Corey Heim Stuns Denny Hamlin on Final Restart to Win Brickyard 400, Becomes Youngest Winner Since Jeff Gordon

Corey Heim passed his own team co-owner Denny Hamlin on the final restart Sunday and held off a hard-charging Christopher Bell to win the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, giving the 24-year-old part-timer his second Cup Series victory of the season. Heim beat Bell to the line by 0.287 seconds, with Joey Logano finishing third and Hamlin fading to fifth after leading late.

Heim drives a part-time schedule for 23XI Racing in the No. 67 Toyota, splitting his season between Cup starts and a title defense in the Craftsman Truck Series, where he’s the reigning champion. He broke through for his first career Cup win last month on the street course at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, and Sunday’s Brickyard triumph came in just his 15th career start — making him the first driver since A.J. Foyt in 1965 to pick up two Cup wins that early in a career. He’s set to move into 23XI’s full-time No. 35 Toyota for the 2027 season.

How the Final Restart Unfolded

With 34 laps to go, Heim powered around Hamlin on the outside, getting a strong push from Logano entering Turn 1 that allowed him to clear his boss and seize control for good. “That was a damn handful,” Heim said afterward. “I was hanging on for dear life once the shade went down and the pace picked up, my car got really loose and I never really got a lot of clean air throughout the day, so that was the hardest I’ve ever fought in my life to make sure I focused on the exits and get through dirty air.” No driver completed a green-flag pass for the lead all afternoon, underscoring how difficult the restart battle truly was. Bell, who chased Heim to the finish, credited the degree of difficulty: “Nobody was going to overtake unless there was a major error. It’s been the same at Indy for the three years since we’ve been racing here with the Next Gen car.”

Hamlin, who co-owns 23XI Racing alongside Michael Jordan, controlled the race before losing the lead and ultimately settled for fifth, still searching for the one crown jewel that has eluded him across a two-decade career. “It’s just lack of execution,” Hamlin said. “I thought we did a really good job of getting ourselves in contention there and executed a great restart. But then roles reversed. The outside line got that good push again and was able to clear us.” Logano, fresh off a win of his own the previous week, again denied car owner Roger Penske a Brickyard 400 trophy, finishing third, 0.972 seconds back. “He’s got it,” Logano said of Heim. “We’re going to be competing against him for a long time. He’s just a solid race car driver. He makes the right moves, stays calm under pressure, and executes flawlessly.”

A Historic Result for a Rising Star

At 24, Heim became the youngest Brickyard 400 winner since Jeff Gordon captured the inaugural running of the race in 1994 at age 23. He’s also just the fourth driver to win multiple Cup races before his first full-time season, joining NASCAR Hall of Famers Darrell Waltrip and Davey Allison, along with Tim Richmond — a feat that hadn’t happened since Allison and Richmond both did it in 1987. The win also marked back-to-back Brickyard 400 titles for 23XI Racing, following teammate Bubba Wallace’s victory at Indianapolis a year ago. Fans tracking sports outcomes elsewhere can find useful context on how prediction markets work for major events like this one.

The victory adds another layer of validation to 23XI’s decision to elevate Heim to a full-time Cup ride for 2027, when he’ll pilot the team’s chartered No. 35 Toyota Camry XSE every weekend. Team co-owner Hamlin, despite being on the wrong end of Sunday’s battle, praised his future full-time driver back when the promotion was announced in May: “Corey is a gifted driver who is continuing to get better and better with each race he runs.” Heim enters that new chapter having already beaten his own boss for one of NASCAR’s biggest trophies, a résumé line that few rookies — or even established stars like Chase Elliott, who has yet to win a crown jewel race — can claim. With eight Cup starts and two wins already banked in a part-time role, Heim’s move to full-time competition in 2027 now arrives with sky-high expectations after one of the most improbable runs to a signature win in recent memory. Bettors watching the Cup Series playoff picture take shape can track how odds shift around drivers like Heim through resources such as a DraftKings promo code as the season moves toward the postseason.