Did You Notice? … Corey Heim has had a meteoric rise to respectability since last year’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title slipped through his fingers?
We’re just a little over eight months removed from one of the more awkward Truck Series title races in recent history at Phoenix Raceway. Heim was ahead of Carson Hocevar at a critical point in the event, tops among the Championship 4 contenders before contact from Hocevar sent his truck spinning out of contention.
Heim eventually got Hocevar back, both bids ruined as Ben Rhodes skated away with a second title. An angry Heim vented some frustration after the race while his rival? He got rewarded with a full-time Cup promotion.
“[Hocevar] obviously screwed up,” Heim said at the time. “Just wrecked me … it is what it is.”
Three months is a long time to sit with that anger and disappointment. Would Heim get stuck in that anger or use adversity as fuel to emerge better off?
As we head toward the end of the Truck Series regular season, I think we have our answer. Heim has risen above the fray to stand out among a rising crop of young talent, the leader in the clubhouse during the Olympic break as NASCAR’s rising stars start plotting their ascensions for 2025 and beyond.
Just a note before we begin: It’s hard to consider Shane van Gisbergen a prospect when he already has a win on the Cup level. So I’m establishing some criteria for our list: no career Cup wins, no full-time seasons ever in Cup, no championships in another top-tier series (like IndyCar or Formula One).
Top NASCAR Prospects As Of July 2024
1. Corey Heim
Heim has been on fire in Trucks, winning a series-high five races in 15 starts. During a stretch of May and June, he led the most laps in five straight Truck races; it’s the first time that’s happened in at least 23 years. Heim’s 31 playoff points lead the series, and he sits second in the regular season points chase to Christian Eckes.
Heim’s success has been noticed already, filling it admirably for an injured Erik Jones while making his NASCAR Cup Series debut with Legacy Motor Club. At Nashville Superspeedway in June, a different set of circumstances could have seen him glide into a top-10 finish with 23XI Racing’s third Toyota. (Instead, a late-race crash during that million-overtime ending left him 29th).
The 23XI ride, should it become full-time, is where Heim is rumored to land come 2025. No matter what, he feels Cup ready after three years of development. Keep in mind, he still won the regular season Truck title last season despite missing a race due to illness. Xfinity feels like an unnecessary step when you’re already fighting for a top-20 finish in Cup.
Expect the Heim-Hocevar rivalry (along with a secondary one involving Ty Gibbs) to remain alive and well. What a gift for NASCAR.
2. Christian Eckes
When’s the last time we’ve seen the sport’s top two prospects be full-time Truck drivers instead of Xfinity? Eckes has been incredible this year, posting three wins and 14 top-10 finishes to almost certainly earn a regular season title over Heim. If not for brake failure at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February, he’d be 15-for-15 in top 10s.
The one knock on Eckes skipping Xfinity to head to Cup is he hasn’t even run a race in either of the sport’s top two divisions. There’s risk there, along with a slight dip in strength at certain track types: Eckes has yet to win on a road course or a track longer than 1.5 miles in length.
But we’ve seen this type of jump before. Zane Smith is currently experiencing it as a rookie with Spire Motorsports in Cup. That’s a place Eckes could potentially be a candidate if Smith chooses to move over to Front Row Motorsports’ open third seat for 2025.
What puts the 23-year-old Eckes over Sam Mayer and others in Xfinity is his consistency. Running a series that’s been maligned for far too much contact, he’s gone over a year without a crash-related DNF. Some of the underdog teams taking a look at Eckes would love to have that type of maturity running their equipment.
3. Sam Mayer
Mayer made a push to be considered for 2025 Cup rides after a run of top-five NXS finishes peaking with a win at Iowa Speedway in June. Since then, he’s faltered, finishing no better than 10th his last five starts while dropping to 12th in the regular season standings.
“It kind of pisses me off, to be honest with you,” Mayer said earlier this summer when asked about his lack of Cup prospects. “I feel like we’ve proved ourselves a lot more. Like, I’m dead serious, it makes me so mad that my name isn’t in more hats with race teams.”
The 21-year-old would find himself in better shape if he just kept his nose out of trouble. He’s got a 25% DNF rate this season — all five due to crashes — after posting seven for wrecks the year before. That includes back-to-back wrecks to start last year’s NXS playoff, putting him in a win-or-else position entering the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL in October.
The case for Mayer: He won that race in dominant fashion, extending his postseason bid into the Round of 8. After three crashes in the first four races this year, Mayer learned to better adapt to changing track conditions and master an aggressive style that feels a little Earnhardt-like. He’s got some personality and edginess the sport needs to help attract Gen Z over the course of the next decade.
That said, one more year and Mayer might explode, similar to Noah Gragson or Chase Briscoe in NXS the last few years. If that happens, an eight-win season would give him first pick of any Cup ride that opens up rather than the low-hanging fruit he finds available now.
4. Austin Hill
Hill started the year two-for-two in NXS and half the garage already had him placed in Austin Dillon’s No. 3 for Richard Childress Racing.
Boy, how things have changed in six months.
Hill still remains a title contender, third in the standings. But it’s Dillon holding the multi-year extension over at RCR while Hill is riding a 19-race winless streak. During a down year for the entire organization, he’s led just 32 laps and posted only two top-five finishes since Memorial Day weekend.
Now 30 years old, Hill’s several years older than others on the list and doesn’t bring an excessive amount of sponsorship. He’s also been underwhelming in three Cup starts for RCR this year with results of 38th, 33rd and 31st.
More concerning has been several skirmishes with other NXS competitors. A rivalry with SVG has left Hill coming up empty, leading to a little use of the finger at Sonoma Raceway in June.

Sheldon Creed is not a fan after the two tangled as teammates at RCR. Cole Custer was in harm’s way after Hill tangled with him at Charlotte in May. Suddenly, Hill feels like a little mini Kyle Busch without the trophy count to back up the behavior.
A championship could easily turn the ship around, and there remains these nagging whispers Dillon would step aside under the right circumstances. But it feels like another year now, at least, for Hill before Cup, which puts him perilously close to the Justin Allgaier NXS forever side of the fence line.
5. Riley Herbst
Easily the most controversial selection on this top-five list with Chandler Smith, Jesse Love and Nick Sanchez still on the board. It’s been a long, hard road for Herbst to get here, bottoming out last fall after missing the NXS playoffs despite top-tier support from Stewart-Haas Racing.
Herbst came out determined to correct the record in 2024, posting a sixth-place finish in the Daytona season opener. Since then, he’s never fallen lower than seventh in points, posting just four DNFs, and has four top-10 finishes in the last six races.
The peak of that performance, of course, was the last-lap win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway before the break where Herbst muscled past Aric Almirola.
It was only the second win of Herbst’s underwhelming NXS career. But it happened at one of the most iconic tracks at the country, with everyone watching and two weeks to savor the victory.
That’s important, especially when Herbst has the backing of money-overflowing sponsor Monster Energy. He’s also done better than expected in a handful of Cup starts, posting two top-10 finishes at pack racing tracks (Daytona and Talladega).
Those are the resume builders the open rides available (Rick Ware? Front Row Motorsports? Spire?) are looking for when they’re trying to fill out teams for 2025. Sometimes, you strike when the iron is hot, and NASCAR history is littered with underwhelming NXS drivers (Jimmie Johnson, anyone?) who quickly got their act together in Cup.
At 25 years old, it’s no wonder Herbst hasn’t re-signed with his NXS program for next year. If not now … when?
Best of the Rest
7. Nick Sanchez
8. Jesse Love
9. Rajah Caruth
10. Ty Majeski
Follow Tom Bowles on X @NASCARBowles
The author of Did You Notice? (Wednesdays) Tom spends his time overseeing Frontstretch’s 40+ staff members as its majority owner and Editor-in-Chief. Based outside Philadelphia, Bowles is a two-time Emmy winner in NASCAR television and has worked in racing production with FOX, TNT, and ESPN while appearing on-air for SIRIUS XM Radio and FOX Sports 1's former show, the Crowd Goes Wild. He most recently consulted with SRX Racing, helping manage cutting-edge technology and graphics that appeared on their CBS broadcasts during 2021 and 2022.
You can find Tom’s writing here, at CBSSports.com and Athlonsports.com, where he’s been an editorial consultant for the annual racing magazine for 15 years.
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Which one is being considered for the 23?
Rumors before the break were that it would be Herbst, but who knows? And 23XI still doesn’t have a third charter.
I’ve been impressed by Chandler Smith, but he needs another year in Xfinity. Still, I’d swap him and Hill on your list based on potential and racing smarts.