NASCAR Community Reacts to Corey Heim Martinsville Fight

Corey Heim was involved in a post-race altercation at the Martinsville Speedway following the ValleyStar Credit Union 300, a Late Model stock car race on Saturday night. The melee stemmed from on-track contact after the checkered flag flew between Heim and Chad Bryant Racing driver Treyten Lapcevich. 

From Dale Earnhardt Jr. to others, the Heim post-race incident has got the NASCAR community buzzing.

NASCAR community reacts to Corey Heim post-race altercation

The post-race incident between Heim and the Chad Bryant Racing team happened in front of the Martinsville hot dog stand located in the infield. In an X post, Earnhardt Jr. made a humorous remark. 

“The thing of it is, those are some damn good hotdogs,” Earnhardt Jr. wrote.

Based on the on-track incident, NASCAR reporter Mamba Smith believes Lapcevich’s No. 77 team was in the wrong for the fight and commented on Heim taking multiple punches in the exchange, writing via X:

“If this is why they are fighting… The 77 group is out of line. Also Corey Heim ate those punches…”

NASCAR on FOX Jamie Little took issue with the crew members of Chad Bryant Racing getting involved in the brawl rather than letting the drivers hash things out themselves.

“Let drivers fight. Leave the crew members out of it. This is embarrassing,” she wrote via X.

Details regarding the Corey Heim post-race altercation

Piloting the No. 22 car, Corey Heim drove to a third-place finish in the ValleyStar Credit Union 300. Immediately after the checkered flag, contact between the 23XI Racing driver and Treyten Lapcevich caused the two to crash in turn 1.

Showing their displeasure after the race, members of the Chad Bryant Racing team went after Heim. In a 29-second video, the defending Craftsman Truck Series champion can be seen getting punched multiple times from the right side by a crew member.

As others tried to break up the situation, Heim was seen getting another punch thrown his way before ultimately leaving the scene. Heim did not throw any punches in retaliation.

Prior to the altercation, in his post-race interview with FloRacing, Heim addressed the on-track incident with Lapcevich.

“I really don’t know. He tried to smush me into the curb and then my tire hopped his tire. As you can see, I’ve got nowhere to go. He just completely turns left and then I hop his tire, so I don’t know what he was doing. It is what it is. It’s Late Model racing,” he said.

Heim is set to move up to the NASCAR Cup Series full-time in 2027, piloting the No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota. In his part-time Cup deal with 23XI, Heim has put the field on notice by winning two races in his first 15 career starts, the first driver to do so since A.J. Foyt in 1965.