Corey Heim and TRICON Garage continue to have the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in a stranglehold this season, winning Saturday’s Sober or Slammer 200 at Darlington Raceway for an eighth win on the year.
The 23-year-old driver marked the start of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs with a victory at Darlington, and secured himself what was virtually already a locked-in spot to the ‘Round of 8’.
Heim and Layne Riggs were involved in a yo-yo battle all afternoon, with Riggs getting out in front on the shorter run, and then his No. 34 Ford F-150 fading in the longer run, allowing Heim to get back around him.
RACE RESULTS: 2025 NCTS Sober or Slammer 200 at Darlington
During the final stage of the 147-lap contest, though, Riggs got to the race-lead, and Heim continued to apply pressure to the second-year driver, before a cut right-front tire sent him into the outside wall — drawing a caution and eliminating his biggest competitor.
“I could make a little speed on the wall, it’s just such a high-risk play, if you scrub it, you saw so many people having those right-front issues, so if you as much as just scrub the wall, you’re in bad shape,” Heim said. “Put a little pressure on [Layne Riggs] and he got into it, and we were able to take advantage of it.”
Once the event got restarted, with less than 15 laps to go, Heim was able to quickly drive away from the pack after a quick and short-lived challenge from Daniel Hemric, winning the race by 0.766 seconds.
It’s the eighth win of the season for Heim, and the 19th of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career. Additionally, by leading more than 11 laps this afternoon, Heim became just the ninth driver to lead over 2,500 career laps.
“So proud of these TRICON guys, it feels like I’m in a dream, eight wins this year is just phenomenal. It’s crazy to look back on, but we’ve also got so much to look forward to, so just really speechless as far as the effort. It’s been an awesome ride, and we’ll keep it going.”
Daniel Hemric came up one spot short of his second victory in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, but was able to put together a solid afternoon for his hopes at advancing to the next round of the post-season.
Grant Enfinger had a solid afternoon with CR7 Motorsports, finishing in third, while defending NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Ty Majeski rebounded from a tire going down in the race’s first stage to finish fourth.
Trevor Bayne, making a one-off return for TRICON Garage in the No. 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, rounded out the top five. Bayne made his last start in the Truck Series back at Homestead in 2023.
Tanner Gray and Tyler Ankrum finished sixth and seventh, while part-time runner Timmy Hill brought his family-owned Hill Motorsports entry home in eighth place. Corey Day and Jake Garcia rounded out the top-10.
Other drivers in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs that failed to finish inside the top-10 include Rajah Caruth (P12), Layne Riggs (P17), Kaden Honeycutt (P18), and Chandler Smith (P30).
Making just his second start in the No. 52 for Halmar Friesen Racing, Honeycutt also had a tumultuous afternoon — having a flat tire and unscheduled pit stop in the first stage, and a spin in the final stage.
Chandler Smith had a similar problem, although the flat tire and severe wall contact ended the afternoon for the No. 38 Wheelers Ford F-150.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is set to take a weekend off before returning to action at Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday, September 11. Coverage of the event will be FOX Sports 1.
