As the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series approaches its post-season, Corey Heim is widely considered to be the championship favorite this season. However, after an impressive victory in Saturday’s event at Mid-Ohio, his stock may have increased even more.
In a gauntlet-style event, which can only be described as pure chaos, the TRICON Garage driver was able to keep himself in check and work himself back to the lead, after scoring another pole position at the 2.258-mile road course.
A native of Marietta, Georgia, Heim was able to keep himself in the conversation for the victory throughout the entire afternoon, as drivers struggled to navigate the tricky on-track conditions.
The 36-driver field was required to start Saturday’s 67-lap contest on wet weather tires, after heavy rain plagued the Lexington, Ohio area throughout the morning, keeping the track extremely moist.
For Heim, things really started to fall into his lap when the wet weather tires were removed from the equation, at the end of the race’s first stage, leaving the field to battle it out in the conditions they practiced in Friday.
Slicing his way through a three-truck battle for the lead between Ty Majeski, Ben Rhodes, and Zane Smith, Heim took over the lead of the race with 26 laps remaining, running a mistake-free final stint to capture his second win of the year.
Though, the remainder of the field didn’t exactly understand the ‘mistake-free’ objective.
Over the course of Saturday’s 150-mile contest, there were at least 42 separate on-track incidents, which saw the majority of the field take on some form of damage, either cosmetically or mechanically.
In fact, Heim, the race’s eventual winner, was one of – at most – eight drivers that weren’t involved in any incident over the course of the event, joined by Chase Purdy, Matt Mills, Grant Enfinger, Matt DiBenedetto, Dale Quarterley, Stewart Friesen, and Timmy Hill.
Included in the high volume of incidents was one between ThorSport Racing teammates Ben Rhodes and Ty Majeski, who got together while battling for second place with less than 25 laps remaining.
However, the biggest accident of the afternoon would come inside the race’s final 10 laps, when Rajah Caruth was turned around by Ty Majeski in the first corner, collecting a total of seven trucks, including Dean Thompson, Will Rodgers, and Bret Holmes.
By the time the dust settled in the race’s final laps, it was Heim who held a one-second lead over Zane Smith, who finished runner-up in this race for the second consecutive season, after losing to Parker Kligerman in 2022.
Christian Eckes came home in third place, after a relatively quiet afternoon in the middle of Ohio, while Stewart Friesen came home in fourth place, an impressive result considering he started at the back after crashing in practice.
Rounding out the top-five with ThorSport Racing driver Ben Rhodes, who was collected in the aforementioned incident between himself and teammate Ty Majeski, who would come home in seventh. Matt Crafton, another ThorSport driver, was sandwiched between them in sixth.
Matt DiBenedetto pulled out another top-10 result for Rackley WAR, finishing in eighth place, while Nick Sanchez and Tyler Ankrum came home in ninth and 10th. All three drivers are involved in the fight to make the postseason.
Leaving Mid-Ohio, Heim has a stranglehold on the regular-season championship with only two races until the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs, holding a 26-point lead over Zane Smith in second place.
Ty Majeski, Ben Rhodes, and Grant Enfinger complete the top five in point standings heading to the series’ next event at Pocono Raceway, the penultimate event of the regular season.
Results: O’Reilly Auto Parts 150 at Mid Ohio
Race Results: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 150 at Mid-Ohio
