Corey Heim promoted to full-time 23XI No. 35 Cup ride in 2027

23XI Racing announced that Corey Heim will be promoted to a full-time Cup Series ride in 2027, piloting the team’s chartered No. 35 Toyota Camry XSE. The move will end Riley Herbst’s two-season run in the No. 35 beginning in 2027. Co-owner Denny Hamlin praised Heim’s potential and publicly thanked Herbst for helping establish the program. 23XI said the promotion is a long-term investment tied to the team’s recent expansion to a three-car operation.

Heim, 23, is 23XI’s development driver and the reigning Craftsman Truck Series champion. He won a series-record 12 Truck races in 2025 and owns 25 career Truck victories — the fourth-most in series history — along with two regular-season Truck championships and the 2022 Truck Series Rookie of the Year award. Heim has been in Toyota’s development pipeline since 2020: he won an ARCA race that year, notched multiple Truck wins for Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2022, and compiled additional victories driving the No. 11 TRICON Garage Tundra from 2023 through 2025.

23XI said the promotion follows a deliberate development plan and that further personnel and partner announcements will be made later. Heim is running a part-time national Cup schedule this season as preparation for a full-time 2027 campaign, including a scheduled 12-race program in the No. 67 and multiple starts for 23XI such as the Daytona 500. As of May 30, sources list Heim with nine to 11 Cup starts to date, and Nashville Superspeedway was reported as his fifth start of the 2026 campaign. The team described the promotion as the next step in Heim’s pathway within Toyota and 23XI’s development system.