Heim Wins Again As Playoff Drama Unfolds Behind Him

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — While Corey Heim continued his propensity for sweeping stages and races, a missed shift Friday at Martinsville Speedway likely cost Layne Riggs a chance to race for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship.

Heim won both stages in the Slim Jim 200 on the way to his 11th victory of the season, extending his own series record. The driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota led a race-high 77 laps and beat Kaden Honeycutt to the finish line by 0.451 seconds in overtime.

The real drama in the elimination race took place immediately behind the race winner. Honeycutt finished a career-best second, the position he needed to oust Riggs from the Playoffs on a tiebreaker that rewards the best finish in a given Playoff round.

Riggs came home third, followed by non-Playoff drivers Brent Crews and Corey LaJoie. Defending series champion Ty Majeski (seventh) and Tyler Ankrum (ninth) secured the remaining two berths in the Oct. 31 Championship 4 finale at Phoenix Raceway—by one point over Honeycutt and Riggs.

Fastest in practice, Riggs won the pole and led the first 27 laps, but after the second caution of the evening for fluid on the track, Riggs missed a shift on the ensuing Lap 29 restart and fell to sixth in the running order.

As the race neared conclusion, Honeycutt engineered a masterful restart from the fifth position on Lap 186, gained the front row when Crews chose to line up behind Heim, his teammate, for a restart on Lap 192 and held the second spot—and the one critical point he needed—through the overtime finish.

In the wild two-lap overtime, Riggs beat Crews to the finish line but couldn’t catch Honeycutt.

“I was dejected even when I thought we were in (the Championship 4) at first,” said Riggs, a three-time winner this year. “I just don’t like racing that way, man. I’m hearing, ‘Gotta get one (position), gotta get one,’ and everybody knows how it is.

“If I’ve got the opportunity to get in for my team, I’m going to do it, even if I don’t want to do it … It all kind of started with that missed shift on that restart. I’m not really sure what happened. I’ve never missed a shift in a truck my whole career.

“We do have some new transmissions. I guess I’m just not quite used to them yet. I’m pretty upset about that. I think things could have been a lot different.”

Honeycutt, who took over the No. 52 Toyota from injured Stewart Friesen at Richmond in August, was elated to finish on the positive side a breathtakingly close battle for the final three Championship 4 spots.

“Oh, man, we get to go next week,” said Honeycutt, who was released from his ride at Niece Motorsports after his plans to change teams surfaced. “I very easily should have been at home watching this race…

“I get to go and carry this race team (Halmar-Friesen Racing) to Phoenix next week to have some fun and see if we can contend for that championship.”

Heim, who already had qualified for the championship race, simply wanted to maintain momentum into the final week of the season.

“I don’t want to jump to any conclusions yet,” Heim said of his title prospects. “We’ve got a big race next week…

“We wanted to capitalize on our day and make the best of it. Once we got out front, we showed that we really had something to work with here. We’ve got a big one next week to close it out. It’s going to be tough, but I’m confident we can do it.”

Two Playoff contenders saw their hopes of advancing to the Championship 4 evaporate long before the race ended. On Lap 73, side-by-side contact with Honeycutt’s Toyota cut the left rear tire on Rajah Caruth’s Chevrolet.

Caruth slowed suddenly and spun in Turn 1, crashing into the outside wall with enough force to knock him out of the race. Having entered the elimination event 14 points above the cut line, Caruth was suddenly out of the running for the title.

“We were in a really good spot, but it is what it is,” said Caruth, who had finished ninth in the first stage. “We’ll keep pushing, and the sun will come up tomorrow. It sucks now, but that’s part of it.”

Daniel Hemric, who came to Martinsville realistically needing a victory to advance, sustained significant damage to both ends of his No. 19 Chevrolet when he was sandwiched on the on Lap 29 restart when Riggs missed the shift.

Hemric’s truck began overheating, and after losing two laps under repairs, he failed to score points in either of the first two stages. The beneficiary under two cautions, Hemric regained the lead lap but his winning chances — and hopes for a Championship 4 berth — were gone.

On Lap 166, Hemric took his truck to the garage, dropping out of the race in 31st place.

Also eliminated from Championship 4 eligibility was Grant Enfinger, who entered the race 40 points below the elimination line and finished 12th.