INDIANAPOLIS, July 30 -- Denny Hamlin has started 18 races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He has never finished first. On Sunday afternoon, the driver who beat him to the checkered flag at the Brickyard 400 was sitting inside one of Hamlin's own cars.

Corey Heim, 24 years old and still without a full-time NASCAR Cup Series seat, went wide around his team co-owner on the final restart and held the outside line through a corner where most drivers would have conceded it. He kept the nose ahead. He led the final 35 laps, the car growing progressively loose in dirty air as the conditions across the 2.5-mile oval shifted beneath him, and crossed the finish line 0.287 seconds ahead of Christopher Bell to win the Brickyard 400.

The most celebr...