Toyota 75 2 38 Running 2 3
9 3 12 Ryan Blaney Wurth Ford 75 1 5 44 Running 3 12
10 9 71 Michael McDowell Defense Unicorns Chevrolet 75 27 Running
11 7 60 Ryan Preece Ralphs/Scott 1000 Ford 75 2 1 45 Running 2 5
12 30 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Gold Filters Chevrolet 75 25 Running
13 6 7 Daniel Suarez Freeway Insurance Chevrolet 75 7 28 Running
14 26 11 Denny Hamlin Bob's Discount Furniture Toyota 75 23 Running
15 11 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 75 4 29 Running
16 28 42 John Hunter Nemechek DriveValue.com Toyota 75 21 Running
17 22 19 Chase Briscoe Bass Pro Shops Toyota 75 20 Running
18 19 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 75 8 10 23 Running
19 2 77 Carson Hocevar Spectrum Chevrolet 75 7 6 27 Running 2 4
20 38 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 75 17 Running
21 5 34 Todd Gilliland Grillo's Pickles Ford 75 6 9 23 Running
22 31 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Cardell Cabinetry Ford 75 15 Running
23 39 51 Cody Ware Rocket Doctor Chevrolet 75 14 Running
24 18 3 Austin Dillon Boot Barn Chevrolet 75 13 Running
25 17 45 Tyler Reddick Pala Casino Toyota 75 12 Running 1 9
26 20 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 75 11 Running
27 21 91 * Kevin Magnussen Qualcomm Chevrolet 75 11 Running
28 36 84 * Jimmie Johnson Carvana Toyota 75 9 Running
29 35 21 Josh Berry Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford 75 8 Running
30 34 10 Ty Dillon The Fallen Outdoors Chevrolet 74 7 Running
31 25 41 Cole Custer Texas A&M Chevrolet 72 6 Running
32 27 24 William Byron Anduril Chevrolet 68 10 6 Running
33 33 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Sycuan Casino and Resort Chevrolet 59 4 Radiator
34 29 6 Brad Keselowski BuildSubmarines.com Ford 59 3 Running
35 32 4 Noah Gragson Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford 37 2 Accident
36 10 33 Austin Hill(i) Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet 31 0 Accident 1 1
37 8 88 Connor Zilisch # Red Bull Chevrolet 31 9 3 Accident 1 8
38 1 97 Shane Van Gisbergen Red Bull Chevrolet 31 1 Accident 2 7
39 37 20 Christopher Bell Craftsman Racing For A Miracle Toyota 28 1 Engine
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 36 Mins, 50 Secs. Average Speed: 70.561 MPH Margin of Victory: 10.365 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 12, 60, 5, 54, 16, 34, 77, 22, 88, 24
Stage 2 Top 10: 60, 35, 17, 16, 12, 77, 7, 1, 34, 22
Race Comments: Corey Heim won the Anduril 250 at Naval Base Coronado, his first NASCAR Cup Series victory. Prior to the green flag to start the race, the following cars dropped to the rear for the reasons indicated: Nos. 20, 43, 45 (unapproved adjustments).
Failed to Qualify: None.
Caution Flags: 7 for 11 laps; Laps: 13-14 (#47 stalled on track [None]); 20-22 (Debris / Stage 1 Conclusion [47]); 31-31 (Oil on track from #20 [23]); 33-33 (#7, 12, 33, 35, 42, 54, 71, 88, 97 incident turn 1 [Red Flag: Lap 32, 9:33] [23]); 42-42 (Stage 2 Conclusion [None]); 45-45 (Debris [None]); 62-63 (Oil on track from #47 [10]).
Lead Changes: 20 among 13 drivers; S. Van Gisbergen 1-3; R. Blaney 4-9; B. Wallace 10-11; S. Van Gisbergen 12-15; R. Blaney 16-20; R. Preece 21-22; C. Zilisch # 23-30; A. Hill(i) 31; R. Herbst 32-33; Z. Smith 34-36; K. Larson 37; R. Herbst 38; R. Preece 39-41; C. Buescher 42-47; R. Blaney 48; K. Larson 49-58; C. Hocevar 59-60; C. Buescher 61; C. Hocevar 62-63; T. Reddick 64-72; *. Heim(i) 73-75.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: June 28, 2026 - Sonoma Raceway
NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications @ P.O. Box 2875, Daytona Beach, FL 32120-2875
CURRENT NASCAR CUP SERIES STANDINGS
Through June 21, 2026
UNOFFICIAL UNOFFICIAL
1. Tyler Reddick 45 17 0 716 0 0 5 1
2. Denny Hamlin 11 17 0 708 -8 8 4 5
3. Ryan Blaney 12 17 0 583 -133 125 1 2
4. Kyle Larson 5 17 2 536 -180 47 0 4
5. Ty Gibbs 54 17 0 535 -181 1 1 1
6. Chase Elliott 9 17 -2 534 -182 1 2 2
7. Chris Buescher 17 17 0 500 -216 34 0 0
8. Daniel Suarez 7 17 0 478 -238 22 1 1
9. Carson Hocevar 77 17 0 476 -240 2 1 0
10. Chase Briscoe 19 17 2 431 -285 45 0 0
11. Bubba Wallace 23 17 2 429 -287 2 0 2
12. Christopher Bell 20 17 -2 422 -294 7 0 3
13. William Byron 24 17 -2 421 -295 1 0 1
14. Erik Jones 43 17 1 372 -344 49 0 1
15. Austin Cindric 2 17 1 370 -346 2 0 1
16. Ryan Preece 60 17 3 367 -349 3 0 2
17. Shane Van Gisbergen 97 17 -3 362 -354 5 1 1
18. Joey Logano 22 17 0 357 -359 5 0 0
19. Brad Keselowski 6 17 -2 354 -362 3 0 2
20. AJ Allmendinger 16 17 1 346 -370 8 0 1
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