The rain did not stop Corey Heim and TRICON Garage at North Wilkesboro Speedway, and it did not stop them at Pocono Raceway either, as Heim and the No. 11 team emerged victorious in Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series CRC Brakleen 175 at the 2.5-mile Tricky Triangle.
The victory is Heim’s fifth of the season and 10th of his Craftsman Truck Series career, making him the 20th driver to record 10 or more wins in the series. Of the 20 drivers to accomplish the feat, Heim is also the youngest of them at the time of their tenth win at the age of 22 years and 7 days.
Heim also swept both stages in his No. 11 Toyota and led 55 laps, the most of any driver in the 70-lap event. Following the race, Heim explained that his rapport with crew chief Scott Zipadelli has helped him gain confidence that he and his team are the ones to beat each week in the NASCAR Truck Series.
“I think Scott right from the very beginning, Scott and I, rather. We’ve just had such a close bond, and he just does such a phenomenal job giving me a fast Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro each and every week, and this week wasn’t any different.” Heim said when asked about where his confidence comes from. “This thing was badass. I’ve got a badass crew. Badass truck week in and week out. Just so proud of these guys, can’t say enough about them. Five wins is something I never thought I’d achieve in a single season. Here we are, and we have many more to go. So, this is awesome.”
Grant Enfinger finished runner-up to Heim, tying his best finish of the season and the best-ever finish for CR7 Motorsports.
Points leader and polesitter Christian Eckes recorded a third-place finish and led 11 laps, second most to Heim. Heim’s teammate Taylor Gray came home fourth, earning his first top-five finish since COTA. Darlington winner Ross Chastain rounded out the top five, recording his fifth top ten in six career Truck Series races at Pocono.
Chase Purdy, Stewart Friesen, Matt Crafton, Dean Thompson, and Rajah Caruth completed the top ten.
RELATED: CRC Brakleen 175 Results
Christian Eckes led the field to the green flag due to the lineup being set by NASCAR’s Performance Metric after qualifying was rained out. Eckes, who led every lap at Nashville Superspeedway, pulled away for the second straight race.
However, unlike in Nashville, the lead would be short-lived for Eckes.
On lap 12, Heim passed Eckes for the top spot, ending Eckes’ streak of 161 consecutive laps led over two races. Heim would hold the No. 19 off to win stage one, his fifth stage win of the season.
Tyler Ankrum and Heim led at the restart to begin stage two, with Heim clearing the No. 18 after turn one to retain the race lead. Heim would lead the entirety of the incident-free stage, giving him his second stage sweep in the year.
After some pit strategy under the stage break, Nick Sanchez and Jake Garcia led the field back to the green. After some jostling for the top spot between Sanchez, Garcia, and Matt Mills, Corey Heim managed to thread the needle through all of them to retake the lead a lap later. With a few drivers, including Sanchez and Garcia, pitting not long after the restart, Ross Chastain inherited the runner-up spot, with Grant Enfinger ascending to third.
The first and only caution for an on-track incident occurred on lap 44 when Rajah Caruth went for a spin in the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado. Caruth, 22, was battling with his teammate Connor Mosack and TRICON Garage’s Taylor Gray when he broke loose underneath Mosack’s No. 7 machine, sending him spinning around in turn one.
Caruth did not make any contact with the wall and was able to continue.
Heim and Chastain took the restart first with 22 laps remaining, but Enfinger made quick work of Chastain to take over second place. On lap 54, Ty Majeski had to pit from fifth place due to a battery issue on his No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford. Majeski, who would have clinched a spot in the Truck Series playoffs if he maintained that position, lost two laps from the issue and finished 31st.
As Majeski faltered, Heim and Enfinger gradually pulled away from the field, putting 11 seconds between themselves and third-place runner Eckes. With nine laps remaining, however, the caution flew for precipitation. A brief, steadier shower quickly moved over the track, causing the race to be red-flagged and the trucks brought down pit road.
After a delay of just over ten minutes, the engines were refired and the trucks started pacing, but the rain picked up after one pace lap, causing the race to be red-flagged for a second time. With Pocono Raceway not having lights, NASCAR gave a pre-determined finish time of 8:20 PM ET for Friday’s event at Pocono Raceway. The second delay lasted roughly 15 minutes, which pushed the race dangerously close to the time limit cutoff. But the field was able to begin pacing again with six laps left.
Heim and Eckes led the field to the restart with three laps remaining, with Enfinger choosing the top lane behind Heim. A fierce battle for second between Eckes and Enfinger allowed Heim to pull out to a one-second lead, which he would not relinquish on his way to his fifth win of the season.
Heim’s victory is the fifth of the season for Toyota, with all five coming courtesy of Heim and the No. 11 team. Through 14 Truck Series races, Ford remains winless, with its last non-superspeedway win in the series coming at IRP last season with Ty Majeski. Ford has also not been the winning manufacturer at Pocono in the Truck Series since 2013 when Ryan Blaney took home the win for Brad Keselowski Racing.
Christian Eckes maintains a 32-point lead over Corey Heim going into Lucas Oil IRP, the penultimate race of the Truck Series regular season. The IRP race will take place on Friday, July 19, and will be broadcast by FS1.
