Heim, 21, competes full-time within the NASCAR Truck Sequence, the place he has gained a number of races. However he’s additionally the reserve driver for Legacy Motor Membership so when Erik Jones suffered a again harm in a 70G crash at Talladega Superspeedway, Heim was referred to as as much as drive the automobile in his absence.
He has by no means competed in a NASCAR Cup Sequence race earlier than, however will make his debut on the circuit generally known as the ‘Monster Mile’ — Dover Motor Speedway. It’s a difficult one-mile concrete monitor with aggressive banking and little margin for error. It is identified for wild wrecks and multi-car pileups. In Saturday follow, there was already a vicious crash involving Kaz Grala, who was capable of stroll away.
Heim has but to place a foot incorrect, piloting the No. 43 LMC Toyota. His monitor time is extraordinarily restricted with simply 20 minutes of follow, adopted by qualifying. He ran 21 laps in follow, however was simply 0.010s off his team-mate John-Hunter Nemechek on the time sheets.
With so few laps behind the wheel earlier than the inexperienced flag waves, Heim is counting on everybody he can to ensure he’s as ready for Sunday’s 400-lap slugfest. Amongst these advising him has been the sidelined Jones.
“It’s big for certain,” stated Heim of Jones’ assist this week. “I believe any good recommendation that I’ve gotten has been actual essential for me all through the weekend. I believe for us, we’re simply going to attempt to take it one step at a time. We’ve acquired the 20-minute follow after which qualifying. We’re going to take it stage by stage there. It’s actually not going to be simple, however it’s a longer race than I’ve been accustomed to with the Vans and the Xfinity stuff, and I even have the Xfinity race as properly to type of lean on as properly.
“I’ve acquired the time this weekend to type of determine it out. I don’t know if I’ll really feel that I’ve acquired it found out by the top of the weekend, however any recommendation is tremendous vital. I’ve been reaching out to as many individuals as I probably can to attempt to collect all the info and attempt to have an honest concept. With these 20-minute practices, it’s fairly brutal to wrap your head round a very completely different type of race automobile inside that timeframe, however my job is simply to do the very best I can for this 43 group and transfer ahead from there.”
Thus far, Heim has tailored properly sufficient. In qualifying, he really beat Nemechek by 0.014s and can begin thirty second on Sunday.
Seven-time NASCAR Cup Sequence champion Jimmie Johnson, who co-owns LMC, is driving a 3rd entry this weekend at Dover. He led the way in which for the group in each periods, qualifying twenty seventh. He has gained 11 instances at Dover, which is greater than every other driver in historical past.
Appreciating the second
Though racing alongside a 7x champ and representing one other within the iconic No. 43, it has been tough for Heim to understand the second he’s on as he stays centered on the duty at hand.
“Mentally, I’ve not been capable of digest this fairly but,” stated Heim of his feelings forward of the race. “It’s positively type of a final second and large alternative for me below unlucky circumstances. It’s positively cool for me to have the ability to make my debut with the 43 group. I believe they’ve been going the precise path and acquired a cool paint scheme on the automobile. I get to be teammates with Jimmie [Johnson] and John Hunter [Nemechek] – to do this is tremendous cool … I believe after I replicate on it – will probably be a very cool second for me, however proper now, I’m simply centered on the current.”
He has additionally by no means sat in a Cup automobile earlier than this weekend, admitting: “I’d be mendacity to you if I wasn’t a bit of nervous about it.”
