Corey Heim did the unthinkable as a part-time driver and won at San Diego and at Indianapolis. Technically, he should’ve been leading the Rookie of the Year standings. In the coming season, he’ll get his full-time Cup ride with 23XI Racing. The one thing he will never get is a shot at Rookie of the Year, and the reason comes down to a rule NASCAR apparently forgot to tell anyone about. Insider Andrew Kurland broke it down.

“Corey Heim will not be eligible for Rookie of the Year next season. The limit is 12 starts. Heim is at 15, and he’s not eligible for this season because he didn’t sign up for Cup Series Rookie of the Year this season,” Kurland stated. “Which is ironic because Zilisch just passed him in the points in the owner points, so Corey Heim actually was leading what would have been the Rookie of the Year standings had he declared for this year,” he said on Hauler Talk.

Here is some important context. Heim’s 15 starts are scattered across three seasons: three starts in 2024, four in 2025, and eight so far in 2026. He races part-time in Cup while running a similar schedule in the Truck Series. Come 2027, he takes over the No. 35 Toyota full-time.

NASCAR Vice President of Racing Communications Mike Forde confirmed the rule is simple: more than 12 Cup starts before your declaration year and you are done. 23XI Racing also missed the 2026 application window entirely. Co-owner Denny Hamlin said the team had no clue this limit existed when they were building Heim’s schedule.

Forde also admitted earlier on the Hauler Talk podcast that the old system had become too confusing.

“I think seven (starts) was always out there of if you passed that threshold of seven, then the NASCAR rookie committee would be able to have a discussion,” Forde said. “They could say, ‘OK, he had eight, or he had nine or 10. He didn’t go that far above it. But I think last year or the year before we kind of put a line in the sand and said, ‘Hey, let’s make it easy for everybody,’ because it did get for a good while there a little bit confusing on not understanding how this person is a rookie with 20 starts last year or whatever.”

When Kurland deliberated on this problem, he came up with a precedent, somewhere it has already happened.

“Ryan Blaney ran 18 Cup races before his rookie year in 2016. Ty Gibbs ran 15 in 2022, was eligible for the 2023 rookie year. I want to know when did this change, and why can’t we just keep consistent on this rule? That’s my biggest gripe with it. To me I don’t like this whatsoever. I mean, what are we doing here? Why can’t Corey Heim be our Rookie of the Year candidate for next year?”

But that is not all. Just last year, Shane van Gisbergen made 14 Cup starts before starting his official 2025 rookie campaign. He successfully claimed ROTY honors. For NASCAR to penalize Heim for hitting 15 starts immediately after giving van Gisbergen a pass for 14 starts is exactly why 23XI Racing felt blindsided.

Connor Zilisch is now the only eligible candidate for the 2026 award.

For Heim, this is affecting the prestige of the award. Following the recent Truck Series race at Richmond, he let his frustrations about a system that excludes the fastest first-year driver be known.

“My only problem with it really is, you’re sort of losing value to that award,” Heim said. “If you want that award to mean something, if you’re giving somebody a trophy and you say, ‘Here you go, you’re the best rookie’—are you really? Or are you not? If you’re gonna give someone a trophy and take a picture, make it worth something, and it’s losing its value.”

NASCAR has not signaled any plans to revisit the decision. Heim goes into 2027 with two wins and no rookie title. The award goes to whoever is left standing. Neither outcome reflects particularly well on the people who made the call.