Corey Heim Makes Time For 25th Career Truck Series Career Win

Death, taxes, and Corey Heim winning NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races. Those are the only true certainties in life. On Friday, Heim once again held up his end of the bargain as he scored his 25th career Truck Series win in a dominant performance in the Black's Tire 200 at Rockingham Speedway.

However, while Heim led a race-high 178 laps in the 200-lap event, he had to bite his nails from inside the truck in the closing laps, as his No. 1 TRICON Garage Toyota Tundra TRD Pro developed a problem with under five laps remaining in the race.

"Yeah, I don't know. I didn't feel like I was pushing any harder than the previous run, so, I didn't feel like I did anymore damage to the right front (tire). But, all of a sudden, I think it was with four laps to go, my truck just started -- I had to turn more right down the straightaway to keep it straight," Heim explained. "My wheel was clocked like 20 degrees to the right, and then we started chattering really bad in the corners. I was like, 'Oh, boy, here we go. We're going to lose this one in the worst way possible.'"

Despite the issues, which hindered his on-track speed, Heim was able to utilize lapped traffic to hold back his hard-charging teammate, Kaden Honeycutt, for his 25th triumph in just his 92nd career start.

While Heim was happy to close out the dominant day, where he won the opening two Stages of the race, he knows it was likely only possible due to clean driving by Honeycutt in the closing laps.

"Just had to use a couple of lapped car picks there to fend him off. Respect to Kaden for racing clean there," Heim said. "I had to do what I had to do what I had to do at the end there."

With the win, Heim pocketed an extra $150,000 as the race was part of the Triple Truck Challenge. Heim scored the win at Darlington Raceway, the first of three races in the Challenge, which netted him $50,000. If Heim can sweep the Triple Truck Challenge race wins next weekend at Bristol, he'll take home an additional $500,000.

Honeycutt narrowly missed out on his first career win on Friday afternoon, but after climbing from his No. 11 Toyota, Honeycutt was noticeably spent after the late-race on-track battle with Heim. Honeycutt felt he was in a good position, but was confused by Tanner Gray, his teammate, getting in the way of the hard-fought battle in the closing laps, which ultimately paved the way for Heim's win.

Still, it was a good afternoon for Honeycutt, who exits Rockingham second in the championship standings, just 15 points behind Chandler Smith.

For what it's worth, Heim also sits 15 points behind Smith in the standings, but with Heim not running the full-time schedule, he is ineligible to make the Chase for the Championship.

Layne Riggs, another of the expected championship contenders, came home with a third-place finish, while his teammate, and series points leader, Chandler Smith, finished fourth after a tumultuous day.

Smith suffered a broken shock during his qualifying run on Friday afternoon, which resulted in a 33rd-place starting spot. Smith spent the entirety of the day methodically working forward, and in the end, he was rewarded with a top-five finish.

Stewart Friesen also scored a top-five finish as he ended the day in the fifth position.

Black's Tire 200 Race Results

1. 1-Corey Heim
2. 11-Kaden Honeycutt
3. 34-Layne Riggs
4. 38-Chandler Smith
5. 52-Stewart Friesen
6. 9-Grant Enfinger
7. 18-Tyler Ankrum
8. 10-Corey LaJoie
9. 88-Ty Majeski
10. 98-Jake Garcia
11. 13-Cole Butcher
12. 7-Sammy Smith
13. 16-Justin Haley
14. 91-Christian Eckes
15. 45-Landen Lewis
16. 26-Dawson Sutton
17. 15-Tanner Gray
18. 17-Gio Ruggiero
19. 99-Ben Rhodes
20. 81-Kris Wright
21. 4-Connor Hall
22. 2-Luke Baldwin
23. 25-Ty Dillon
24. 62-Michael Christopher Jr.
25. 19-Daniel Hemric
26. 14-Mini Tyrrell
27. 42-Parker Eatmon
28. 12-Brenden Queen
29. 76-Spencer Boyd
30. 22-Clayton Green
31. 56-Timmy Hill
32. 33-Frankie Muniz
33. 44-Andres Perez de Lara
34. 93-Caleb Costner
35. 77-Carson Hocevar
36. 5-Adam Andretti