Corey Heim endured a mechanical issue in practice, two lengthy rain delays, and a rare pit road penalty Friday in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Despite the heap of adversity, the clock struck Heim Time anyway, as he scored the victory in the Ecosave 200.
The win is Heim’s second in the first three races of the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season. The driver also won the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway following Parker Kligerman’s disqualification.
Heim led 42 laps, the most of any driver in the race, and recorded the 13th win of his Truck Series career after starting 16th.
RELATED: Ecosave 200 at Las Vegas Results
“First of all, our pit crew did such a good job getting us back out front. I made that mistake at the end of Stage 1, where I sped on pit road, set us behind,” Heim said in his post-race interview. “Incredible truck, incredible crew. Huge thank you to TRICON Garage, Toyota, Safelite for everything they do. I’m a little bit speechless right now.”
Grant Enfinger finished second in his No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado. Enfinger started 20th and earned his third straight top 10 finish to start the season.
Tanner Gray, one of Heim’s TRICON Garage teammates, brought his No. 15 Toyota home in third place. Gray started 18th and ran outside the top 10 for the majority of the race, but flew up the leaderboard into the top five on the last run and scored his first top five finish since Darlington in 2023.
Ty Majeski and Layne Riggs completed the top five finishers. Majeski was the winner of Stage 1 and Riggs contended late before his truck kicked loose in the closing laps leading to perhaps the most impressive save of the young season. Riggs would fade out of the battle for the lead.
Stewart Friesen, defending race winner Rajah Caruth, Chandler Smith, Matt Crafton, and Tyler Ankrum rounded out the top ten. Crafton’s finish is his seventh top ten in his last eight races at Las Vegas and has not finished worse than 11th at the track since 2019.
Rookie Corey Day and Tyler Ankrum led the field to the green flag, but Justin Haley quickly made quick work of both drivers, ascending to the lap one lead before immediately dropping to fourth. Ankrum assumed the lead from Haley and battled Day for the first run until Ty Majeski passed both drivers for the top spot. The No. 98 maintained the lead until five laps remaining in the stage, when the caution flew for rain. The precipitation led to the stage ending under yellow flag conditions, handing Majeski the stage victory.
Under the stage caution, Corey Heim committed a speeding penalty on pit road and was forced to go to the rear of the field for the restart. The penalty is the first speeding penalty for Heim in his 67 race Truck Series career.
Due to the precipitation lingering over the track, the field was brought down pit road and the race was red flagged.
After a red flag of nearly an hour, engines were refired and the field was brought back up to pace speed. The race resumed back green to begin stage two with Ben Rhodes and Ankrum at the front. Ankrum quickly took the lead away from Rhodes but the No. 99 stayed with Ankrum on the ensuing run.
Despite a charge from Chandler Smith and Stewart Friesen towards the end of the stage, Ankrum was able to fend them off to score his first stage win of the season.
Just like at the end of stage one, however, rain started to fall at the conclusion of the stage. Daytona winner Corey Heim assumed the lead by staying out during pit stops, and the race was red flagged once again after the pit stops were completed.
After a 20 minute delay, the red flag was lifted and Heim and Friesen led the field to green to begin stage three. Friesen quickly cleared Heim for the lead and maintained the top spot until the caution flew again on lap 85 for Kaden Honeycutt. The No. 45 was battling with the No. 13 of Jake Garcia when he got loose under Garcia and did a half spin before saving his truck. Tyler Ankrum received considerable right side damage in the incident, as he had to swerve to avoid Honeycutt and ran into the outside wall in turn four. Ankrum was able to continue on the lead lap despite the damage sustained and recovered to finish 10th.
He kept his foot in it. ? pic.twitter.com/5oMu0Wtnf3
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) March 15, 2025
The race resumed with 44 laps remaining with Heim and Chandler Smith at the front of the field, but Layne Riggs took the lead from Heim just a lap later. Riggs’ time at the top did not last long, however, as the caution flew two laps later for a crash involving Jack Wood. Wood backed his No. 91 truck hard into the outside wall in turn three and suffered severe damage to the rear end of the truck. Wood went immediately to the garage, ending his race prematurely.
Riggs and Heim led the field back to green with 35 laps to go. Heim took control of the lead back from the No. 34, but the story of the next run was Tanner Gray in the No. 15. Gray ascended from outside the top 10 on the restart to second in just six laps, positioning himself to potentially win. Grant Enfinger also moved up to third after Riggs faded outside the top five following perhaps the save of the season.
Now that’s a wheelman!
What a save, @LayneRiggs99! pic.twitter.com/t9U6HPvNUK
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) March 15, 2025
Enfinger passed Gray for second with ten laps remaining and tried to mount a charge, but it was too little too late, as Heim held off the No. 9 to win his second race on the season.
Ty Majeski recorded the Xfinity Fastest Lap in the race, earning one bonus point towards defending his championship. Majeski also leads the points standings by five points over Heim leaving Las Vegas.
The next Craftsman Truck Series race is scheduled for Friday, March 21, at Martinsville Speedway, and will be broadcast by FS1.
