Corey Heim Pleased with Progress in First ARCA Menards Series Season; Looking to Improve Over Second Half of 2019

It has been a terrific season to this point for Chad Bryant Racing’s No. 22 team.

Ty Majeski (No. 22 Crestliner Boats Ford) has earned three victories at Charlotte, Pocono, and Chicagoland, while fifteen-year-old Corey Heim has filled the seat on the short tracks and has racked up top-ten finishes in five races and top-five finishes in three of them with a best finish of fourth at WWT Raceway.

Heim came to the ARCA Menards Series as a relative unknown but has quickly made a name for himself. He finished fifth in his first two series appearances at Five Flags and Salem. His only finish outside of the top ten was an eleventh place run at Nashville. Although he doesn’t have a lot of experience, he knows a good thing when he sees it and gives his team high marks for its performance over the first half of the season.

“I would give them a great rating,” Heim said. “They have been improving every single time we have been on the racetrack. We have unloaded a tenth-place car at some places and ended up in the top five. They have some wins with Ty on the big tracks and I think that’s where their strong suit is. I thought we had a top-three car at some places and a winning car a time or two as well. We haven’t had the best of luck this season and with qualifying getting rained out a couple of times it’s been a struggle. We didn’t go test at Gateway and practice got rained out so that made it tough. The guys are working hard to make us better and I think the rest of the season will be really good for us. They are getting better every race and I am getting better every race as well.”

Like Majeski, Heim has the opportunity to work with crew chief Paul Andrews. The championship-winning crew chief with Alan Kulwicki back in 1992, Andrews was integral in the Cunningham Motorsports driver development program for owners Briggs Cunningham and Kerry Scherer and transitioned to Chad Bryant Racing in 2017 when Bryant bought the team’s assets and started his own organization. Heim works closely with Andrews not only on how to improve the car but how to improve the driver, too.

“I have been talking to Paul a lot,” he said. “We are going to try a couple new things at Elko. We have discussed that I need to get better at qualifying and passing people. There are things I need to get better at to get those better finishes. We are doing good in owner’s points right now with those wins from Ty so we have a shot at that. It’s motivation for the rest of the season. If I can qualify better, pass some people better, and hold my track position better it will make a big difference. We are improving every race.”

With the majority of the races in the second half of the season a part of the Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge, Heim has a lot of opportunity to earn his first career series victory. He has several of the events circled on his calendar, including his debut at Pocono Raceway coming up on July 26.

“Iowa is one we are looking forward to,” he said. “The team has a really good history at Elko. Ty won the first race at Pocono so we’re really filled with some confidence heading back there. I think the dirt tracks will be a lot of fun. It will be a coin flip if we are going to be any good there because of me. I like sliding around a bit so maybe we’ll be pretty good there too.”

Although they’ve yet to compete together in the same race, Heim and Majeski have worked closely together throughout the season. Majeski, a four-time ARCA Midwest Tour champion and noted short track expert, has been brought to the track several times to help get Heim up to speed.

“Ty comes to a lot of tests,” Heim said. “He’s a great help. He’s raced a ton at Madison, I couldn’t even tell you how many laps he’s run there, but it’s got to be a million laps there. He helped us a bunch there. I had never been there until the day of the race. He came to Motor Mile with us, he came to Pocono and he’s been a huge help for me. I definitely feel like he’s closed a few of those gaps I left on the racetrack. He’s a huge help for me.”

Heim and the rest of the ARCA Menards Series returns to action on Saturday July 13 in the Menards 250 at Elko Speedway. Practice at Elko Speedway is set for 2:15 pm ET/1:15 pm CT, General Tire Pole Qualifying is scheduled for 6:15 pm ET/5:15 pm CT, and the 250-lap feature event will go green shortly after 10 pm ET/9 pm CT. The race will be televised live on MAVTV, and ARCA for Me members can follow every lap made by every car entered throughout every on-track session with free live timing & scoring at ARCARacing.com. Discounted tickets to the Menards 250 are available at nearly 40 Minneapolis-St. Paul Menards locations for just $20. For more information, please visit TrackEnterprises.com or call 217-764-3200.