After 650 starts, the No. 67 has finally won a NASCAR Cup race

For those who closely follow or even have a casual interest in NASCAR car number stats, this is the story for you. Part-time driver Corey Heim took the unchartered No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota and claimed victory in just his 13th career start.

He had to pass championship leader and teammate Tyler Reddick in a head-to-head fight, prevailing only after an intense back-and-forth battle with just a few laps to go.

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In doing so, Heim earned the No. 67 its first-ever win in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series racing. It took 650 attempts for a driver to deliver a win to the car number, and honestly, it’s a perfect time for it to happen with the 6-7 meme being a thing.

But what about the history of the No. 67 in NASCAR? That’s what we really want to dive into here, and it has an interesting past…

First start: The car number first appeared in a Cup race on February 5, 1950, with Joe Harrison behind the wheel. He started 31st and finished 40th at Daytona Beach road course (yes, they raced on the actual beach), only completing three laps. That was his one and only start at the top level of NASCAR.

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First top ten: It wasn’t until the following year the No. 67 earned its first top ten, this time with Jim Fiebelkorn behind the wheel, finishing seventh at the one-mile Langhorne dirt track in Pennsylvania.

1951 runner-up finish: And while it took another 75 years for it to reach Victory Lane, the No. 67 actually almost won a race way back in 1951. Jim Reed drove the No. 67 at the Thompson half-mile in Connecticut, one lap behind race winner Neil Cole. He led 58 laps that day, which was a record for that car number that stood until Heim himself led 69 laps at Texas Motor Speedway earlier this year.

1960 runner-up finish: Reed’s runner-up finish was as close as the car number came to a checkered flag until 1960, when NASCAR legend David Pearson drove the No. 67, giving it a real chance of breaking through. Driving for himself, the future Hall of Fame used the car number throughout the 1960 season as a Cup Series rookie. At the quarter-mile South Carolina dirt track known as Gamecock Speedway, he earned pole position and ultimately finished second to Ned Jarrett. To this day, that remains the only pole position ever achieved by the No. 67 car.

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Other No. 67 stats and facts

David Pearson (No. 67) leads Jim Pascahl (No. 49)

Reed’s runner-up finish in 1951 and Pearson’s runner-up finish in 1960 stood as the best results for the No. 67 until June 21, 2026, when Heim was victorious at the all-new Naval Base Coronado street course. It also finished third on six different occasions,

Over the decades, the No. 67 car has started a total of 650 races, leading 154 laps while scoring 24 top fives, 114 top tens, one pole, and finally…one race win.

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Before 23XI Racing brought the number back on a part-time basis in 2023 (with Travis Pastrana, Kamui Kobayashi, and later Heim), it was completely absent from the Cup grid for two full decades, with Boris Said last running it in 2002.

Heim’s win is also the car number’s first top five in any Cup race since 1979! Buddy Arrington, who has made more starts with the No. 67 than any other driver, finished third that year at Talladega, and that was the No. 67’s most recent top five until Heim came along. Heim led just three laps en route to the checkered flag in San Diego.

He will go full-time with 23XI Racing next year, and while team co-owner Denny Hamlin seemed unsure when asked, it appears he will leave the No. 67 behind drive the No. 35. But hey, even if that’s the case maybe he’ll make history again: The No. 35 has never won a Cup race before either…

Corey Heim, 23XI Racing after 2026 San Diego win

Boris Said at Sonoma Raceway in 2002

Buddy Arrington in the 1978 Daytona 500

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