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CORONADO, Calif. – Corey Heim etched his name into the NASCAR record books Sunday, securing his maiden NASCAR Cup Series victory at the inaugural Anduril Race the Base 250 held at Naval Base Coronado. The win, achieved in a part-time effort for 23XI Racing, marks a significant moment for the rising star and for NASCAR’s innovative approach to event hosting.
The event itself was steeped in history, celebrating the 250th anniversaries of both the United States Navy and the United States. The Anduril Race the Base 250, potentially a one-time spectacle, aimed to blend the thrill of motorsports with a unique military setting, a feat NASCAR’s Chief Operating Officer Ben Kennedy deemed a "mission accomplished."
Heim’s path to victory was not without its challenges. The race saw early contenders Shane van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch, along with Austin Hill, eliminated in a mid-race incident while vying for the lead. This opened the door for a dramatic duel between Heim and his 23XI Racing teammate, Tyler Reddick, a seasoned road-course competitor with four NASCAR Cup Series wins on such circuits in the NextGen era.
"This gives me a lot of confidence," Heim stated following the race, reflecting on his head-to-head battle with Reddick. "His first win was at Road America, I think. I can relate to him in that manner, I think. It takes a lot. It took a really complete race from me. I avoided that big wreck that took out some of the key players. At the end of the day, I kept my head in the game, and to race head-to-head with one of the best and get side-by-side and pass cleanly, that’s a surreal feeling."
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Heim, widely regarded as a top prospect within the NASCAR pipeline, is slated to join 23XI Racing full-time next season. His victory against established Cup Series talent, including his teammate Reddick who is considered a strong contender on road courses, underscores his potential. The narrative of the win draws parallels to other watershed moments in NASCAR history, such as Jeff Gordon’s triumph in the inaugural Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1994, a race that launched the career of a future legend.
Denny Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI Racing, expressed his surprise at Heim’s decisive victory. "Really surprised," Hamlin admitted. "I mean, truthfully really surprised. Now, if you would have asked me in the middle of the race, I wouldn’t have been that surprised. I got to race around him enough to know he had plenty of speed. I knew he was on the right side of the strategy cycle. But you still have to go out there and beat some of the best, have enough speed. I saw that margin of victory over second, third was like 10 seconds (back) or something. Evidently him and Tyler set a really fast pace there on that last run. But this was not expected by any means. I was very pleasantly surprised."
The success of the Anduril Race the Base 250 was not solely measured by the on-track action. The event represented a significant logistical undertaking, requiring NASCAR to conduct racing operations on an active military installation with minimal disruption to ongoing naval operations. Ben Kennedy, NASCAR’s Chief Operating Officer, highlighted the collaborative effort and the potential for future iterations of such events.
"What we are going to do after this weekend is have a deep dive after-action review with our entire team," Kennedy explained. "We’re going to sit down with the United States Navy and talk about what did we learn, what worked well. I’d like to sit down with them, have a debrief, then have a conversation about is there an opportunity for us to return here."
The league is actively exploring new markets and innovative event formats, building on the momentum generated by recent initiatives. This includes a potential return to Downtown Chicago, which hosted a successful street race in previous years, and consideration for international venues like Mexico City, whose inclusion in the schedule was postponed this year due to a conflict with the FIFA World Cup.
"If you have any ideas, send them our way," Kennedy remarked with a smile, emphasizing NASCAR’s commitment to innovation. "We have found a way to create a culture of innovation — we put a lot of energy around it internally at NASCAR and across the industry. That gives us a lot of these different ideas. I can’t take credit for this idea. I can’t take credit for a lot of the work that went into this. But it’s the people at NASCAR that come up with a lot of these ideas. This was the next evolution of that."
Kennedy traced NASCAR’s evolutionary path through event formats, citing the introduction of new tracks in 2021, the construction of a temporary track for the L.A. Coliseum event in 2022, and the ambitious undertaking of the Chicago street course. The Naval Base Coronado race represents another iteration in this strategy of pushing boundaries and exploring novel venues.
"We’ve heard a lot of great ideas from folks internally, across the industry. Fans on social media every day have different ideas. Every time we have those ideas, we take them to the pipeline, vet them (and) see if there are any that come to fruition," Kennedy added.
The demographic impact of the Naval Base Coronado race was also a key performance indicator. Approximately 67 percent of ticket buyers were identified as first-time race attendees. Furthermore, the event saw an 11 percent increase in female attendance compared to the average NASCAR event, and drew fans from all 50 U.S. states and 17 countries.
In an ideal scenario, Kennedy expressed NASCAR’s aspiration to host two street course events annually. This strategic allocation of one event towards fostering growth and attracting new audiences is a central tenet of the sport’s long-term vision.
"I would say the confidence level is high, but all we want to do is win," Kennedy concluded. "We want to get better. We want to improve. That’s what the team is focused on for the future, is if we do have our next street course, how do we raise the bar even more." This shared sentiment of continuous improvement resonated between the NASCAR executive and the victorious driver, Corey Heim, both looking towards future endeavors.
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