There were fireworks on and off the track at Martinsville Speedway at the weekend with rising NASCAR star Corey Heim finding himself at the center of the action.
Heim, who races for Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin’s 23XI Racing, was shockingly jumped by his rival’s team following the conclusion of the ValleyStar Credit Union 300.
Heim and Treyten Lapcevich had fought a fierce battle for second place behind Caden Kvapil in the final laps of Saturday’s race, ending in simmering tensions between the two.
As they attempted to edge one another out, Heim appeared to hit the rear of Lapcevich’s vehicle allowing Kvapil to pass him for the win.
Even after the checkered flag, the tensions continued to rise as Lapcevich, apparently not pleased with how Heim raced him, ran into the right side of Heim’s No. 22 Toyota into turn 1 of the cool down lap.
In response, Heim then drove up over the left front end of Lapcevich’s car, leaving both vehicles effectively destroyed.
NASCAR star Corey Heim was jumped by members of the Chad Bryant Racing team
Punches were thrown by the team, including owner Chad Bryant, as he was forced into a sign
Lapcevich exited his vehicle and appeared to be making his way over to Heim to confront him when he was intercepted by his team owner, Chad Bryant.
Instead, Bryant and his team members took matters into their own hands, shockingly jumping Heim by a hot dog stand at the track.
The members of Chad Bryant Racing team confronted Heim before throwing punches with the driver forced back against the sign behind him.
Heim later shared a photo of himself in the aftermath of the altercation to social media, writing: ‘Solid effort, but at least make it count next time.’
He also revealed that he took home the hot dog menu sign as a memento of the occasion, hanging it up on his wall.
‘New office piece,’ the post’s caption read. ‘Poor thing took a beating this weekend.’
‘I really don’t know. He tried to smush me into the curb and then my tire hopped his tire,’ Heim said of his on-track collision with Lapcevich, via NASCAR.
‘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.’
The incident came after Heim (pictured) battle Chad Bryant racer Treyten Lapcevich for second
Rising star Heim races for Michael Jordan (pictured) and Denny Hamlin’s 23XI Racing
Meanwhile, despite his team’s violent actions, Lapcevich claimed that he has no interest in fighting.
He insisted that he was simply making his way over to his opponent to talk about the collision following the finish line.
‘I was pretty calm even by the time I got to our pit stall there,’ he said, per Short Track Scene. ‘I mean, just disappointed, obviously.’
‘Disappointed in Corey as a racer, a person. Obviously, angry about what he did on the track there,’ he continued. ‘He was running into everyone all night. Like, you saw him, how he was racing with Caden, how he was racing with Lee. Like, Cup guy or not, it doesn’t matter to me, and we’re all the same out here when we get to the track.’
It marked the second NASCAR fight in as many weeks after Carson Hocevar and Ryan Blaney came to blows earlier this month.
Tensions boiled over after Hocevar made contact with Blaney in the closing stages of the race, causing his No.12 car to spin out of second place.
Blaney was unable to finish the race, with his 33rd place finish a big blow to his championship hopes. Hocevar ended up battling with Ty Gibbs for the win, but they made contact with six laps remaining allowing Blaney’s teammate, Joey Logano, to take the win while Hocevar finished third.
As soon as the race finished and Hocevar climbed out of his car, Blaney marched down pit road to confront him.
But as Blaney shoved Hocevar, the Spire Motorsports driver swung a punch with his right hand, connecting with Blaney’s face.
Other team members soon became involved in the melee as the chaotic scenes played out on pit road.
