Weather Gives Heim Top Grid Spot For Nashville Truck Race
Corey Heim (Nigel Kinrade/NKP photo)
LEBANON, Tenn. – The weather simply would not relent in time for Kennametal Pole Qualifying for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Friday at Nashville Superspeedway.
With Mother Nature washing out the early festivities, TRICON Garage’s Corey Heim earned the top starting spot for the Rackley Roofing 200 by virtue of NASCAR’s performance metric.
This year’s updated performance metric factors in 70 percent of the previous race finish by vehicle (not driver) and 30 percent of the vehicle’s current position in the owner’s standings.
It’s the fourth time Heim will lead the field to green this year, though not counted as an official pole due to the weather, in his fifth Truck Series start at the 1.333-mile concrete oval.
Three of the four races Heim has taken the No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to victory lane in this year, including last time out at Charlotte (N.C) Motor Speedway, have been on intermediate-style ovals.
Joining Truck Series point leader Heim on the front row will be Niece Motorsports’ Kaden Honeycutt, who is fresh off a Truck Series career-best finish at Charlotte.
It’s the Willow Park, Texas native’s third visit to the concrete track, with a best finish of 21st in 2022.
Layne Riggs rolls off third in the No. 34 Love’s RV Stops Ford F-150, followed by CR7 Motorsports’ Grant Enfinger in fourth, who led 39 laps at the first Truck Series race back at Nashville in 2021.
Corey Day and Bayley Curry set the third row in fifth and sixth. Two 2025 winners take seventh and eighth, with Martinsville (Va.) Speedway winner Daniel Hemric alongside Rockingham (N.C) Speedway winner – and his McAnally-Hilgemann Racing teammate – Tyler Ankrum.
Jake Garcia for ThorSport Racing and Spire Motorsports’ Rajah Caruth round out the top 10 starters.
Notables starting deeper in the field include the No. 07 Spire Motorsports truck of two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch (12th), William Sawalich (14th), Connor Mosack in his first full-time Truck Series season (20th), hometown driver Dawson Sutton for Rackley W.A.R. (29th), and Japanese racer Akinori Ogata, who starts from the tail-end of the field (32nd).
Teams were eventually able to get limited practice laps in after the track was dried. Heim topped the charts with a top lap of 30.06 seconds (159.29 mph).
Broadcast coverage of the Rackley Roofing 200 is slated for 8 p.m. ET, live on FS1, the NASCAR Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.
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