NASCAR tracks are grouped by size. An “intermediate” track is in the middle—long enough that tires and car balance matter a lot, so teams have to set up the car to stay stable for the whole run.
Qualifying is the session that sets where you start the race. If you qualify well, you start closer to the front, which can make the race easier because you’re not stuck in traffic.
In NASCAR, the race is divided into parts called stages. Points are awarded at the end of each stage, so teams plan how hard to push and how to manage the car before the next stage ends.
That’s a special onboard camera mounted in the car with a protective cover. It’s meant to show the driver’s view during the race while staying protected from track debris.
The “rear tires” are the back tires that provide most of the grip for turning and exiting corners. If you can’t feel them well, it’s harder to know when the car is about to lose traction.
NASCAR’s “next-gen car” is the newer race car design they use. When it changes, drivers often have to adjust how they drive because the car feels different.
“Driving it sideways” describes a technique where the car is intentionally rotated so the rear steps out while the driver maintains control. In NASCAR terms, it’s often discussed as a way to manage corner entry/rotation when traction is limited.
Term
backing in
“Backing in” is a way of entering a corner where the car rotates more from the rear. It’s a technique that depends on having enough grip and being able to feel the tires.
When the car starts to slide, you turn the steering wheel the opposite way to regain control. It helps keep the car stable while you’re turning into the corner.
It means setting up the car so the tires get good grip at the right moment in the turn. If you do it wrong, the tires can lose traction before you’re ready.
Term
under the tire
It’s a way of saying you want the tires to be gripping well, not sliding. The car should be balanced so the tires can handle the turn.
Denny Hamlin is a NASCAR driver who’s also involved in running a team. In this segment, they’re saying he’s great at getting detailed feedback to help the car perform better.
A “road course” is a track that’s more like a normal race track with lots of turns, not just left turns on an oval. “Road course ability” means how good the driver is at handling that kind of track.
A “super speedway” is one of the biggest, fastest oval tracks in NASCAR. The cars run at high speed for long stretches, so it can feel harder if you’re not used to that style of racing.
“Truck side” means the NASCAR Truck Series, which uses pickup-truck-style race cars. Racing there can feel different than racing in the top Cup series.
“Right rear” means the rear-right tire is doing a lot of the work when you leave a corner. The driver is describing which tire they feel is providing the grip to accelerate.
“Right front” means the front-right tire is doing a lot of the work when you exit the corner. The driver is saying the Cup car feels like it relies more on the front tire for traction.
“Full-time” means racing most or all of the season, not just a few races. It usually means you get more practice and better consistency with the team and car.
OEM support is help from the car maker behind the brand. In racing, that can mean better parts and more technical help to improve the team’s performance.
Part-time seasons mean racing only some of the races instead of all of them. It can still help you gain experience, but it’s tougher to build steady momentum.
Concept
repeat it week after week
This is about being able to perform consistently, not just have one good race. In NASCAR, conditions and tracks change, so you need a plan that works again and again.
Concept
reset it next week
If something goes wrong in a race, “reset it next week” means you quickly fix the damage and adjust so you’re ready for the next race. It’s about bouncing back fast as a team.
Go-karts are small race cars you drive on a track. A lot of young racers start here because it’s a fun, affordable way to learn how to drive fast and race.
Late models are a higher level of stock-car racing than the youth classes. They’re a common next step because the cars are more powerful and the racing is more serious.
A “Toyota Pipeline” is Toyota’s way of finding and developing race drivers. They help promising drivers move up step-by-step toward bigger NASCAR opportunities.
Term
Riley rides
“Riley rides” means getting a chance to race with a specific NASCAR team named Riley. In racing, a “ride” is basically a seat in a car for a series or event.
ARCA is a stock-car racing series that helps drivers build experience before moving up to bigger NASCAR levels. Think of it like a training ground where drivers can prove themselves.
Legends cars are small, standardized race cars used for entry-level short-track racing. Since the cars are similar, it’s a good place for drivers to learn and show their talent.
Muscle memory is when your body repeats a learned movement automatically. In racing, it can sometimes make you react too fast, so the driver may have to slow down and think through inputs.
“Pedals” are the brake and gas. If you move them too abruptly, the car can feel unstable, so smoother pedal control helps.
Concept
getting really loose into the corner
“Loose” means the car doesn’t grip the road as well, especially in the rear. When that happens in a turn, the car can feel like it’s sliding or rotating too much.
Concept
evolve or die
“Evolve or die” is basically “keep improving or you’ll fall behind.” In racing, it means you have to learn from what’s not working and adjust.
Darlington is a famous NASCAR race track. It’s known for being tough on tires and for making cars feel different than at many other tracks, so it’s a big deal for drivers.
A “throwback weekend” is when NASCAR teams use older-style paint schemes and designs. It’s a fun event for fans because it celebrates the sport’s history.
The Cook 600 is a long NASCAR race. Because it takes a while, teams have to manage tires and fuel and keep the car working well for the whole distance.
LIVE
The excitement of the FIFA World Cup is now streaming live on Fox One,
the official English streaming platform to catch every unforgettable moment.
Fox One brings the action straight to your screen, so you never miss a goal.
Download Fox One and experience the FIFA World Cup live.
The whole social media back and forth with Hosevar.
I love it.
If there's guys that want to, you know, race me dirty, I'm going to race some dirty back,
and if they don't like it, then get a thicker skin.
Welcome to Speed with Harvick and Buxton, fueled by Poet.
Let's tilt racing.
Let's do it.
It is.
It is late.
Usually my guy starts here, but we've got Corey Heim on set today.
Corey, thanks for taking the time to sit down and come talk to us.
Of course.
Yeah, thanks for having us.
Yeah.
Well, you had another good weekend at Chicago this weekend.
What did you think of everything that happened with the cup race being back at Chicago in
the next-gen car?
Yeah.
It was pretty exciting to go back and watch the race and see all the drama that unfolded
with guys taking each other out and stuff.
It's always fun when you're not involved and stuff like that.
But yeah, I mean, overall, I think I was very optimistic going back to Chicago land, and
I think a lot of people thought I was going to move around more than it did.
So I wouldn't say I'm disappointed with the racing and how it moved around and the fact
that we never really got to the wall because it was still a great quality race.
I mean, I think it's still a better 1.5 intermediate than probably the majority amount of halfs we
go to.
But yeah, it was a grind.
I mean, going out second and qualifying, we qualified 28th, I believe.
And then it was just a slow climb all day.
And after the race, I think it was the first time I've said I wish a cup race was longer
than it is.
You know, because I felt like we were just consistently getting a couple of spots per
stage and worked all the way up to nine.
So a pretty good day for our shielded eye camera.
I mean, a great day.
And what an introduction you've made for yourself in Cup.
A winner already.
And you're only just into double digits in terms of the number of races that you've won.
What is it about Cup that has come?
I don't want to say so easily for you because nothing's ever easy at this level.
But you seem to have such an affinity for this car, this style of driving.
What is it that speaks to you?
Yeah, I appreciate it.
I think some of it comes down to just how much time I've had to develop into this car.
I mean, I made my first start in, I think, a spring of 2024.
And I've only got, I think, 14 starts in my name.
So they've been pretty spread out.
I've only run a handful per year now.
So I've been able to really digest each individual start.
I've only run back to back, I think, once or twice.
So that allows me to individually prepare for races, but also just debrief
and be able to just figure out the small things that kind of go a long way in these Cup races
that I've overseen for trucks or just come more natural on the truck side.
But yeah, certainly not easy at all.
These guys are very talented as everyone knows.
And yesterday was a big time grind.
And I think the intermediates, oddly enough, as they're my truck strong suit,
I feel like they're my Cup weakness right now.
I don't know what it is about these cars.
It's just really hard to feel their rear tires for me.
So it's been difficult to adapt to it.
But I think this is probably my best showing on an intermediate so far.
So glad we could make some progress.
When you talk about the next-gen car in itself, and look, I was old by the time I got to the next-gen car
and had to switch everything that I had to do from a driving style.
What do you think, going from the trucks, and we'll get into this debate in a minute, from trucks to O'Reilly.
But what do you think that you say the rear tires are hard?
Is it just you can't drive it sideways when you can't feel the rear tires?
Yeah, for me, it's a strange feeling.
In every car that I've ever driven, I can feel when I'm loose into the corner or backing in.
But something about the Cup car, I just can't, like you said, you can't really yaw the car.
You can't get it to sideways.
So by the time you're counter steering into the corner, it's already too late.
So you really have to be dialed in off the wall and do the whole loading process of the corner to make sure that you're under the tire.
But it's really all four corners of the car.
Like, even yesterday, there was times where I was in heavy traffic and, of course, you're going to be really tight in traffic.
I just kind of realized that I was just completely over-slipping the front tires.
I didn't even realize it.
It's just so hard to feel when the tires are oversaturated and you're asking too much out of them.
Sometimes when you slow everything down and sort of try to stay under the tire, it makes a big difference for me.
And the trucks have just always come really natural.
I can just feel the yaw on the truck and how loose I am or how tight I am, the Cup car.
And I'll get better as I run more races, of course, but the Cup car has just been difficult to find that limit for me.
And I think a lot of people can attest to that as well.
How much do you utilize Denny?
We heard him joke that you didn't call for the road course advice the other day.
But how much do you utilize him?
Because I tell people all the time, Denny Hamlin is the hardest working guy in the garage to get the most details out of his car.
How much do you lean on him?
Yeah, a good bit, of course, with him being a team owner of 2311 Racing.
It's just easy to, you know, access that.
And I was talking to him a little bit before the race yesterday.
We were joking around that, you know, I was asking him which lane to qualify in.
And he was thinking like a lane up from the bottom of one and two.
I go in there and like miss that lane and he's like, Oh, what happened?
Like you're going to ask me for advice and don't even use it.
I'm like, I'm sorry.
There's so much rubber on the track when we go out.
But no, I try to use him as much as possible.
Of course, he's one of the greats of our sport and, you know, just really easy to talk to.
I feel like he's just really good at putting these fine details in the words and things that make sense for a young driver like myself.
And you've seen myself get a lot better this year.
You've seen Riley get a lot better this year.
The whole organization is just running really good right now.
So I think Denny's a big part of that.
I found it fascinating talking about how much prep you get to do for each race, doing them as infrequently as you do at the moment.
But when you go full time, which is obviously happening pretty soon now for you, how do you think that's going to change in terms of the amount that you can prep?
The fact that it is just race after and it's this constant, you know, pummeling, you know, in your face, you barely get enough time to kind of debrief after one and you're straight into the next.
Yeah, it's going to be tough.
I mean, there's there's really no good way to prepare for that mentally on my part.
I think it's just a matter of if you're ready for the moment or not.
And I feel like I'm trending that direction.
I've had a pretty volatile season so far, you know, of course, one San Diego and ran good last night.
But it's been up and down for me so far.
And I think, you know, with less time to digest those those bad races, it's going to be tougher for me.
That's kind of my prediction for next year is it's going to be hard to just move forward and keep my head up and stuff like that.
But I feel like the fact that I'm already sort of thinking that direction and can prepare for stuff like that will help a lot.
But yeah, I mean, you see guys that, you know, make the transition from a Riley to cup or truck to cup, just going full time to straight back to full time in the cup series.
It's been tough for those guys and it takes a little while.
So I'm hoping that that transition is a faster one for myself.
The fact that you already have a win under your belt in cup, does that make it easier for you to transition over?
Or do you think the expectation is going to be so high because you're already a race winner?
And the fact that as you say, people contesting their first full seasons, they have struggled.
They haven't found it easy.
You know, we look at someone like Conor Zillich who came on on this crest of a wave and has really, really struggled to put it all together this year.
Yeah, I think it's a big confidence boost for myself, but I feel like I'm also good at individualizing like different racetrack types.
I've always been really confident in my road course ability.
Not that I thought I was going to go to San Diego and win the race by any means, but you know, I thought I was going to that was probably the highest confidence I had in a single race.
My toll very scheduled this year. So the fact that we went there and was able to execute on that was great.
But as I mentioned earlier, my intermediates have been my weakness so far.
So going straight to Chicago after San Diego, I was like very honed in on improving my my intermediates.
And even though we didn't get back to victory lane like San Diego is a drastic improvement for myself.
So there's going to be races. I think super speedway stick out to me the most as far as probably the most green, you know, type of race racing that I have in my in my notebook, I guess.
So there's going to be tracks and track types that are tougher than others.
I feel like, as I said, road course racing is probably at the top for myself and then intermediate probably lies in the middle.
Super speedway is probably at the bottom for me. I feel like I'm pretty green to that kind of stuff.
So, yeah, I mean, my confidence level is higher, just knowing that I'm able to do it and get to victory lane.
But I think you got to be realistic with yourself on on what things you have to work on the most.
And I think I have a decent idea of that right now.
So you've you raced in one truck championships and won a lot of races on the on the truck side.
You've won in Cup now. What's been the biggest difference from the just from the media side and the attention and the workload of everything that goes with the Cup car compared to what you.
You've been used to. Yeah, you know, it's interesting because I thought after San Diego is going to be like a law going into Chicago land just because you're under more of a microscope and everything.
But the fact that the Cup races are Cup race weekends rather are so stretched out and you kind of practice one day, qualify the next race on Sunday for Chicago land.
For instance, and normally we do the practice and qualifying on Saturday race on Sunday.
But they're so spread out that you have like more opportunities to just kind of spread everything out and and not be so flustered on race day like trucks.
We have one day to get everything done and then normally for the playoffs media day, it's one big thing and fit into a couple hours.
So it was definitely a lot.
But you know, it's all good for the program and I'm happy to do it.
But I was definitely expecting kind of more going into Chicago land, but it's just so spread out that it got a week off.
Yeah, exactly. I had a week off Sonoma, got to sit back and watch that so that was cool.
But it's not too bad. Nice place to chill out.
Did you go to the race at Sonoma?
I was supposed to actually I stayed late at San Diego.
I did a favor for 2311
I got to experience the Costa Mesa where all the charity engines are built.
So I wasn't planning on doing that originally.
But some of the 2311 guys are going out there and they're like, oh, like since you've won this would be a great opportunity to go and meet those guys.
I wasn't like, yeah, I'm more than happy to, but can I get Sonoma off?
They're like, OK, fine.
Yeah, so.
Fair trade.
Do you think there are sort of more similarities between trucks and the the cup car that's in use now?
Because this is a debate that we have, I think pretty much every week for at least the last month, maybe month and a half on on the show.
And even SVG's come out this week.
Was it last week?
It was a couple weeks ago.
And said he wished he hadn't done O'Reilly because it set him off in a wrong kind of direction for what he needs in in cup.
Do you find that transition from trucks to cup and from talking about the drivers in the in the championship maybe easier than they have coming from O'Reilly?
I don't honestly, I think there's no wrong way to develop in NASCAR.
I think it's more about the team you're with, the people you're with and your development program than it is actually racing in O'Reilly's or trucks or whatever it may be.
You know, I value my time in the trucks.
It's just so much different when you get to a cup car.
The feeling of how you make speed, you're driving off the right rear in the truck.
I feel like you're driving off the right front of cup car.
It's a totally different way of thinking about things.
And you know, the competition, of course, is the main thing.
It's just so elevated when you get to cup.
So you could make a case for O'Reilly being more competitive for a truck being more competitive.
But at the end of the day, I think if you're with the right people and can develop the right way,
being able to lean on cup guys and understand what that experience is going to be like before ever stepping foot in a cup car, I think is very important.
But I truly think there's no right or wrong way to develop in a certain series.
I just want to follow up very quickly.
Is there a reason why you've opted not to do a couple of full seasons in O'Reilly before going to cup?
Do you think that, I mean, is it just that you're at the right stage in your career?
You've won a racing cup and you're completely focusing on, actually, I'm able to do this now.
I want to do this now.
Or do you think that a couple of years in cup might have added something extra to your arsenal behind the wheel?
Because obviously, you know, normally it's, you know, that's the natural progression.
So to miss out a stage of that from a full season perspective, why did you take that choice?
Yeah, I've honestly really liked my path.
I definitely got a little bit of a late start to trucks.
I think I was 19 when I made my debut if I'm not mistaken.
But I don't know, I never really got a great opportunity at like a good full-time Xfendi ride or O'Reilly ride rather.
But I don't know, I really just thought the 11 truck in the truck series was always just the cream of the crop, the best stuff.
And it was my best opportunity to win.
And I've always been a guy that I've never wanted to take an opportunity that even if I'm progressing in a series,
I just don't want to ride around mid-pack.
And, you know, there's a case to be made for you can invest in a team and develop the team and make them go to victory lane.
But it's just very difficult if you're not with the right team and, you know, have the right OEM support and everything.
It's just impossible to consistently win races.
And I thought the 11 truck was always my best bet at doing that.
And yeah, like you said, I think that O'Reilly would have been good for me to maybe spend a year in and just get a different feel for the car.
But at the end of the day, the Cup series is the main goal.
And they're kind of like SVG said the other week, it's just you got to get in as soon as possible.
And I've got a bit of a late start at getting that first full-time season.
But I think the mixed bag of part-time seasons has done me well and just kind of getting my feet wet and kind of getting my foot in the door.
So I think my development has been pretty good so far on my path.
And I think that that maturity from an age standpoint, I think that helps you when you get to Cup because the work ethic is so high.
If you're going to compete with any Hamlin and those guys that are at the top of their game, you're going to have to have your life in order.
So I don't know that the age thing.
So the first thing that Kevin said about you was like, he's a really hard worker.
Yeah.
Really hard worker.
Yeah.
And I think that's important.
And I think that if you're going to compete, you've got to have the details down to be able to repeat it week after week.
And if you're going to get beat down, like you're going to wreck and you're going to have a bad week and you're going to have things go wrong.
And you're going to run into somebody and having to deal with all that stuff and reset it next week is super important,
which I think is something that you do a really good job at.
And so when you look at that, your development, and we talk all the time about what is the right path?
How do you get there?
Yours is a little different.
Explain to everybody what you did before you got to trucks.
Where did you start?
Did you start in go-karts, legend cars, bandoleros?
How did that progression go?
And do you think what would you do different with that path?
Yeah, I really wouldn't do much different.
My timing worked out really well.
I started in quarter midgets.
I raced those until I think I was 12 or 13 years old and it was just me and my dad.
You see a lot of guys at a young age, like we'll go to Europe or race in bandoleros really early or something like that.
Just kind of get that first step above quarter midgets or go-karts like sooner.
So I kind of stayed in quarter midgets longer than you would think, but we were just, it was just me and my dad.
We were just doing it for fun and I really enjoyed it.
Picked up iRacing at a pretty young age and just kind of fell in love with the sport.
My dad and I, we didn't really ever have a path specifically.
I went to bandoleros at 13.
Legend's cars at 14.
I think I stepped foot in a late model for the first time at 16.
I remember a lot of the guys that grew up quarter midget racing with were in a late model by age 14 and in Arca by 16.
Racing as much as they could.
I was like a year or two behind a lot of those guys, but honestly the timing of when I got to Arca was perfect
because I got to be in that Premier Venturini Motorsports seat.
And then by the time I was ready for trucks, I was in the Premier Truck seat.
I think if I was a year earlier, I would have been competing against guys like Ekis and Chandler Smith and the Toyota Pipeline.
By the time I got there, they had already taken their Riley rides at that point.
So timing wise, I couldn't ask for a better progression.
I just never really had my career mapped out until I was like 18 or 19 while a lot of guys were 14 or 15
and had an idea of kind of their pathway to cup, if you will.
So just kind of always kept my head in the game.
And I feel like the moment I got to Toyota was when everything sort of got clear for me.
But up to that point, I had no idea what I was doing the next year.
It was a total coin flip of whether I'd be racing or going to college or whatever it may be or how to get a job.
But as soon as I got to Toyota, that was when it all kind of got clear.
Was it just you and your dad making the decisions along the way as to how much of where you would race?
Yeah. I mean, I had no representation until I was 19 years old.
No social media person is just me and my dad just plugging away.
My dad really didn't make much, you know, didn't really provide a whole lot money wise at a young age.
And he did everything he possibly could.
But as soon as he, his business started doing a little bit better and we were able to afford to race late models and get my foot in the door and part-time ARCA.
That was also just another instance of how good the timing was.
Like if my dad's business hadn't started doing better at a younger age or an older age, I should say.
I would probably be stuck racing legends cars or late models right now.
But my dad poured everything he could into my career and thankfully Toyota was able to pick up the rest of it at the later stage of the ARCA side of things for me and then put me in the truck, of course.
So timing wise, seriously, I think if I was one year away from everything panning out perfect, I wouldn't be sitting here right now.
Yeah.
How heavy a burden is that?
And it's something I've never, I don't think I've ever asked a driver.
Oh, gosh.
No, I genuinely don't think I ever have, but it's something that I've always wondered.
Talking about your dad having to work so hard and take that opportunity and really sacrifice in order to give you that start.
When you're that young and you know that your dad is ultimately having to sacrifice so much in order to try and help you live your dream,
is there a pressure?
Is there a weight that comes with that?
A responsibility every time you don't get the result that you want or it's a disappointing weekend or, you know, as a kid, how does that sort of manifest itself in you?
Is there a level of kind of guilt that exists there?
Because I don't know, I've not experienced that.
Not a guilt, you know, I think for me of, I've always maybe felt a pressure in the back of my head rather than, you know, a constant mindset of like always got to make my dad proud or like fulfill what he's given to me.
I think it's more of like, you know, I've always been so fortunate for my dad to be so committed to my racing.
So I've always just worked really hard to pay that off if that makes sense.
You know, as I mentioned, I never really had like a long term plan.
So each year my dad would, you know, do as much as he possibly could for what he could stand for a certain season.
And I felt like it was my duty to do everything I could to make it count.
And then finally when, you know, I was able to be with Toyota and they were able to commit for me to run trucks and then of course get into the cup car for the first time.
You know, I still kind of felt that, I guess not pressure, like we said, but just kind of had it in the back of my head that my dad has got me to this point and I want to make him proud.
And, you know, it's funny we're talking about this because we're able to win on Father's Day at San Diego.
He was able to be there and just to kind of see that.
You know, that all kind of came back to me a little bit and just said like, hey, like my dad's the only reason why I'm standing here right now and then to win on Father's Day.
My first ever cup win on Father's Day is just mean so much.
So that was just a super cool experience and just a full circle moment for both of us.
That's awesome.
You know, I think that when you go back to San Diego and you look at the event and being able to race your teammate, Tyler Reddick at the end and all the things that happen.
I mean, I don't think you could have wrote that first win story.
It was really cool.
It was really cool.
And when you talk about the first win, we talked so much and you heard so much chatter.
And now it seems like everybody's making excuse for everybody else that has come into the cup series that they need 100 races and you go out and do it in 13 or 14 races, whatever it was.
What do you think that the, you know, we see the team owners talk about that 100 races and the guys getting used to it.
And then Denny says, well, I think that's a bunch of crap.
You know, I think that, you know, if you have the talent, talent.
Is it something that you feel like is, I mean, is it 100 races?
Do you think that you're going to struggle at a lot of the other races?
Or do you think that that's just a, is that a fair number?
I guess is the question I'm looking for.
When I think about my truck career so far, I think I'm right around 100 if I'm not mistaken.
And I feel like for the truck, it took me about 50 to 60 to where I was like, it was almost like riding a bike for me.
I could, of course, you know, you do your Sam, obligations, you study all the little things.
But I didn't feel like I had to think about what I was doing at 50 to 60 starts in the truck.
These cup cars are harder to drive, so it wouldn't be surprised if it took me longer.
But right now, when I step into a cup car, I really feel like I have to individualize every aspect of it.
Like I have to tell myself, all right, like slow my inputs down, slow my hands down.
Yeah, exactly.
And like, you know, sometimes muscle memory takes over and it's like, okay, hold on.
Like I need to like think about this really slow everything down.
I'm getting ahead of myself here.
Even in the race yesterday, I started to back up my corners and, you know, my, my pedals got really drastic.
And I feel like the slower you can move your hands and slower you can have your pedals in the cup car, just the easier those things drive.
And I got to a point where I was getting really loose into the corner, just felt like I was choppy.
And I was like, hold on a second, like let's slow everything down, like hone in here.
And then I started getting faster and faster and started moving forward again.
And the truck, I never have battled that since my middle, my first season.
That was about start 50 for me because it did some part time seasons.
So I hope that that's kind of the same trajectory.
I think I guess my 50th start would be kind of near the end of next year for my first full time season.
So that'd be probably pretty good timing.
But I think eventually it starts to be like riding a bike and, you know, for me in the trucks is around 50.
So I hope that's the same progression for me in the cup car.
So who's delivering that?
Do you take that criticism well?
Because I mean, it's constant.
Like they're constantly just criticizing every single thing that you're doing.
Are they delivering that to you on the radio and you recognize it and start to adjust?
No, and I've actually asked my guys for more of that.
If you talk to Booty and Eddie to haunt, you know, they kind of let me just do my deal towards the beginning of the year.
And sort of just believed in my, my approach and my research and stuff.
And that's kind of what their mindset was.
But I was like, guys, like if there is something different, I mean, we have so much data, right?
I mean, you've seen it all, like all the SMT and stuff.
I mean, you can see exact lift points back to throttle points, break points, break pressure, everything.
So I'm like, guys, if there's something I'm doing even a little bit wrong, these things are so sensitive to inputs.
Just tell me, like I'm good with any constructive criticism as long as it's not like glaringly obvious.
Like if I'm super loose and it's like, oh, we're, you know, three tenths off and you know, you need to find some speed.
It's like, obviously I'm trying to do that. Tell me how I need to find speed.
I think that's the important part for me is like just put it into words that I can understand and as much constructive criticism as possible is good for me.
It's good.
It's impossible to make these cars go faster if you can't take criticism.
So many of them talk about, well, I know I got to do this.
If you know, you better, it's evolve or die.
You have to evolve in that cup car.
So you better be willing to learn.
So it's good to be able to listen.
What's the track you're most looking forward to that you've not yet raced on in the full time season?
That is a good question.
I've hit most of them in the truck, but from a cup car perspective, probably Darlington.
I've raced in Darlington, the Southern 500 this year.
I don't know if it's more about the track or just the fact that I grew up in Atlanta.
So we drive up to the Southern 500.
I think I've been to that race eight times as a fan, you know, as a kid growing up and I love the throwback weekend.
I know it's kind of falling off in recent years.
We've hit about every throwback you can possibly think of.
So, but I'm sure there'll be a lot of Calbush tributes this year.
So I'm really excited to see that.
But just from a childhood fan perspective, just being able to live that through.
I got to experience the Daytona 500 for the first time this year.
I went to that race a couple of times growing up.
The Cook 600 as well.
I think the Southern 500, the last kind of crown jewel is going to be a really cool one for me looking forward to that.
So my last question, and I think it's been well documented.
The whole social media back and forth with Hosevar.
I love it.
And not just that, but when you had the race with Honeycutt at Michigan and some of the things that you've gone through,
it's always just so like, well, if he doesn't like it, then it's pretty straightforward.
You either race harder or suck it up, get some thicker skin.
Have you always been that way because you just nonchalantly just address it and move on?
I feel like I've always been a guy that's racing people the way they race me, you know?
And I'm a fair game guy.
If there's a guy that has raced me extremely clean and I wreck him on accident, I will be the most apologetic guy ever.
And if he wants to talk his crap, I'll be like, that is more than fair.
I feel like I've done a pretty good job of displaying that.
And like, if there's guys that want to, you know, race me dirty, I'm going to race them dirty back.
And if they don't like it, then they'll get thicker skin.
You know, but I feel like my racing code, if you will, is very fair.
I mean, you know, you look at Bristol earlier this year, we got taken up by, you know, ECUS,
but I feel like he's always been a very fair guy and he did it on accident.
So I was like, yeah, I mean, he didn't do it on purpose.
I'm not mad at him.
But if you got guys that are, you know, wrecking me on a weekly basis and they just continue to do it,
I'll probably speak up about it or maybe get him back if I can.
But yeah, I feel like my racing code is pretty fair.
Well, that social media stuff was fun.
Did you do that?
I did. Yeah, I was on it.
I'm not a big social media guy, but I feel like with all the traction that whole interaction got,
I feel like I had to fire back a little bit.
And they're giving me so much crap about not calling it.
I didn't even hear about the whole thing because I was in the Costa Mesa the whole time.
So yeah, it was good stuff.
I like it.
Love it.
Well, congratulations on everything that you've done.
We appreciate you taking the time today.
You've got a bright future ahead of you.
Keep it up and we'll be watching.
Appreciate it guys.
Thanks for having me on today.
Thank you.
About this episode
Corey Heim talks Chicago next-gen drama, praising the race quality despite plenty of on-track incidents. He explains why intermediates have been his Cup weakness—he struggles to “feel” the rear tires and can’t get the car to yaw like he can in trucks, so he has to manage loading and stay under the tire. Heim credits 2311 Racing and leans on Denny Hamlin’s detailed feedback, while discussing how full-time Cup will change his prep and mental rhythm. He also weighs confidence from his Cup win against the tougher expectations of a full season.
NASCAR rising star Corey Heim, winner in San Diego, has signed his first full-time Cup Series contract with Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin & 23XI.
Kevin Harvick and Will Buxton welcome him to the SPEED studio to discuss his unexpected Cup Series win in San Diego, good run in Chicagoland, his 2025 NASCAR Truck Series Championship and rivalry with Carson Hocevar.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
