Corey Heim untouchable in dominant NASCAR Truck win at Charlotte
Corey Heim now has 15 career NASCAR Truck Series wins, earning his fourth victory of the season in an absolutely dominant performance at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Heim swept the stages and led most of the race, cruising to the win. At the finish line, Heim was over six seconds clear of runner-up finisher Ross Chastain.
"It's nice to be far enough away where someone can't clean me out," said Heim, who has faced some bitter losses in other races where he was the clear favorite this year. He ended up leading 98 of 134 laps at Charlotte.
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"Just super thankful for TRICON Garage, Toyota -- this thing was obviously really good,' he said. 'I felt like we've had the speed in the last couple of years here, just haven't been able to get it done. Just such a good truck. Had to execute on my part. The pit crew did a great job. Just a really nice, clean day. Pumped up about this one. Feel like we gave a couple away the last two weeks, but we redeemed ourselves tonight."
Behind Heim and Chastain, Kaden Honeycutt finished third, Layne Riggs fourth, and Kyle Busch fifth. Grant Enfinger, Matt Mills, Daniel Hemric, Rajah Caruth, and Brandon Jones filled out the remainder of the top ten.
"Best in class," said Chastain when reflecting on his night. "Heck of an effort for Niece Motorsports across the board -- three (trucks) in the top seven. That's what we look for. We look for competition across all three trucks for Al [Niece, owner]. And Al is super happy to get a ton of points and just have fast trucks."
Speaking more on Heim, he added: "They're the best in the field right now. None of us had anything for them. The #7 [Busch], the #34 [Riggs] -- we're all racing amongst each other. Heck of a race back there with us."
The run to the finish
Corey Heim, TRICON Garage Toyota
Corey Heim, TRICON Garage Toyota
James Gilbert / Getty Images
James Gilbert / Getty Images
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At the start of the final stage, it was actually Honeycutt in control after beating Heim off pit road. On restarts, the battle for the lead was frantic and this was no different as Heim cleared Honeycutt, only to then have to fight Chastain for the lead.
Soon after, the first and only wreck of the night took place as Gio Ruggiero got into Chandler Smith. Smith collided with Ty Majeski and both trucks spun wildly down the frontstretch. Connor Mosack also wrecked trying to avoid the incident.
The race resumed with 57 laps to go, which wasn't quite within the fuel window. As Heim drove away from the field, Riggs and Honeycutt were the first to dive to pit road with 31 laps to go. Heim wasn't going to let them enjoy a nice undercut, pitting the very next lap and bringing Cup drivers Busch and Chastain with him.
However, some trucks chose to push the run as far as they could in hopes of finding a lucky caution. Caruth led the race until he finally pitted with 20 laps to go as that caution never came.
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Heim reclaimed the lead with over five seconds between him and Chastain, slowly building on it over the course of the final 20 laps.
Read Also:
Cleetus McFarland apologizes after causing ARCA pileup at Charlotte
Four NASCAR Cup stars who will reach major career milestones in the Coke 600
William Byron signs extension to remain with Hendrick through 2029
20 years later: Remembering the wildest Coke 600 in NASCAR history
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