There is no shortage of NASCAR Cup Series storylines emerging from the Lone Star State following the running of Sunday’s (May 3) Wurth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway.
One of the sub-plots that unfolded — and will continue to play out throughout 2026 — is comparing the performances of two drivers from 23XI Racing. In one corner, you have Riley Herbst, about a third of the way through his second full-time season in the No. 35 Toyota. On the other hand, you have Corey Heim, the reigning NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion who is competing part-time in the No. 67 Toyota.
Herbst is seen as being on the hot seat, while Heim is considered a rising talent more than worth of a full-time Cup ride. Between those perceptions and racing for the same team, it is perhaps inevitable that the two have been linked together by fans in a duel for a Cup Series ride in 2027.
If looking at their NASCAR careers overall, it would appear to be not much of a contest, with Heim experiencing significantly more success.
In only about half of the NASCAR national series starts as Herbst, Heim has won 22 more races, scored 11 more poles, secured 19 more top fives and won the aforementioned championship in Trucks. Granted, the vast majority of that production has come in the Truck Series, but the same could be said for Herbst’s resume and the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
However, when you look at their head-to-head matchups in the Cup Series since the beginning Herbst’s rookie season in 2025, the gap between the two narrows.
The two Toyota prospects have been in the same Cup Series field seven times since the start of 2025, and Herbst owns the slight edge in the head-to-head. That includes all three times they’ve raced each other in the top level so far in 2026.
This is also a testament to the noticeable improvement Herbst has shown to start this season compared to last year. In 2025, the No. 35 team accrued no top-10 finishes and no result better than 14th. But now, through just 11 races in 2026, Herbst has an eighth in the Daytona 500 as well as two other top-15 finishes, with a 14th at Kansas Speedway and the 11th-place showing this past Sunday in Texas.
There will be several more opportunities to see Heim and Herbst on the track together in 2026. In February, 23XI Racing announced a 12-race Cup schedule for Heim this year, and only three of those dates are in the rearview mirror. Heim will climb into the driver’s seat for the Coca-Cola 600 on May 24, Nashville Superspeedway on May 31, the San Diego street course on June 21, Chicagoland Speedway on July 5, the Brickyard 400 on July 26, Daytona International Speedway on Aug. 29, the Southern 500 on Sept. 6, Charlotte Motor Speedway on Oct. 11, and the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 8.
When those dates come up, it will be interesting to see where Heim and Herbst are on the racetrack relative to each other and how that might impact their Cup Series fates in 2027.
Crunching the Numbers
7- Total Cautions in Sunday’s Cup Racee
Texas has recently earned a reputation as being one of the more caution-filled tracks in the Next Gen era.
That, however, was not the case on Sunday, as the yellow flag waved just seven times, five if you exclude scheduled stage cautions. Out of the five cautions for incident, only two of them involved more than one car. This marked the fewest cautions and caution laps (40) for a Texas race since the spring of 2019 when there were just five cautions (three for incident) and 29 laps behind the pace car.
11 – Multi-Time Cup Winners at Texas
With Sunday’s win, Chase Elliott joined an exclusive club of 11 drivers who have visited Texas’ famed victory lane more than once at the Cup level. As you will see below, the winner’s circle is a veritable who’s who of Cup Series stars since the track opened in 1997.
Seven of the 11 drivers with multiple Texas Cup checkered flags have also won a Cup championship, including the most recent member of the list in Elliott. Four of these drivers — Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth —are NASCAR Hall of Famers, and most if not all of the other names will be enshrined in downtown Charlotte in the future.
35.33 – Average Finish for Joey Logano in the Past Three Races
No, that is not a typo. Joey Logano, one of just 10 drivers with at least three Cup Series titles, has averaged a finish of 35.33 over the last three races. This is due to a poor run at Kansas, a wreck at Talladega, and most recently, running into a stopped Cole Custer on pit road at Texas.
How far back do you have to go to find another stretch of three consecutive finishes of 30th or worse in Logano’s Cup career? You’d have to go back to his 2009 rookie season with Joe Gibbs Racing, when he placed 30th, 38th, 32nd, and 30th in four straight races early in that season.
The latest 37th-place finish at Texas has Logano now in the first spot outside the Chase, seven points behind Chase Briscoe for 16th. Under the playoff format of prior seasons, this would not be a reason to panic as Logano would simply need to win a race in the regular season. Not the case now, and with five races left until the Chase field is locked in, Logano still has time to move back ahead of the cut line, but the No. 22 team needs to get its groove back sooner rather than later.
Andrew Stoddard joined Frontstretch in May of 2022 as an iRacing contributor. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, and VCU. He works as an athletic communications specialist at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.
One is a proven winner. The other is a winner-in-training at best. But is shows that even with a strong advocate (in Denny Hamlin), money talks. The third car at Legacy is the only real option for the odd man out at 23XI if they
stay with Toyota which Heim appears to be completely (and perhaps foolishly) loyal to. JGR is a “no fly zone” for Heim. Its also hard for Heim to get support from sponsors when he has no commitment for a place to land.
Reading between the lines, I’d guess Herbst is out after this year, barring a surprising surge in performance. It was telling that 23XI signed a deal for Reddick with a sponsor (Rockstar, owned by Pepsi/Celsius) who is a direct competitor to Herbst’s sponsor (Monster, owned by Coca Cola). Herbst’s family has exclusive deals with Monster for their service stations. I wonder if part of Heim’s backing next year will come from Rockstar.
Agreed on JGR. Heim had the temerity to upset Ty Gibbs by not bending the knee, and clearly the nepotism is strong at JGR.
Riley Herbst has sponsorship money Corey Heim does not That is the sad truth Based on talent Heim is the clear winner
I think using Cup statistics to compare Heim and Herbst overlooks many factors which play into their results. Tapered spacer tracks border on completely random in their results, and probably should not be used in comparisons. If we remove Daytona results, the two are tied, 3 – 3.
Herbst has much more seat time in the Cup car, yet the performance between the two is nearly indistinguishable. In fact, in just seven starts, Heim has a higher career best finish (6th) Than Herbst has in 47 starts (8th). Also, Heim’s best came at Bristol, whereas Herbst has yet to record a top ten anywhere other than tapered spacer tracks.
Herbst has a full time Cup team, vs. Heim’s part time team. I realize Bootie Barker helms Heim’s part time team, but the advantage of a team plugged in every week should not be overlooked.
To me, the best measuring tool for full time drivers is often how they perform vs. their full time teammates. Herbst has improved this year, but still regularly trails Reddick and Wallace. Reddick is 1st in points, Wallace 11th, and Herbst 28th.
I’m not saying Heim’s amazing resume in lower series will translate to Cup. Sometimes, the driver’s skill set does not match what’s needed for a different race package. But, it seems Herbst has been given more than a fair shot at Cup. Unless Herbst goes on an unlikely run throughout the season, based just on performance, making the move to Heim would be a no-brainer for me.