Corey Heim is doing double-duty at his favorite race track – Speedway Digest

Corey Heim didn’t have sole discretion in picking the race track for his first NASCAR Cup Series start of the season, but no doubt his choice would have been the same.

Kansas Speedway is Heim’s favorite track, and he’s primed for Sunday’s Advent Health 400 at the 1.5-mile intermediate speedway (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“I don’t think I really had a pick for my races for this year, but I was able to sit down with 23XI Racing and kind of discuss what makes sense,” said Heim, who will drive the No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota on Sunday. “With this being my opening Cup race on the 2025 campaign for myself, being able to run it in 2024 was a big reason why I was able to knock the rust off a little bit.

“The last time I raced a Cup car was pretty close to a year ago—I think it was in June of last year (June 30 at Nashville Superspeedway). It was probably important for me to come out and not look like a fish out of water the first time back and be able to lean on some prior experience and come back to Kansas. I had a little bit of say myself, but I think it just made sense on both sides.”

Heim was pressed into service last year as a substitute for LEGACY Motor Club driver Erik Jones, who suffered a compression fracture at Talladega Superspeedway. He made his Cup debut at Dover, followed by races at Kansas (still subbing for Jones) and Nashville (for 23XI).

Heim swept the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races at Kansas Speedway last year, making the track the logical choice for his first Cup race of 2025.

“I think I feel really comfortable when I come here, and I think that is just the prior experience I had here,” Heim said. “I’ve got probably six or more ARCA races here (with two wins and five top fives) and six or more Truck races here. Just that experience alone makes me feel comfortable and very prepared coming into this race. I feel like there are not so many things that I’m having to soak up during the week and prepare on, like, for instance, Dover last year—my first Cup race ever.

“I had been there once in an ARCA car, I think, before that race—just the extra stress it took to prepare for that race and be ready before, and all of those things that I was learning about the race track, added on to being in a Cup car for the first time, was really tough. Kansas is a place that I have a lot of laps, and I think that helps with my comfort.”