Corey Heim nearly leads wire-to-wire in winning at Lime Rock Park
Corey Heim's victory in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series' debut at Lime Rock Park wasn't just a case of domination. It was an eyelash away from perfection. HT Image
Heim led 99 of 100 laps at the 1.478-mile road course in bucolic Lakeville, Connecticut, to win the LiUNA! 150 his fifth victory of the season and the 16th of his career.
The only lap Heim failed to lead came on a restart with five laps left, after Matt Mills ran off course and stalled near Turn 1 on Lap 90. Layne Riggs beat Heim to the start/finish line on Lap 96 but drove hard into the first corner and stacked up the field behind him, scrambling positions two through five.
Aside from the one lap he didn't lead, Heim's performance was the model of consistent excellence. The driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota posted the fastest lap of the race on his second circuit , swept both stages, and posted dramatic margins over his closest pursuers in each of the first two segments.
Heim is the first driver in Truck Series history to win three-straight road- course races, having triumphed at Mid-Ohio in 2023 and Circuit of the Americas last year.
"Yeah, that was nothing short of incredible," Heim acknowledged. "These road courses-I really look forward to them, pre-event and whatnot, and I really prepare for them, so to see all that pay off with Safelite, TRICON, Toyota, it's super special.
"Obviously, the truck was so good today. I can't complain one bit about that. A flawless day and we will take that and move forward and try and collect some wins that we should have had this year."
Reigning series champion Ty Majeski was the beneficiary of Riggs' aggressive charge into Turn 1 on the final restart. Majeski inherited the runner-up position and crossed the finish line 1.381 seconds behind Heim.
"Honestly, we struggled with the truck a little bit to fire off," Majeski said. "We kept getting it better progressively each and every run. So, got it close at the end, had a shot at Corey and probably got a little over-zealous in Turn 4, hit the curb and kind of ruined my shot to make him a least a little nervous and try to force him into a mistake.
"From there, he just got too much breathing room and was kind of able to do his thing. Overall, really good day. This is the point when I want to turn our season around-going to IRP , Watkins Glen and Richmond next. Three really good tracks for us, so I'm excited for this Playoff stretch."
Rookie Giovanni Ruggiero ran third, followed by Ben Rhodes and Australian Cam Waters, as ThorSport Racing put three drivers in the top five .
Riggs fell to 12th during the Turn 1 melee and finished 13th. Road course ace Jordan Taylor, who finished third in the first two stages, dropped to 20th at the finish.
Heim started from the pole and led all 35 laps in Stage 1, building an advantage of 7.065 seconds over second-place Riggs at the first green/checkered flag. Third-place Taylor, a star in the sportscar ranks, was 14.051 seconds in arrears at the first stage break.
After Lap 37, the race trucks came to pit road for a controlled stop under red-flag conditions. The restart on Lap 40 brought no changes at the front of the field. Heim cleared Riggs through the first two corners and quickly expanded his advantage over the second-place truck.
The second stage mirrored the first. Heim beat Riggs to the finish line by 7.281 seconds, with Taylor in third trailing by 14.286 seconds. The two stage wins were the 13th and 14th for Heim this season.
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race - LIUNA 150
1. Corey Heim, Toyota, 100. 2. Ty Majeski, Ford, 100. 3. Giovanni Ruggiero #, Toyota, 100. 4. Ben Rhodes, Ford, 100. 5. Cam Waters, Ford, 100. 6. Chandler Smith, Ford, 100. 7. Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 100. 8. Brent Crews, Toyota, 100. 9. Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 100. 10. Tyler Ankrum, Chevrolet, 100. 11. Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 100. 12. Kaden Honeycutt, Chevrolet, 100. 13. Layne Riggs, Ford, 100. 14. Tanner Gray, Toyota, 100. 15. Thomas Annunziata, Chevrolet, 100. 16. Connor Mosack #, Chevrolet, 100. 17. Andres Perez De Lara #, Chevrolet, 100. 18. Ben Maier, Chevrolet, 100. 19. Matt Crafton, Ford, 100. 20. Jordan Taylor, Chevrolet, 100. 21. Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 100. 22. Jack Wood, Chevrolet, 100. 23. Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 100. 24. Jake Garcia, Ford, 99. 25. Timmy Hill, Toyota, 98. 26. Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 98. 27. William Lambros, Ford, 98. 28. Frankie Muniz #, Ford, 98. 29. Toni Breidinger #, Toyota, 98. 30. Dawson Sutton #, Chevrolet, 96. 31. Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 92. 32. Dale Quarterley, Chevrolet, Electrical, 91. 33. Wesley Slimp, Toyota, Ignition, 90. 34. Alex Labbe, Ford, Rear Gear, 34.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 71.651 mph. Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 3 Mins, 46 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.381 Seconds. Caution Flags: 3 for 13 laps. Lead Changes: 2 among 2 drivers. Lap Leaders: C. Heim 1-94;L. Riggs 95;C. Heim 96-100. Leaders Summary : Corey Heim 2 times for 99 laps; Layne Riggs 1 time for 1 lap. Stage #1 Top Ten: 11,34,7,1,81,45,38,71,98,07 Stage #2 Top Ten: 11,34,7,81,38,45,98,07,71,9
By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
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