They say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. If you’re expecting anyone else to drive into victory lane in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series other than Corey Heim, get checked, because you may be clinically insane.
After yet another dominant performance in Friday afternoon’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Black’s Tire 200 at Rockingham Speedway, Heim was victorious, yet again.
Race Results: Black’s Tire 200 at Rockingham
While he did have to use some trickery with lapped traffic to keep Kaden Honeycutt, his hard-charging teammate, at bay in the closing laps, Heim was able to do just that as he was dealing with issues with his truck in the final few laps.
“Yeah, I don’t know. I didn’t feel like I was pushing any harder than the previous run, so, I didn’t feel like I did anymore damage to the right front (tire). But, all of a sudden, I think it was with four laps to go, my truck just started — I had to turn more right down the straightaway to keep it straight,” Heim explained. “My wheel was clocked like 20 degrees to the right, and then we started chattering really bad in the corners. I was like, ‘Oh, boy, here we go. We’re going to lose this one in the worst way possible.'”
In the end, Heim did what he had done 24 previous times in his NASCAR Truck Series career, as he collected the checkered flag, and he says a lot of the credit is owed to Honeycutt for racing him clean, when he could have roughed him up for the win.
“Just had to use a couple of lapped car picks there to fend him off. Respect to Kaden for racing clean there,” Heim said. “I had to do what I had to do what I had to do at the end there.”
The win on Friday moves Heim up to 25 career wins in the series, and they’ve come in just 92 career starts. It’s stunning to see how often Heim continues to win. And it’s a shame that he’s not running the full season again in 2026, as he’d be a shoo-in for back-to-back championships.
As Friday’s race was the second of three races in the Triple Truck Challenge, Heim scored a bonus payday with the win. By virtue of winning the opening Triple Truck Challenge race at Darlington, Heim collected another $100,000 on Friday, to bring his total to $150,000 earned so far.
He has a chance to score an additional $350,000 next week if he can win at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Even driving a part-time schedule, Heim finds himself tied for the lead in the championship standings after five races, with Honeycutt, despite having two fewer starts.
Honeycutt, who took over the full-time driving duties of Heim’s No. 11 Toyota from last season, is zeroing in on his first career win as he now has three consecutive top-five finishes with his runner-up finish Friday at Rockingham.
The close racing in the closing laps pushed Honeycutt to his limit inside the truck.
“That was everything I had, no doubt about that,” Honeycutt admitted. “Just, man, thank you to Safelite and everyone on this No. 11 team. We had a really good truck today. I know Corey was definitely really good today. I finally got the adjustment at the end that I thought I needed, and finally got the track position to be behind him and race him at the end.”
Honeycutt lamented Tanner Gray, his TRICON Garage teammate, for getting in the way in the closing laps during his battle with Heim. But at the end of it all, Honeycutt walked out of Rockingham with a career-best finish, and he’s second in the point standings.
Layne Riggs, who continues to round himself back into championship contention this year, came home with a third-place finish, and his teammate Chandler Smith, who holds the point lead, finished fourth.
However, a couple hours after the race, Smith’s fourth-place finish would be converted to a 36th-place disappointment after his No. 38 Ford F-150 failed post-race inspection due to not meeting minimum heights.
For Smith, the initial top-five run was seemingly a miracle finish to what had been a rough weekend prior to the final Stage of the race. Smith suffered a broken shock in qualifying, which caused him to start near the rear of the field, where he’d remain mired for a large portion of the race.
But after the miraculous climb, it turned out to be all for naught, and Smith will exit Rockingham third in the Chase grid, instead of holding a 15-point lead over the field.
With Smith out of the picture, Stewart Friesen came home with a fourth-place finish at a track where he was swept up in a crash last season, and Grant Enfinger was officially credited with a fifth-place result.
Tyler Ankrum, Corey LaJoie, Ty Majeski, polesitter Jake Garcia, and Rookie contender Cole Butcher rounded out the top-10 finishers in the race.
One Response
I wanna know if the guy who keeps all the NASCAR stats can tell us how many races Corey could have won if not for circumstances beyond his control? Because I know there have been a few he coulda, shoulda, woulda won whether it be a pit road miscue, wrecked or mistake on his part There were probably 5, at the least just last season. Absolutely mind blowing he doesn’t have a full time ride.