“Dumb by Both of Them!” Dale Earnhardt Jr. Refused to Give Corey Heim a Pass Over Martinsville Fight

One of the wildest moments of the 2026 NASCAR season happened last week when 23XI Racing driver Corey Heim was jumped by rival team boss and crew over on-track run-in with Treyten Lapcevich in the Martinsville Late Model Race. The incident got the attention of Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Talking about it on the Dirty Air podcast, Junior highlighted how it is good for the sport that Heim, who is already a two times Cup race winner is racing in the regional divisions bringing a lot of attention to the series.  Positive or negative the fight attracted a lot of new eyes to the late model scene.

Corey Heim and Treyten Lapcevich, two very obviously talented drivers. Corey Heim is a two-time Cup winner. It’s really cool when Corey Heim comes and races late model stock cars. He enjoys it. We do not see a lot of Cup-level talent coming down and racing short tracks anywhere. Now there’s some that do, and they should be celebrated. They draw a ton of attention to these races.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said on his podcast.

He then shifted his focus to the incident and explained how aggressive the two drivers, Corey Heim and Treyten Lapcevich were post-race leading to the whole drama post-race. It was a situation that could have been avoided if the duo decided to be matured about their beef.

They were duking it out. Everything that happened before the checkered flag was pretty aggressive, but it’s typical of Martinsville and typical of this 300. Everybody crosses the finish line. Get down into turn one. Treyten Lapcevich crowded Heim into the curb. And I’m not sure whether Treyten did this on purpose…

Dale Earnhardt Jr. added via Dirty Air.

Further talking about the point, he highlighted how the duo made some pretty stupid decisions post-race. Dale Eranhardt Jr. didn’t hesitate to call out Heim for fueling the fire that led to him getting jumped before the iconic Martinsville hot dog stand.

Heim monster trucks him full freaking throttle. He went full throttle. Just that alone would have been pretty stupid, but Corey threw full throttle. It jumps him ****** nose first into the outside wall. Under the cool down lap. Dumb by both of them. And so, they get out and that should have been the end of it. Now, they got two tore-up race cars.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. asserted.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. blasts Chad Bryant over Corey Heim fight

In the same podcast, Junior also talked about Chad Bryant and his crew, who did the dumbest action possible by jumping the young 23XI racer. The incident was way out line and though Dale Jr. respect Bryant for contribution to racing, this moment was unforgivable.

But this is many minutes after all of this **** went down. So, Chad Bryant and his guys ***** jumped Corey Heim. It’s all right there on the internet videos. And that was over the line way over the line. I know Chad. He’s raced in the CARS Tour. He’s raced in late model stocks for a long time. Very successful. I got a lot of good things to say about Chad, but not in that moment.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said.

The comments from the champion driver are on point and the majority in the NASCAR community agree with him. That’s why the community welcomed the indefinite suspension for everyone involved in the fight.

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