Despite some difficult competition this weekend at Watkins Glen International, Corey Heim continues to be the leader when it comes to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on the road courses.
The Marietta, Georgia-native captured the pole for Friday’s Mission 176 at the 2.45-mile road course, posting a blazing lap time of 70.953 seconds (124.308mph) to capture his 11th pole in the NASCAR Truck Series.
“I think the bus stop, for the most part, I’ve been struggling to get into a rhythm through there, it’s such a technical corner, and I wasn’t rolling enough speed through there on my first lap,” Heim said. “I can’t believe how much grip we picked up in qualifying in general, just everyone, really, lap time wise. Just kind of had to adjust my speed and how much roll speed I wanted to carry in the center there. Sort of missed Turn 1 a bit there, but by the looks of it, I maintained. I was worried about that, but I thought I got through the bus stop really well.”
In the process, the 23-year-old defeated some heavy-hitters, including multiple NASCAR Cup Series drivers who will be taking on double-duty this weekend at Watkins Glen.
STARTING LINEUP: 2025 NCTS Mission 176 at Watkins Glen
Heim was able to hold a two-tenths-of-a-second advantage over Christopher Bell, who will start the No. 52 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro on the outside of the front row. Bell is filling in for Stewart Friesen, who was injured in a big block modified incident at the end of July.
Spire Motorsports teammates, Sammy Smith and Andres Perez de Lara, will roll from the second row in Friday’s 72-lap contest from Watkins Glen International, with fellow rookie Gio Ruggiero rounding out the top five for TRICON Garage.
Layne Riggs, the most recent winner in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, will be rolling from sixth, with NASCAR Cup Series driver Ross Chastain in seventh. Chandler Smith, Ben Rhodes, and Connor Mosack completed the top-10 in qualifying.
Connor Zilisch, the only driver set to run triple-duty in the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series events at Watkins Glen, was quickest in practice driving the No. 45 for Niece Motorsports, but qualified a disappointing 14th.
Other notables qualifying outside of the top-10 include Kyle Busch (11th), Tyler Ankrum (13th), William Sawalich (16th), Daniel Hemric (17th), Parker Kligerman (18th), Brent Crews (19th), Rajah Caruth (20th), Chris Buescher (21st).
Grant Enfinger, Ty Majeski, Frankie Muniz, Kaden Honeycutt, and Gian Buffomante all did not take a time and will start Friday’s 72-lap event from 32nd through 36th.
