Heim Tops Wild, Double Overtime Texas Truck Battle
Corey Heim celebrates in victory lane at Texas Motor Speedway. (Rusty Jarrett/NKP for Toyota Racing photo)
FORT WORTH, Texas – Corey Heim dominated the box score in Friday night’s SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway, but his path to victory lane wasn’t quite that easy.
In fact, it took a last-lap dive into turn one in double overtime for Heim to fully seal the deal.
After Daniel Hemric took Heim and past NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Ben Rhodes three-wide through the quad-oval coming to the white flag, Heim sailed his No. 11 Safelite/Foster Love Toyota deep into the first corner, driving away from Hemric and Rhodes in the process.
From there, Heim came back around to the checkers for his third Truck Series victory of the season and the 14th of his career.
At 22, the Marietta, Ga., native became the youngest driver in history to reach the 14-win threshold in the Truck Series.
“I wasn’t going to let that one get away from me,” said Heim, who won stage two and led a race-high 96 of 174 laps en route to his first win at Texas. “I’ve given up too many this year so far. I’m just overwhelmed — [there were] so many restarts there at the end and guys were taking me three-wide.
“I wasn’t going to let them take it from me … They tried to take me three-wide into (turn) one, and I drove until I couldn’t anymore.”
Friday’s race was choppy, chaotic, and ended a string of 21 straight Truck Series races without an overtime finish. The last extra-distance run prior to Texas was at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway in May 2024.
Including the two planned stage breaks, plus a lap-20 competition caution, seven total yellow flags dotted the first 80 laps and made it difficult for drivers to establish any sort of rhythm.
That cadence looked like it finally arrived in the second half, with a 61-lap green flag stint kicking off the final stage, but a hard crash in turn two by Frankie Muniz with 21 to go opened the floodgates again.
From there, it was yellow fever to the frenetic finish, including a turn-four crash between Stewart Friesen and Grant Enfinger while racing for second coming to 12 to go.
That incident swept up Chandler Smith as well, knocking three of the top five at that point out of contention. It was all behind Heim, though, who continued to lead at that point after he’d cycled out to the lead following a prior round of green-flag pit stops.
Connor Mosack and Jake Garcia’s crash in turn two after a six-to-go restart sent the race into overtime, with Rajah Caruth taking Heim and Rhodes three-wide down the backstretch on the first overtime attempt before a caution for debris negated the move.
Rhodes hung with Heim on the final restart, leading by inches at the white flag before Heim’s heroic move into turn one ended any thought of an upset.
Hemric ended up second despite 21-lap older tires than the other lead contenders, with Caruth crossing third ahead of Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway winner Tyler Ankrum and Heim’s TRICON Garage teammate Tanner Gray.
Rhodes faded to sixth after being pushed out of the groove to the outside. Matt Crafton, Bayley Currey, Dawson Sutton, and reigning series champion Ty Majeski closed the top 10.
The scariest moment of the night was at lap 31, when rookie Gio Ruggiero clipped the infield grass in the quad-oval, shooting him across the racetrack at full throttle into Kaden Honeycutt and Brandon Jones.
All three trucks made heavy contact in turn one, with Ruggiero’s Toyota lifted off the ground by Honeycutt’s machine as they both pounded the outside SAFER Barrier and Jones’ truck having a full wheel assembly ripped off in the melee.
Despite the violent nature of the incident, all three drivers were checked and released from the infield care center.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series continues a stretch of six straight weeks at the racetrack Saturday night, May 10 at Kansas Speedway with the running of the Heart of Healthcare 200.
Heim has won the last two Truck Series races at Kansas.
