I’m of the belief that greatness has become a somewhat watered down term in regard to modern sports, but can you call what Corey Heim has done over the last four years in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series anything but great?
Over his last 73 Truck Series starts, Heim has 23 wins. He made the Championship 4 in all three of his full-time seasons, winning the title in 2025. And while he’s not full-time in the Truck Series this season, 2026 has given way to what could be one of his most impressive accomplishments: leading the Truck Series standings through five races despite only competing in three.
After a fifth-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway and back-to-back wins at Darlington Raceway and Rockingham Speedway, the 23XI Racing development driver, who does not have a full-time ride in any NASCAR series this season, is tied for the Truck Series points lead with Kaden Honeycutt, who is driving the same No. 11 truck at TRICON Garage that Heim drove from 2023-25.
Heim will have a chance to maintain the points lead this week, as he’ll drive the No. 1 TRICON Toyota at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday (April 10). But despite his excellent start to the season and the potential for him to stay high in the standings despite not running all the races, you won’t see Heim compete for a championship this fall.
That’s because NASCAR rules stipulate that in order to qualify for the postseason, a driver must have at least attempted to qualify for every race.
Of course, that rule has been quite flexible over the years. Kyle Busch received a waiver after he broke his leg and missed 11 races. Kyle Larson received a waiver in 2024 after missing the Coke 600 to race at Indianapolis. Chase Elliott received a waiver in 2023 after he was suspended by NASCAR for intentionally wrecking Denny Hamlin at Charlotte.
At the same time, NASCAR denied Grant Enfinger a waiver in 2021 because Enfinger, like Heim, was not able to find a full-time Truck Series ride.
NASCAR’s inconsistent officiating aside, there is a chance, should TRICON decide to enter Heim in more races than originally planned, that he could end the regular season inside the top 10 in the Truck Series standings, especially if he continues to run inside the top five.
If that happens, Heim wouldn’t make the Chase due to not attempting to qualify for every race — at least, in theory.
Is there some merit to the idea of NASCAR giving Heim a waiver should he continue to dominate the Truck Series and somehow end up top 10 in points at the end of the regular season on a partial schedule? I personally think there is. Heim is declared for Truck Series points, and I believe drivers and teams should be rewarded if they’re good enough to sneak into the top 10 in the standings on a part-time schedule.
Is that completely fair to the drivers and teams that race every week? Maybe not, but they could also run better and end up higher in the standings than Heim or any other driver ahead of them on a part-time schedule.
But don’t just take my word for it. Fellow Arkansan and Razorback fan Mark Martin weighed in on the topic on Monday’s episode of Door, Bumper, Clear.
“I don’t understand the rule,” Martin said. “I say if you score enough points to be in the top 10, you ought to be able to run. They made those rules, I think, for a different reason. All that goes back to the Winner’s Circle back in the ’70s when they had to get people to sign a contract that said that the Wood Brothers would show up at every race, for example, instead of cherry pick[ing]. I think that’s outdated.”
The question also has to be asked as to whether or not Heim would want to compete for the championship, but it’s hard to imagine him turning down the opportunity if it arose. Still, Heim sounded apprehensive when asked about potentially getting a waiver from NASCAR.
“I don’t know how all that works, honestly,” Heim said after his victory at Rockingham. “I’d have to look into it. I figured we’d have a good points day, sweeping all three stages and everything. That’s pretty cool, but I’d have to figure out how that works and all the specifications and all the requirements to qualify. It’d be cool, but I have no plans on running the rest of the year, so we’d have a lot of figuring out to do at that point.”
The question will only grow should Heim continue to stay near the top of the standings. What if he wins again at Bristol on Friday evening or finishes well enough to stay atop the points? How long does TRICON go before considering approaching NASCAR about a waiver?
Only time can answer those questions, but even if Heim doesn’t end up competing for the 2026 Truck Series title, it’s hard to deny his greatness in the series and the fact that his Cup Series ceiling only seems to be getting higher.
A member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Samuel also covers NASCAR for Yardbarker, Field Level Media, and Heavy Sports. He will attend the University of Arkansas in the fall of 2025.
I’m sympathetic to Heim’s situation here, and “greatness” is absolutely the proper descriptor for what he’s accomplished. That said, barring injury or specific life events (birth of child, etc.), I’d lean against granting a waiver.
My first thought when anything like this comes up is “how might this break things?” In this case, what’s to keep a team from qualifying for the chase before the end of the regular season, then opting to skip the final race(s) in order to put all resources toward chase preparation? What’s to keep a dominant team from deciding traveling to a track where they don’t run well, which may have a long commute, isn’t worth the hassle? I don’t think NASCAR should be in the business of deciding who is or is not worthy of a waiver, again barring injury or life events.
Of course, if NASCAR would abandon the silly chase in general, this becomes a non-issue. Score the most points, take home the trophy. Can’t imagine a team skipping races then, even if they sew up the championship early. The final race(s) would effectively be victory laps, and any sponsor would throw a fit if this opportunity was missed. And if somehow they happen to win while missing races? Good on them.