Corey Heim Secures Mid-Ohio Pole; Third Truck Pole of 2023

Corey Heim pole NASCAR Truck Series Mid-Ohio 2023 O'Reilly Auto Parts 150 — Corey Heim scored his third pole of the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season with a great lap in Friday’s qualifying session at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Photo Credit: Christopher Fisher, TobyChristie.com

Practice and qualifying for Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 150 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course have been completed. Series point leader Corey Heim has scored the pole position for the event with a fast lap of 86.137 sec., which equates to a 94.371 mph average speed around the 2.258-mile road course in Lexington, Ohio.

This marks the third pole of the 2023 season for Heim, and the fifth pole of the 21-year-old’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career.

After qualifying, Heim took time to reflect on his growing confidence at Mid-Ohio.

“Last year, as you mentioned we sat on the pole in the wet, and this year in the dry. That really I think is a show of the hard work I’ve put in personally on this track,” Heim stated. “It actually used to be one of my worst tracks. Just kind of preparing for it in ARCA, and the simulator and stuff. To come here and back it up from last year is a special feeling. But last year I could have done a lot better. [I] look back at last year, and to improve on it this year is a big thing for me. I’ve had this race circled on the calendar. So, to come here and start the weekend off right is a big deal for me.”

Ty Majeski will line up alongside Heim on the front row after turning the second-fastest lap in qualifying. Majeski was 0.291 sec. off the fast time set by Heim.

Rookie Nick Sanchez and Christian Eckes will make up row two of the starting grid for Saturday’s NASCAR Truck Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 150, while Grant Enfinger, Tanner Gray, Marco Andretti, William Sawalich, Jack Wood, and Zane Smith will round out the top-10 starters for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 150 at Mid-Ohio.

Mid-Ohio is a tricky track that caused issues for a couple of drivers through practice and qualifying. Stewart Friesen collided with the Turn 12 tire barrier in practice and was unable to make a qualifying lap as a result.

Notably, McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s Jake Garcia and Reaume Brothers Racing’s No.34 driver of Caleb Costner found themselves in the sand pit during qualifying. Will Rodgers also spun in qualifying, but was able to keep his No. 02 Young’s Motorsports truck out of the sand pit.

Both Reaume Brothers Racing entries piloted by Josh Reaume and Costner failed to qualify for the event.

While Corey Heim is on pole, Ben Rhodes led the way in practice for Saturday’s race with a fast lap of 87.767 sec. Other drivers who impressed in practice were Carson Hocevar, Nick Sanchez, Christian Eckes, and Ty Majeski.

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Taylor Kitchen

Taylor Kitchen found her passion for motorsports after watching a NASCAR Xfinity Series race with her grandma in 2016. The following year, she would attend her first race at Kentucky Speedway. The smell of the gas and roar of the engines filling her ears was enough to solidify her love of the sport. She spent the next few years working her way into the NASCAR online community and researching as much as she could to gain a vast knowledge of the sport. However, something was bothering her. At the time, Taylor struggled to find content within the space that was female-led and came from the perspective of a new fan. This inspired her to create her own media outlet, “Above The Yellow Line” in 2021. On this platform, Taylor writes, films, edits, and markets high-quality videos discussing the latest news and events from the sport. In April of 2022, her company partnered with the prominent NASCAR media outlet TobyChristie.com to provide them social media content and to report on location during select race weekends. Since then, Taylor has been able to help build TobyChristie.com's YouTube audience to well over four thousand subscribers and continues to help expand the company's social reach with her team. 2022 marked a new era for the brand as Taylor expanded ATYL’s capabilities to help various drivers with their communications, public relations, digital media, and marketing. In June of that year, she was hired by ARCA Series Champion, Austin Theriault to work for his driver development program, "AT Racing Development". As the organization's Director of Digital Marketing and Media, she produces and directs her clients tailor-made social media strategies. She also takes part in marketing efforts for her drivers. In May of 2023, Austin Theriault of AT Racing Development partnered with Team Hornaday Development and brought Taylor to the team as their Communications Manager. Working with Ron and Candice Hornaday, Taylor helps direct their drivers social media strategy and PR efforts. She also partakes in company and driver marketing and recruiting efforts