NASCAR Cup Series legend Kevin Harvick has issued a bold prediction regarding up-and-coming 23XI Racing star and development driver Corey Heim.
Heim is just 22 years old but has a wealth of experience for his age, dominating the Truck Series so far in 2025, with 25 further races under his belt across the Xfinity and Cup Series.
Recently, one of his 23XI bosses, Denny Hamlin, said that he was set to be at the team for the 'long haul', and now, Harvick has predicted that Heim will be winning Cup Series races in the future.
"I think once we get three to five years down the road, we'll be talking about Corey Heim winning Cup races once they get the right crew chief and team around him and he gets that 100 races under his belt," Harvick said on his Happy Hour show.
"He already has done better than most guys that step into the car in a short amount of time, but again, that's not a fair judgment of how he's going to do because until you're in this grind every single week and have to deal with the sponsors and the media and the criticism at a level that you've never experienced before in Trucks and Xfinity, we don't know."
For Heim to get this kind of praise from the legend that is Kevin Harvick will be a great confidence booster.
After all, Harvick knows a thing or two about what it takes at the top of the sport, and how to get there, having won the 2014 Cup Series championship and two Xfinity Series championships earlier in his career.
Heim's latest Cup Series race came last time out at Nashville, although ended in a DNF after an incident with Brad Keselowski on lap 132.
Discussing Heim's recent mistake at Nashville, Harvick explained that these experiences are all part and parcel of the journey: "Well, the spotter kept telling him to go outside, and he just made a mistake getting up the racetrack, probably just trying to take everything that he can get, misjudged."
"But those are all the experiences. As much as we’ve talked about Corey Heim needing to be here already, you still see the rookie mistakes and the inexperience at the Cup level in scenarios like this.
"These are all things that he’s got to go through. And in the end, I truly believe that Corey Heim will be a Cup Series winner."