COREY HEIM OF MARIETTA, GEORGIA IS YOUR 2025 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES CHAMPION

NASCAR Wire Service – Tricon Garage driver Corey Heim claimed the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title Friday night at Phoenix Raceway, capping a dominant year that saw the 23-year-old deliver perhaps the best season in series history.

The No. 11 Toyota pilot bested fellow Championship 4 drivers Ty Majeski, Tyler Ankrum and Kaden Honeycutt, ending a historic championship-winning year that resulted in him breaking Greg Biffle’s record for most wins (nine) in a single Truck Series season. His win at Phoenix, in the most dramatic way possible in NASCAR Overtime, was his 12th victory in 25 races this season. It may have been the most dramatic win, too. And the most clutch.

Heim was dominant early, winning the opening stages before a series of late cautions put his title bid in serious jeopardy. A wreck in the closing laps of the race brought out the caution flag and sent all of the Championship 4 drivers to pit road, but only Heim took four tires. Having led most of the race, Heim found himself restarting 10th with just two laps to go after his slower stop.

But the Marietta, Georgia native delivered the restart of his life, firing off fast and dropping as low on the track as possible. The result was a seven-wide frenzy that brought Heim to second place behind the trailing Majeski, before a wreck behind them brought out another caution prior to the final lap.

That set up a final restart, where Heim – with his four fresh tires – powered around Majeski and pulled away to cap his all-timer season.

“I don’t care if I was on 100-lap tires, nobody was going to beat me tonight,” Heim said after climbing from his truck. “It wasn’t going to happen. We struggled all weekend in practice a little bit. In qualifying we missed it a little bit. You can always trust (crew chief) Scott (Zipadelli) up on the box to do everything he can to put me in position to win the race. That’s what he did.

“Drove it in deep until I couldn’t anymore. Drove away with it. Just insane. I’m so grateful, so thankful for everyone involved. A laundry list of people that have put me in this spot and allowed me to execute. So grateful to be here.”

Majeski finished second place in his bid for a repeat championship, with Honeycutt in third and Ankrum – who never quite found his footing this weekend – finishing 14th.

In his third full season in the Truck Series, this was Heim’s third time advancing to the final round of the playoffs. During his Championship 4 debut in 2023, Heim was spun out by fellow title contender Carson Hocevar while battling for the top spot among the drivers in the final four.

Then, Heim later made contact with Hocevar, ending his championship rival’s race and leaving both drivers out of contention for the hardware.

Last year, Heim made the Championship 4 again and improved his spot in the final standings to runner-up, a spot behind 2024 series champion Majeski. Now, a year later, he’s the 2025 Truck Series champion.

Here’s the final tally of Heim’s year: 12 wins (most all-time in a season), 23 stage wins (most ever), 19 top five finishes (most ever) and 1,627 laps led (most ever). His win Friday was his 23rd in series history, moving him ahead of Todd Bodine into sixth place on the all-time list.

Looking ahead to 2026, it remains to be seen whether Heim continues to add on to his Truck Series legacy with a title-defending campaign or receives a promotion to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (currently known as the Xfinity Series) or Cup Series.

During his 2025 championship-winning season, Heim, who is a 23XI Racing development driver and one of the most talented young prospects in NASCAR, balanced his full-time duties in the Truck Series with select Xfinity and Cup races.

His most notable result outside of Truck Series competition was a sixth-place finish in the Bristol Night Race behind the wheel of the No. 67 23XI Toyota in the Cup Series. He also finished eighth in the Xfinity Series spring race at Bristol in the No. 24 Sam Hunt Racing Toyota.

Regardless of what his future holds, the No. 11 Tricon Garage driver’s 2025 Truck Series season will be celebrated as one of the most dominant seasons in the year of “Heim Time.”