Heim talks 'brutal' timeframe to learn ahead of NASCAR Cup debut

Heim, 21, comPetes full-time in the NASCAR Truck Series, where he has won several races. But he is also the reserve driver for Legacy Motor Club so when Erik Jones suffered a back injury in a 70G crash at Talladega Superspeedway, Heim was called up to drive the car in his absence.

He has never competed in a NASCAR Cup Series race before, but will make his debut at the circuit commonly referred to as the 'Monster Mile' — Dover Motor Speedway. It is a challenging one-mile concrete track with aggressive banking and little margin for error. It's known for wild wrecks and multi-car pileups. In Saturday practice, there was already a vicious crash involving Kaz Grala, who was able to walk away.

Heim has yet to put a foot wrong, piloting the No. 43 LMC Toyota. His track time is extremely limited with just 20 minutes of practice, followed by qualifying. He ran 21 laps in practice, but was just 0.010s off his team-mate John-Hunter Nemechek on the time sheets.

With so few laps behind the wheel before the green flag waves, Heim is relying on everyone he can to make sure he is as prepared for Sunday's 400-lap slugfest. Among those advising him has been the sidelined Jones.

“It’s huge for sure," said Heim of Jones' help this week. "I think any good advice that I’ve gotten has been real crucial for me throughout the weekend. I think for us, we are just going to try to take it one step at a time. We’ve got the 20-minute practice and then qualifying. We are going to take it stage by stage there. It is certainly not going to be easy, but it is a longer race than I’ve been accustomed to with the Trucks and the Xfinity stuff, and I also have the Xfinity race as well to kind of lean on as well.

"I’ve got the time this weekend to sort of figure it out. I don’t know if I will feel that I’ve got it figured out by the end of the weekend, but any advice is super important. I’ve been reaching out to as many people as I possibly can to try to gather all of the information and try to have a decent idea. With these 20-minute practices, it is pretty brutal to wrap your head around a completely different kind of race car within that time frame, but my job is just to do the best I can for this 43 group and move forward from there.”

So far, Heim has adapted well enough. In qualifying, he actually beat Nemechek by 0.014s and will start 32nd on Sunday.

Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, who co-owns LMC, is driving a third entry this weekend at Dover. He led the way for the organization in both sessions, qualifying 27th. He has won 11 times at Dover, which is more than any other driver in History. 

Appreciating the moment

Although racing alongside a 7x champ and representing another in the iconic No. 43, it has been difficult for Heim to appreciate the moment he is on as he remains focused on the task at hand.

“Mentally, I’ve not been able to digest this quite yet," said Heim of his emotions ahead of the race. "It is definitely kind of a last second and big opportunity for me under unfortunate circumstances. It is definitely cool for me to be able to make my debut with the 43 group. I think they’ve been going the right direction and got a cool paint scheme on the car. I get to be teammates with Jimmie [Johnson] and John Hunter [Nemechek] – to do that is super cool ... I think when I reflect on it – it will be a really cool moment for me, but right now, I’m just focused on the present.”

He has also never sat in a Cup car before this weekend, admitting: "I would be lying to you if I wasn’t a little nervous about it."