NASCAR Star ‘Ambushed,’ Repeatedly Punched by Rival Team After Race
NASCAR driver Corey Heim was involved in a heated incident at Martinsville Speedway following a race where he narrowly lost the ValleyStar Credit Union 300.after making contact with rival Treyten lapcevich during the race, Heim finished second, with Lapcevich taking third. Post-race, tensions escalated as Heim and Lapcevich continued to make contact, resulting in both cars sustaining damage. The situation worsened when Heim tried to retreat from lapcevich’s racing team members,leading to a physical altercation involving team owner Chad Bryant,who threw punches at Heim. Heim was punched multiple times, had to cover his head, and was eventually separated by police. Heim posted a photo of a damaged hot dog stand sign he took after the fight, jokingly referring to it as his “office piece.” Both drivers shared their perspectives: Heim described the incident as hard racing that got out of hand, while Lapcevich expressed disappointment in Heim’s aggressive driving. Despite their differences, Heim maintains a good relationship with Bryant, with whom he has raced before. The incident was widely shared on social media,highlighting the intense emotions and chaotic aftermath of the race.
NASCAR driver Corey Heim was captured on film being punched multiple times by a team rival after narrowly losing the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 over the weekend.
Toward the end of Saturday’s race at Martinsville Speedway, Heim made contact with Treyten Lapcevich, allowing Caden Kvapil to pull out a victory, according to Above the Yellow Line.
Heim and Lapcevich continued making contact for the duration of the lap, with Heim ultimately finishing second and Lapcevich taking third.
Soon after, Heim and Lapcevich made more contact after the race was already over, with both cars taking heavy damage.
Then things got testy near the infield as Heim tried backing away from members of Lapcevich’s racing team. Even team owner Chad Bryant approached Heim and began throwing punches.
Heim tried to calm things down and began backing away, but was pushed up against a hot dog stand menu sign as people grabbed at his clothes and punched him.
Heim was struck various times and, at one point, had to cover his head before police intervened and broke up the melee.
Longer video of Chad Bryant Racing jumping Corey Heim
From Buddy Pulley on pic.twitter.com/QpuGwXUltF
— Matt Spalding (@MattJBasketball) September 27, 2026
Ironically, Heim reportedly has a good relationship with Bryant, having driven for him in the past.
Heim later posted on social media about the incident, and took home a dented hot dog stand menu sign that was scuffed up during the fight.
New office piece. Poor thing took a beating this weekend pic.twitter.com/FLIoApvxq7
— Corey Heim (@CoreyHeim_) September 28, 2026
“New office piece,” he wrote on X. “Poor thing took a beating this weekend.”
Above the Yellow Line reported on comments from both Heim and Lapcevich, each of whom told their side of the story.
“He hit me under the curb,” Heim recalled. “We were racing for the win. I thought he was going to jack up the No.88, I was gonna jack up him and I thought it was just hard racing. It didn’t work out but at the end of the day I thought he was going to lift the No.88 up like he did the previous lap.”
Heim added, “I can’t see what he’s seeing. Then he tried to pin me under the curb and kept turning left and then my right front hopped his left front and destroyed a perfectly good racecar so props to him, that’s really classy.”
Lapcevich addressed the incident saying, “Corey’s a good driver, obviously.”
“You can’t argue that and he knew if he got into me there, neither one of us had a shot at a clock,” he added. “I’m disappointed in him as a driver. I’m not really sure what his plans were there and then killing our car after the checkered too. You saw how Corey raced everyone all race long… how he raced Caden. Those cars were obviously trying to pass him clean and he obviously wasn’t the fastest car but Corey would just door them down the straightaway and then when I was passing him, he jacked us up. We don’t race like that.”
“I’m not sure if he comes in thinking he should win or has to win but this is the best Late Model Stock field in the country and a lot of people in that field deserve a shot,” Lapcevich concluded. “So yeah, disappointing for sure.”
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