{"id":857336,"date":"2026-08-14T03:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T03:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/857336\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T03:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T03:28:10","slug":"michael-jordans-corey-heim-faces-controversial-nascar-decision-despite-making-history-with-two-2026-wins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/857336\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Jordan\u2019s Corey Heim faces \u2018controversial\u2019 NASCAR decision despite making history with two 2026 wins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/untitled-design-756.jpg\" alt=\"Michael Jordan\u2019s Corey Heim faces \u2018controversial\u2019 NASCAR decision despite making history with two 2026 wins\" title=\"Michael Jordan\u2019s Corey Heim faces \u2018controversial\u2019 NASCAR decision despite making history with two 2026 wins\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>Michael Jordan\u2019s Corey Heim faces \u2018controversial\u2019 NASCAR decision despite making history with two 2026 wins Michael Jordan\u2019s 23XI Racing has been hit by a NASCAR ruling that will keep Corey Heim out of the Rookie of the Year race in 2027, even though next season will be his first full-time Cup Series campaign. NASCAR has changed its eligibility rules and now limits Cup drivers to 12 starts before the season in which they seek the award. Heim already has 15 Cup starts and is set to make four more in 2026. The 24-year-old has won twice this season, making the decision especially notable as he prepares to join 23XI full-time.<\/p>\n<p>Corey Heim\u2019s Rookie of the Year bid ends under NASCAR\u2019s new rule<\/p>\n<p>Mike Forde, NASCAR\u2019s vice president of racing communications, explained the change on Hauler Talk. Motorsport reported that Heim is past the 12-start limit.\u2018I think seven (starts) was always out there of if you passed that threshold of seven then the NASCAR rookie committee would be able to have a discussion,\u2019 Forde said. \u2018They could say, \u2018OK, he had eight, or he had nine or 10. He didn\u2019t go that far above it. He wants to be a rookie and wants to shine a light on the program and on the series; it\u2019s good for the sport for him to be a part of the rookie program.\u2019 Then we\u2019d allow that.\u2018But I think last year or the year before we kind of put a line in the sand and said, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s make it easy for everybody,\u2019 because it did get for a good while there a little bit confusing on not understanding how this person is a rookie with 20 starts last year or whatever. We put some numbers and parameters on there.\u2019Heim won the San Diego Naval Base Coronado race and the Brickyard 400.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Jordan and Corey Heim prepare for 23XI Racing\u2019s 2027 season<\/p>\n<p>\u2018You know, it\u2019s funny, he texts me regardless of whether I run 30th or whether I won the race, you know what I mean,\u2019 Heim told The Express. \u2018He\u2019s a super supportive guy, whether it\u2019s a \u2018hey, keep your head up\u2019, or a \u2018congratulations\u2019 text, it\u2019s always one or the other.\u2018He\u2019s very involved, a lot more involved, and I think a lot of people would assume from his perspective. So to hear from him was, of course, it was awesome. I remember the first time I met him was 2025 in Daytona in February for the 500 weekend last year, and it never has felt like I\u2019m talking to Michael Jordan, if that makes sense.\u2018He\u2019s such a down-to-earth guy, just has some great stories, and he\u2019s really easy to hang out with and talk to. But he\u2019s also just so supportive, has invested so much into this 23XI organization. The cars have been just fantastic this year, so he\u2019s done a great job, and yeah, just, just super cool to be a part of it, for sure.\u2019On Stacking Pennies, Heim said: \u2018I don\u2019t know. I could be convinced. I\u2019m way more up in the air with it right now than I was a month ago before we had won San Diego.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Jordan\u2019s Corey Heim faces \u2018controversial\u2019 NASCAR decision despite making history with two 2026 wins Michael Jordan\u2019s 23XI&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,298145,298146,634,8354,298147,121391,82],"class_list":["post-857336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-corey-heim-nascar","tag-michael-jordan-23xi-racing","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-cup-series","tag-nascar-eligibility-rules","tag-nascar-rookie-of-the-year","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}