COREY HEIM WINS HIS 7th RACE AT RICHMOND

COREY HEIM OF MARIETTA, GA WINS HIS 7th RACE AT RICHMOND – MOTORSPORT AMERICA FILE PHOTO

With the victory, Heim becomes the youngest driver in series history to get to 18 career wins, breaking Kyle Busch’s record.

RICHMOND, Va. – Corey Heim earned a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ best seventh victory of the season in the eero 250 at Richmond Raceway Friday night, but this first short-track victory for the Regular Season Champion took a fast Toyota truck, some real perseverance and a bit of racing good fortune.

The 23-year-old Marietta, Georgia native started from pole position in the series’ regular-season finale on the historic three-quarter mile venue, but he quickly had to deal with his front-row starting mate, Ty Majeski, who pressed him all night. Majeski swept both stage wins and his race-best 143 of the 250 laps out front was more laps led than he turned in the entire season.

Ultimately, Majeski’s shot at his first win of the year suffered a setback when he was collected in an incident with his ThorSport Racing teammate Matt Crafton while leading late in the race.

Although Majeski recovered and raced forward, Heim, who led 75 laps himself in the No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota, got to the front when it mattered most and drove away — taking the lead for good with 20 laps remaining and then holding off the reigning series champ Majeski by 0.923 seconds at the checkered flag.

With the victory, Heim becomes the youngest driver in series history to get to 18 career wins, breaking Kyle Busch’s record.

“Felt like we were the best truck at [short tracks] Martinsville and North Wilkesboro, but they got away from us and we kind of got this one back,” Heim said of his short track struggles this season. “I didn’t feel like we were the best truck tonight. I feel like the 98 [Majeski] was really stout, but obviously had a run-in and got some damage.

“Being there when it counted was the first goal and we were and just able to execute from there.”

The race formally set the 10-driver playoff field. Heim, Layne Riggs, Chandler Smith of Talking Rock, Georgia, Daniel Hemric, Tyler Ankrum and Rajah Caruth advanced to the six-race playoffs via victories. Majeski, Grant Enfinger, Kaden Honeycutt and Jake Garcia topped the rest of the series in points to earn their championship chance.

The 20-year-old Garcia, from Monroe, Georgia had to hold off two-time series champion Ben Rhodes and highly touted rookie Gio Ruggiero for most of Friday night’s event. Ultimately, Garcia’s seventh-place finish was enough to give him a 19-point edge on Rhodes and a 31-point margin on Ruggiero, who made a valiant run, restarting second on that final restart with 35 laps remaining despite starting last in the 35-truck field.

“Just did my best to run a smart race the second half,” said Garcia, driver of the No. 13 ThorSport Racing Ford. “Even in the first half there were moments we were four-wide and that’s not gonna work out at Richmond. There were some points I had to bail out and lost a lot of spots on the restarts just being really conservative.

“But our truck was really fast and I think we could have finished top five. I want to thank all my guys. They worked really, really hard on this truck like they do all the trucks and gave me a really fast piece today.”

The Truck Series Playoffs will begin Saturday, Aug. 30, at Darlington Raceway (noon ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Cup Series regular Ross Chastain won the 2024 race at Darlington. This is the first year the historic track has hosted the series in a playoff contest.