Deadspin | Corey Heim shakes off strain to win NASCAR Truck Series title

AVONDALE, Ariz. — The finest man received on Friday night time, but it surely was removed from a foregone conclusion.

The statistics may recommend in any other case. In successful the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway, Corey Heim swept the primary and second levels, led a race-high 100 of 161 laps and took the checkered flag 0.993 forward of defending sequence champion Ty Majeski in a second additional time.

On the restart for the primary try at additional time, nevertheless, Heim was buried in tenth place on the within lane, however with 4 contemporary tires from a pit cease below warning on Lap 150, he steered his No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota to the underside of the monitor and ran wide-open by means of the dogleg as the sphere unfold out seven-wide into Turn 1.

Charging to the within of Grant Enfinger’s Chevrolet, Heim emerged from Turn 2 in second place, on the bumper of Majeski’s Ford. Joe Shear Jr., Majeski’s crew chief, had opted for 2 tires on the Lap 150 pit cease — a transfer Majeski agreed was his solely likelihood to retain the championship.

Instead, Heim claimed the title that had eluded him for the earlier two seasons, and the load of the world fell from his shoulders.

“I just am so grateful to be where I’m at,” Heim mentioned. “So thankful for the TRICON Garage, Toyota taking a chance on me years ago, (sponsors) Safelite, Mobil 1, Yahoo, Celsius, for every bit of their support.

“I used to be so stressed ever since we went to the (Charlotte) Roval (the place Heim received from the pole Oct. 3 to advance to the Championship 4). I’ve been, like, so horrible to speak to as an individual, so stressed.

“This is just such a relief, to say the least. So thankful for everybody.”

Clearly, the strain had gotten to Heim as he approached a championship he was presupposed to win. Coming to Phoenix, the 23-year-old from Marietta, Ga., had posted 11 victories in 24 races. On Friday, he added a twelfth, extending his sequence file.

When Heim took the lead from Chandler Smith on Lap 22, he accomplished an ideal file of main laps in all 25 Truck Series races, a singular accomplishment. Heim completed the season with a file 1,625 laps led, eclipsing the mark of 1,533 set by Mike Skinner in 1996.

“I don’t care if I was on hundred-lap tires, nobody was going to beat me tonight,” asserted Heim, who received for the primary time at Phoenix and the twenty third time in his profession. “It wasn’t going to happen. We struggled all weekend in practice a little bit. In qualifying we missed it a little bit. You can always trust (crew chief) Scott (Zipadelli) up on the box to do everything he can to put me in position to win the race. That’s what he did.

“Drove it in deep till I could not anymore. Drove away with it.”

Heim, however, wasn’t in position to win the race until Connor Mosack hit the Turn 4 wall with just over two laps left in regulation to cause the sixth caution and send the race to overtime.

At that point, Scott Riggs was leading Heim by less than one second. Eliminated from the drivers’ playoff on a tiebreaker last weekend at Martinsville, Riggs remained eligible for the owners’ title, and had the race gone to conclusion in regulation, he and Heim likely would have split the two championships.

The caution changed everything. Heim already was challenging Majeski for the lead in the first overtime when a four-car wreck in Turn 4 that included playoff driver Tyler Ankrum necessitated a second try at an extra period.

After the restart on Lap 160, Heim cleared Majeski quickly and pulled away to win the race.

“Honestly just a bit bit brief,” Majeski said. “Yeah, very shut. Tonight, at parts of the run to the 11, I assumed at occasions we have been truly higher than him. Overall, he was simply too sturdy.

“I couldn’t get a good enough restart to take advantage of where in the run my truck was better.”

Playoff driver Kaden Honeycutt ran third, overcoming a first-lap penalty for altering lanes earlier than the stripe at the beginning of the race.

Riggs got here house fourth, adopted by Rajah Caruth, Jake Garcia, Corey LaJoie, Smith, Tyler Reif (in his Truck Series debut) and Jack Wood.

Matt Crafton, retiring from full-time NASCAR racing after this season, was thirteenth in his final experience within the No. 88 ThorSport Racing Ford.

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race — NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship Race

Phoenix Raceway

Avondale, Arizona

Friday, October 31, 2025

1. (6) Corey Heim (P), Toyota, 161.

2. (8) Ty Majeski (P), Ford, 161.

3. (5) Kaden Honeycutt (P), Toyota, 161.

4. (1) Layne Riggs (P), Ford, 161.

5. (7) Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 161.

6. (14) Jake Garcia, Ford, 161.

7. (12) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 161.

8. (2) Chandler Smith, Ford, 161.

9. (13) Tyler Reif, Chevrolet, 161.

10. (15) Jack Wood, Chevrolet, 161.

11. (33) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 161.

12. (11) Stefan Parsons, Chevrolet, 161.

13. (25) Matt Crafton, Ford, 161.

14. (21) Tyler Ankrum (P), Chevrolet, 161.

15. (29) Nathan Byrd, Chevrolet, 161.

16. (24) Luke Baldwin, Ford, 160.

17. (27) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 159.

18. (31) Greg Van Alst, Toyota, 159.

19. (28) Frankie Muniz #, Ford, 159.

20. (30) Clayton Green, Ford, 158.

21. (4) Tanner Gray, Toyota, 157.

22. (34) Caleb Costner, Chevrolet, 157.

23. (18) Cole Butcher, Toyota, Accident, 154.

24. (23) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, Accident, 154.

25. (26) Toni Breidinger #, Toyota, 153.

26. (20) Connor Mosack #, Chevrolet, Accident, 147.

27. (17) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, Accident, 118.

28. (3) Brent Crews, Toyota, Axle, 117.

29. (10) Ben Rhodes, Ford, Accident, 117.

30. (16) Andres Perez De Lara #, Chevrolet, Accident, 117.

31. (9) Giovanni Ruggiero #, Toyota, Accident, 117.

32. (32) Mason Maggio, Ford, Engine, 107.

33. (19) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, Accident, 2.

34. (22) Dawson Sutton #, Chevrolet, Accident, 0.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 87.434 mph.

Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 50 Mins, 29 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.993 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 7 for 42 laps.

Lead Changes: 10 amongst 6 drivers.

Lap Leaders: C. Smith 1-21;C. Heim (P) 22-50;R. Caruth 51-53;C. Heim (P) 54-95;T. Majeski (P) 96-99;C. Heim (P) 100-126;L. Riggs (P) 127-150;S. Parsons 151-154;T. Majeski (P) 155-159;C. Heim (P) 160-161.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Corey Heim (P) 4 occasions for 100 laps; Layne Riggs (P) 1 time for twenty-four laps; Chandler Smith 1 time for 21 laps; Ty Majeski (P) 2 occasions for 9 laps; Stefan Parsons 1 time for 4 laps; Rajah Caruth 1 time for 3 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 11,1,98,71,15,77,52,7,13,17

Stage #2 Top Ten: 11,98,1,52,71,15,34,13,7,17

–By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.