Three drivers have won their first-ever Cup race this season. Interestingly enough, all of them are 23. And that means there is a new rivalry entering the Cup scene. 

Ty Gibbs and Corey Heim go way back. And so does their rivalry. It all started in the 2021 ARCA Menards Series when the then 18-year-olds were the dominant forces, almost splitting wins equally between themselves. 

Jeff Gluck recorded a video of Gibbs’ interaction with the press in Sonoma, and a question about the resumption of the Heim-Gibbs rivalry was thrown at the 54 JGR driver. Asked about the kind of narratives brewing with Heim now set to drive full-time for 23XI next season, Gibbs replied,

“We raced really hard for a bit, but we’ve always spent a lot of time during COVID playing iRacing with each other as well. I’m happy for him and super cool to see his success. I mean, you can make it, you know, just the same thing in pro motocross right now with Haiden and Jett too.”

Gibbs drew reference from the current story of the season in pro motocross, which is the drama-filled rivalry between Haiden Deegan and Jett Lawrence. Gibbs also said that the storyline of his and Heim’s rivalry may be good for the sport because people could view it from different angles. 

While both 23-year-olds got their first win this season, Ty Gibbs has been in and around the Cup series for much longer than Heim. Gibbs has 131 race starts to Corey Heim’s 13 as a part-time Cup driver for 23XI. 

As Heim finally gets his due and gets to drive the 35 23XI Toyota from next season, it is likely that we start to see more action between the two Toyota drivers as they compete on the same track more often. 

What happened between Heim and Gibbs?

This story goes all the way back to 2021 when Heim was driving for Venturini Motorsport and Gibbs was driving for JGR. At Elko Speedway, at a restart, Heim pushed Gibbs out of the way and took the race win. 

But according to Heim, it was Gibbs who had nudged him first. Heim’s race-winning interview is available on the ARCA Racing site. Heim famously said, “He’s probably mad because he lost.”

Heim felt it was payback for Gibbs’ nudge on him earlier in the race, but it didn’t end there. At Winchester Speedway, Gibbs took out Heim and would later go on to win the series. 

From there, Gibbs was fast-tracked to the JGR Cup seat while Heim had to grind it out for 4 more years before he made the jump. 

With this rivalry, there is also an underlying mention of Heim with all his talents and wins, never having driven for JGR through either the Truck or Auto Parts series. Fans often point to Heim’s slow progression as being linked to JGR not considering him despite being the top Toyota talent. 

At one point, people called for Heim to leave Toyota because JGR holds massive power at Toyota, being their premier Cup team. But Heim stuck, and 23XI came around and picked him up as the team’s first development driver. 

Heim has 24 NASCAR wins with 23 in the Truck Series, and he has a Cup win too, heading into his first full season. Watch out for the emergence of the old rivalry. 

Why do you think Heim never got to drive for JGR? Let us know.

Read more at Daytona Racing Digest.

Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason