Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Anduril 250 at Naval Base Coronado was already going to be historic, as the competitors from NASCAR’s top division would compete in their first-ever race around a 3.4-mile street course on the Naval Base in San Diego, California. However, by the end of Sunday’s event, the race became historic for an additional reason.
The Anduril 250 will forever be known as the race in which Corey Heim scored his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory.
Race Results: Anduril 250 at San Diego
It was unbelievable for Heim, who didn’t think he had a shot at the victory in the opening couple of runs of Sunday’s race.
“I’m speechless,” Heim said after collecting the victory. “I mean, we started the race, I think we started 13th, and we fell straight back to like 20th. Then we put on our scuffs from qualifying, and struggled just as bad. I don’t know if we made any adjustments, but [my crew chief] Bootie [Barker] kept telling me these were our worst two sets of tires, and you know, we were going to be just fine. You know, he was right.”
Heim, 23, was competing in his 13th career NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday, and in the closing laps, he found himself racing at the front of the field with Tyler Reddick and Carson Hocevar.
With 11 laps to go, Reddick got around Hocevar for the race lead, and moments later, Heim made contact with Hocevar, which sent Hocevar spinning from the runner-up spot. Unphased, Heim set his sights on Reddick for the race lead.
Heim began to close in on Reddick with around six laps to go, and it seemed like he began to apply pressure, but Heim wasn’t convinced that Reddick was showing his true hand just yet.
“I don’t know. I feel like for a while I thought he was kind of playing with me,” Heim explained, “but he was able to set the pace being the lead car. I was able to stick with him. I’m not really burning my stuff up.”
With just five laps to go, Heim really ratcheted up the pressure on Reddick.
“Five to go came. Time to put some pressure on him, see if I could get him to make a mistake. Sure enough he did,” Heim said. “I think he ended up breaking or something. I don’t know what happened to me.”
With three laps to go, Heim would make a move to the inside of Reddick for the race lead in the final turn of the course. As the two remained side-by-side, Reddick made contact with Heim, which sent Heim into the outside wall slightly.
Reddick feathered off of the throttle to allow Heim to regain his composure.
“He doored me down there in five and gave [the lead] back to me. That’s something you don’t see every day. That’s a great teammate,” Heim said. “I don’t know. Just crazy. It feels like a dream. I hope I don’t wake up from this dream.”
As a result, Heim kept the race lead, and moments later, Reddick would blow a tire. As Reddick limped around the course, Heim, who had a lead of more than 10 seconds over his next closest competitor, focused on hitting his marks, and bringing his No. 67 Toyota back to the finish line.
With Reddick out of contention, Bubba Wallace was able to claim the runner-up finish, driving the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota.
Kyle Larson, who led twice on the day for 11 laps, finished third, ahead of Zane Smith, and A.J. Allmendinger, who nudged Riley Herbst out of the way on the final lap for the top-five finish.
Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Herbst, Ryan Blaney, and Michael McDowell rounded out the top-10 finishers in the race.
Hocevar, who was spun from the runner-up spot by Heim with 11 laps remaining, would finish 19th, while Reddick, who cut the tire down with two laps to go, would finish a disappointing 25th.
With the subpar finish on what appeared to be a great day, Reddick saw his NASCAR Cup Series point lead shrink to just eight points over Denny Hamlin, who finished 14th in the race. There are just nine races remaining until the start of NASCAR’s Chase for the NASCAR Cup Series championship, which will be seeded by the regular season championship standings.
Every point will be critical for Reddick and Hamlin over the next nine races.
Shane van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch were expected to contend for the win in Sunday’s race, but both Trackhouse Racing drivers wound up in the garage 44 laps shy of the finish.
On a restart at Lap 32, Austin Hill had the lead of the race, with Zilisch alongside in second. Van Gisbergen made the race for the lead three-wide briefly, but backed out of the move before getting to Turn 1.
Hill would slide up the track into the side of Zilisch’s No. 88 Chevrolet in Turn 1, which would send both drivers hard into the outside wall. Van Gisbergen, who had nowhere to go, was swept up in the crash. By the time the smoke had settled, nine cars were involved.
