Bubba Wallace Backs NASCAR Decision to Ban Corey Heim from 2027 ROTY Chase

NASCAR recently made a decision that received mixed reaction from the racing community. NASCAR vice president of racing communications, Mike Forde, confirmed that 23XI Racing’s Corey Heim will not be eligible for the Rookie of The Year trophy in the 2027 season, when he makes his full-time debut in Cup. 

The youngsters’ teammate Bubba Wallace seems to agree with the decision, as he backed the sanctioning body in the controversy. Talking to the media, he admitted that considering the racer has already won two races in Cup series, San Diego and Indy, it’s acceptable for the sport to limit his involvement. 

He’s won two races. Yes, he should not.

Bubba Wallace said at Richmond. 

One key reason Bubba Wallace is indifferent about his teammate being denied the opportunity is the fact that he doesn’t rate the ROTY trophy much. Corey Heim will win more meaningful championships in the coming years and a ROTY would’ve been nothing but an asterisk that few cares about. 

I mean, I don’t really know what Rookie of the Year does to your accomplishments. Just another little point on your resume. 

Bubba Wallace added via Frontstretch.

Later talking about the point, Wallace asserted that 23XI and Heim pushed the limit with 12+ starts already and the fact that he has raced multiple races in two successive years makes it hard to build a rookie narrative around him. The No:23 TRD driver also admitted that he doesn’t think his teammate care much about the trophy. 

But yeah, when he was slated to run 12 races this year, that was kind of like, oh, that’s kind of pushing the limit. And on top of the ones that he already did last year. So, I don’t think he cares. Unless he visibly said that he was upset. 

Bubba Wallace asserted. 

Corey Heim broke silence on the controversy at Richmond 

As Bubba Wallace said Heim doesn’t seem to be as invested as many should’ve been if the opportunity was denied to them. He pointed out that the trophy might lose its value when there are too many restrictions over eligibility and the trophy is given out for the sake of it. But at the same time he isn’t going to lose any sleep over not being in the fight. 

That’s my thing: if you’re gonna give someone a trophy and take a picture, make it worth something, and it’s losing its value. But that’s just my opinion, and it’s not the end of the world; we’ll keep moving forward.

Corey Heim said. 

The comments form both the 23XI Racing star drivers shows most of the racers in the garage do not rate the ROTY trophy as much as they should. At the end of the day, the duo wants to win races for their team and it is more important than anything. It would be interesting to see who will win the title since Heim is out of the picture next year.

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