Corey Heim shot back at NASCAR for making him ineligible for the Rookie of the Year honour. He questioned the award’s worthiness after finishing second in Sunday’s Truck race at Richmond.
Heim is currently preparing for his full-time bid in the 2027 Cup season, making part-time starts in the Cup and Truck Series. The 23-year-old has already nabbed multiple wins in both divisions with record-setting drives.
Nonetheless, NASCAR has ruled him out of the 2027 Rookie of the Year award, noting that Heim has made 15 Cup starts, which exceeds the eligibility limit. The young driver reflected on the news, saying,
“My only problem with it really is, you know, you’re sort of losing value to that award. I think if you want that award to mean something if you’re giving somebody a trophy and you say, “Here you go, you’re you’re the best rookie.”
“like are you really or are you not? that’s my thing. If you’re going to give someone a trophy and take a picture, make it worth something and it’s losing its value, but that’s just my opinion and it’s not the end of the world. We’ll keep moving forward,” he added via Youtube/Frontstretch.
Corey Heim is set to take over Riley Herbst’s 23XI Racing seat next year. The 23-year-old won NASCAR’s inaugural race at San Diego and backed it up with a crown jewel win at Indianapolis.
On Sunday’s Black’s Tire 250, Heim finished behind Kaden Honeycutt, the driver who took over his TRICON Garage seat.
NASCAR reveals reason behind Corey Heim’s exclusion
NASCAR’s vice president of racing communications, Mike Forde,recently revealed the reasoning behind Corey Heim’s exclusion from Rookie of the Year status. He shared that NASCAR considered seven starts as a starting point for ROTY discussions, but has now also introduced a cutoff.
The new rules state that a driver can exceed 12 Cup starts, while the number is 10 for O’Reilly Series, and eight for the Truck Series.
“I think last year or the year before we kind of put a line in the sand and said, ‘Hey, let’s make it easy for everybody,’ because it did get for a good while there a little bit confusing on not understanding how this person is a rookie with 20 starts last year or whatever. We put some numbers and parameters on there,” he said via Racer.
Forde also noted that Corey Heim was eligible for the honour this year, but hadn’t applied for it. Consequently, Connor Zilisch wins the honour with no competition.
His teammate Shane van Gisbergen won the previous year after 14 part-time Cup starts since 2023. The New Zealander incredibly won in his first ever start at the Chicago Street Race.
He was also the pole-sitter for the Richmond Truck race, and he found himself in fourth by the checkered flag.
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