Corey Heim won the NASCAR Truck Series race at Darlington on Saturday, and Denny Hamlin has a bold prediction for him. On the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin reacted to Heim winning his eighth Truck Series race of the year.
“I thought he’d have 10 by the time he got to the Final Four, might be more than that,” Denny Hamlin said. “He’s a roll right now. That team’s on a roll, which has been interesting because I felt like, generally speaking, tire wear tracks have not been the forte of that 11 team. But they were good. They were really, really good.”
Hamlin then looked ahead to the rest of the Truck Series playoff schedule and said there’s a slim chance Corey Heim misses the championship race.”With him having so many playoff points, he would have to have two and a half bad races of a three-race round,” Hamlin said. He’d have to finish last and last and 20th. I just don’t see a path to him not making the Final Four. It’s possible, though. It is possible. You just never know.”
Heim has won the last two regular-season races and the Darlington race, which was the first in the Round of 10 of the playoffs. This means he will advance to the Round of Eight, which will begin at the Charlotte Roval on Oct. 3.
Heim is competing in his third season as a full-time Truck Series driver and has had a successful run. He won the regular season title in 2023 and this year, and finished second in the overall standings in 2024.
What will happen to Corey Heim in 2026?
Because of what Heim has done in the Truck Series, there’s been a lot of talk about his future in NASCAR. Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic weighed in on what will likely happen to Heim in 2026 and said he will compete in the Cup Series on a part-time basis like this year.
“The likely plan for Heim, according to industry sources, is a combination schedule where he runs select races in all three national series — in the Cup Series for 23XI Racing, in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series for Sam Hunt Racing and in the Truck Series for Tricon,” Bianchi reported.
“This is not necessarily what Heim deserves, as most everyone within the Cup Series garage acknowledges he is ready for a full-time ride now, but a combination of no open seats in Cup and a lack of sponsorship means he’ll have to wait until 2027 before advancing to Cup full-time, which is expected to happen. And if the right funding can be secured, Heim racing full-time in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series next year is still on the table.”
