Corey Heim and Connor Zilisch are two highly talented prospects in NASCAR. However, their respective Cup journeys have been going in different directions. Heim recently fended off Christopher Bell and Joey Logano to take his second career Cup win. On the other end of the scale, Zilisch has been suffering a nightmare campaign. Recently, Heim spoke about how he has been adapting to the Cup Series while on a part-time schedule.

Corey Heim broke down what gives him an advantage over other rookies

Heim told Dustin Albino, “I think a little bit goes into just running the part-time schedule. Being able to sort of have gaps between each race. I feel like it’s pretty rare to see someone run this bridge year, as far as part-time Cup, to then go to full-time Cup. A lot of guys just go straight from O’Reilly’s or Trucks, straight to Cup full-time, without a lot of experience. Just being able to kind of debrief and think about each race and be very methodical on how to get better after each race. You have typically 2-3 weeks to do so, and then also prep for the next one, definitely makes a big difference. I can’t imagine guys that have limited starts in the Cup Series and go straight from a Truck or a O’Reilly car, right into a Cup car, for 39 or whatever weeks out of a year. That sounds pretty brutal to me. The fact that I’ve had this kind of schedule and been able to sort of mend into that full-time year has really helped me, I think.”

His comments definitely bring to mind the downward spiral that is Connor Zilisch’s campaign. Last season, he impressed many people by making a championship run and nearly won the title. So when he made his full-time debut in 2026, there were a lot of expectations. Unfortunately, he has seemingly struggled to deliver on those expectations. His best finish has been seventh place, which also happens to be his only top 10 finish in 2026. Otherwise, he has finished outside the top 20 in 16 of his 21 official championship races in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.

What Heim has on his side is experience as a 24-year-old, compared to Zilisch, a 20-year-old. The 23XI Racing driver observed that his path to the Cup Series was a lot different. Having said that, he will look to emulate drivers like William Byron, who won the 2016 Truck Series title with seven wins, then rapidly scaled Xfinity and the Cup Series to become a multi-race Cup winner. According to Heim, it was better to have around 2-3 weeks to prepare for each race and hone your craft. Going from a full-time Truck or O’Reilly’s Series to a full-time Cup campaign would be very strenuous. So Heim was quite fortunate to be given a part-time Cup gig so that he can slowly get used to the car before going full-time.

Connor Zilisch’s struggles might not really be his own fault

While many can attribute Zilisch’s rough campaign to him still being a rookie or rotten luck, there are other reasons. Chief among them lies with the Trackhouse Racing team itself as an organisation. In that three-car division, if only Zilisch were struggling, it could be chalked up to his inexperience. However, Ross Chastain has been relatively anonymous for most of the campaign, with four top 10 finishes and a best finish of third.

Shane van Gisbergen seems to be the only one who is trying to spare the team the blushes. The Kiwi driver does have two wins this season, both on road courses, as expected. However, he has also been showing signs of stepping up his game on ovals. Evidence of this was his fifth-place finish at the Nashville Superspeedway and the North Wilkesboro Speedway.