Corey Heim scores wild Truck victory in overtime at Texas

Corey Heim made it his time to return to Victory Lane in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series division and rallied from a four-race winless drought amid dominant performances to win the SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday, May 2, amid an overtime shootout.

The 22-year-old Heim from Marietta, Georgia, led six times for a race-high 96 of 174 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started in fourth place and led for the first time on Lap 52 during the second stage period. Amid six caution periods throughout the event’s first two stage periods, Heim would lead a total of 25 laps and claim the second stage victory.

Then through a late cycle of green flag pit stops and four caution periods, all due to on-track carnages, that occurred under the final 20 laps, Heim, who withstood all four, would outduel Ben Rhodes and Daniel Hemric during an overtime shootout to triumphantly steer his way to a dominant Truck victory at Texas.

With on-track qualifying that was initially scheduled to occur on Friday being canceled due to inclement weather, the starting lineup was based on a metric formula. As a result, Tyler Ankrum, winner of the most recent Truck Series event at Rockingham Speedway in mid-April, was awarded the pole position. Joining Ankrum on the front row was teammate Daniel Hemric.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Tyler Ankrum launched his No. 18 LiUNA! Chevrolet Silverado RST entry ahead of the field from the inside lane. As Ankrum led through the frontstretch, Grant Enfinger, who started in fifth place, attempted to throw a three-wide move beneath Jake Garcia and Daniel Hemric for the runner-up spot. Enfinger’s attempt, however, backfired after he got loose beneath Garica through the first two turns. Despite keeping his truck straight, Enfinger would lose a bevy of spots entering the backstretch and drop out of the to-15 mark as the field fanned out to multiple lanes. With multiple on-track battles ensuing within the field, Ankrum proceeded to lead the first lap over Garcia.

Over the next four laps, Ankrum retained the lead over Garcia, Rajah Caruth, Layne Riggs and rookie Giovanni Ruggiero while Corey Heim, Chandler Smith, Kaden Honeycutt, Brandon Jones and Carson Hocevar occupied the top-10 spots. Meanwhile, Hemric had fallen to 11th place as he trailed teammate Connor Mosack and Ty Majeski while Nick Sanchez and Stewart Friesen were mired in the top-15 mark ahead of Matt Crafton, Bayley Currey, Luke Fenhaus, rookie Andres Perez de Lara and Ben Rhodes, respectively.

Through the first 10-scheduled laps, Ankrum stabilized his early advantage to half a second over Riggs, the latter of whom assumed the runner-up spot from Garcia four laps earlier and was closing in on Ankrum for the lead, while third-place Garcia trailed the lead by more than two seconds. Behind, Caruth and Ruggerio trailed by more than two seconds in the top-five mark.

Five laps later, Ankrum’s advantage shrunk to a tenth of a second over Riggs while third-place Garcia trailed by more than three seconds. As Corey Heim made his way up to fourth place ahead of Caruth and Ruggerio, Ankrum would stabilize his lead to a tenth of a second over Riggs over the next four laps.

On Lap 20, a scheduled competition caution flew. At the moment of caution, Ankrum, who lapped rookie Toni Breidinger and Josh Reaume, fended off Riggs to maintain the lead while Heim, Garcia, Ruggiero, Caruth, Honeycutt, Chandler Smith, Majeski and Hocevar were racing in the top 10.

During the caution period, some including Smith, Crafton, Luke Fenhaus, Enfinger, Jack Wood, Matt Mills, Cody Dennison, Bayley Currey, Stefan Parsons, Hemric, Tanner Gray, Dawson Sutton, Spencer Boyd and Nathan Byrd pitted while the rest led by Ankrum remained on the track.

When the event restarted under green on Lap 25, Riggs and Ankrum dueled for the lead until the former cleared the latter off in Turn 2. As Riggs led, Garcia battled Ankrum for the runner-up spot while Heim and Ruggerio were mixed in the top-five mark. Over the next three laps, Majeski, who briefly slipped out of top five during the previous restart, moved up into fourth place and Heim overtook Garcia for runner-up spot. With Ankrum falling back to fifth place on the track, Riggs would continue to lead at the Lap 30 mark.

On Lap 31, the caution flew when Ruggerio, who was racing in seventh place behind Ankrum, Majeski and Hocevar, unwittingly plowed his No. 17 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry through the frontstretch’s grass. Ruggerio’s move got his truck briefly airborne as the contact with the wet grass destroyed the front end before he then veered into the path of Kaden Honeycutt and sent both hard into the outside wall. They then shot back across the track and collected Brandon Jones in the process, which knocked the trio out of contention.

During the caution period, a bevy of front-runners that included the leader Riggs pitted while the rest led by Matt Crafton and Enfinger remained on the track.

With three laps remaining in the first stage period, Crafton and Enfinger, both of whom were among those who did not pit, led the field to the race’s resumption. At the start, Enfinger used a push from Matt Mills from the inside lane to storm ahead of Crafton and lead through the first two turns. With the field fanning out to three lanes through the backstretch before the battles ensued through Turns 3 and 4, Enfinger stretched out to half-a-second advantage for the following lap.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 40, Enfinger captured his first Truck stage victory of the 2025 season. Matt Mills made his way into second place over Crafton, Hemric and Heim while Majeski, Tanner Gray, Hocevar, Chandler Smith and Riggs were scored in the top 10, respectively.

Under the stage break, some including Mills, Tanner Gray, Fenhaus, Jack Wood, Ben Rhodes, Ankrum, Cody Dennison, Nathan Byrd, Mosack and Spencer Boyd pitted while the rest led by Enfinger remained on the track.

The second stage period started on Lap 47 as Enfinger and Crafton occupied the front row. At the start, Enfinger wasted no time securing and retaining the lead over Crafton through the first two turns. Enfinger, who led the following lap, would proceed to lead to the Lap 50 mark while Heim, Crafton, Hemric and Chandler Smith followed suit in the top five.

On Lap 53, the caution returned when Riggs, who was battling in close-quarters competition with Majeski in sixth place, got loose underneath Majeski and rubbed the latter while fighting for grip before he spun just past the first two turns and came to a sliding halt towards the outside wall. At the time of caution, where Riggs was able to continue without sustaining any significant damage, Heim overtook Enfinger for the lead.

The start of the next restart on Lap 56 did not last long after Andres Perez de Lara, who was racing just inside the top-10 mark amid three-wide action, got loose underneath Sanchez, got sideways and spun before he backed his No. 77 Telcel Chevrolet Silverado RST entry into the outside wall through the first two turns and retired with the rear-end damage. By then, Heim maintained the lead over Enfinger, Hemric, Friesen and Chandler Smith, respectively.

The start of the ensuing restart on Lap 61 lasted only two laps after Riggs, who was racing in the top-15 mark, was involved in his second incident of the event, this time through the frontstretch’s grass after he made contact with Luke Fenhaus. In the midst of spinning through the frontstretch’s grass, Riggs plowed his No. 34 Aaron’s Ford F-150 entry through the grass, which damaged his front nose and terminated his event.

During the recent caution period, some including Mills, Mosack, Stefan Parsons, Majeski, Sanchez, Tanner Gray, Hocevar, Byrd and Breidinger pitted while the rest led by Heim, who retained the race lead, remained on the track.

As the event restarted under green on Lap 71, Heim led Enfinger and Chandler Smith before Enfinger received a push from Smith to navigate his way back to the front through the first two turns. Enfinger would lead the following lap as both Heim and Smith battled for the runner-up spot in front of Friesen and Hemric. Despite Enfinger pulling away as high as four-tenths of a second, Heim would close in to within a tenth of a second on Lap 75 before he reassumed the lead during the following lap.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 80, Heim, who extended his lead to more than a second, cruised to his fifth Truck stage victory of the 2025 season. Chandler Smith settled in second ahead of Enfinger, Hemric and Friesen while Rhodes, Garcia, Ankrum, Majeski and Crafton were scored in the top 10, respectively.

During the stage break, a majority of the field led by Heim pitted for service while the rest led by Majeski and including Hocevar, Mosack, Gray, Parsons and Josh Reaume remained on the track.

With 80 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Majeski and Hocevar occupied the front row. At the start, Majeski rocketed ahead with a strong start while Hocevar maintained the runner-up spot over Heim, Mosack and the field. Amid the battles within the field, Majeski proceeded to lead by two-tenths of a second over Heim with 75 laps remaining while Hocevar, Gray and Freisen occupied the top-five spots.

Then with 72 laps remaining, Heim outdueled Majeski by using the outside lane to rocket past the latter to reassume the lead. Behind, Hocevar maintained third place in front of Gray and Friesen as Heim stretched his lead to half a second over the next lap. Heim proceeded to grow his lead to more than a second with 65 laps remaining while Hocevar, who reassumed the runner-up spot four laps earlier, pursued ahead of Majeski, Gray, Freisen, Rhodes, Enfinger, Smith, Mosack and Crafton.

Down to the final 60 laps of the event, Heim continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by more than two seconds over Hocevar while third-place Friesen trailed by more than six seconds. Meanwhile, Rhodes and Majeski trailed by eight seconds in the top-five mark as Gray, Enfinger, Smith, Mosack and Sanchez were racing in the top 10 over Mosack, Parsons, Ankrum, Currey and Mills.

Ten laps later, Heim stabilized his large advantage to four seconds over Hocevar while Freisen, Rhodes and Gray pursued in the top five. Meanwhile, Majeski, who bounced off the backstretch’s outside wall amid contact with Smith while trying to block the latter but managed to continue without drawing a caution, fell back to 11th place while Smith was in sixth place ahead of Crafton, Sanchez, Enfinger and Parsons.

A lap later, a late cycle of green flag pit stops ensued as Majeski made a strategic pit stop. More names that included Parsons and Mosack would also pit before Hocevar and Gray pitted two laps later. With more names that included Crafton, Smith, Enfinger, Gray, Currey and Rhodes pitting, Heim retained the lead before he pitted from the lead with 40 laps remaining. Friesen, Sanchez, Mills, Dawson Sutton, Wood, Ankrum and Hemric would all also pit as Rajah Caruth cycled his way into the lead.

With 35 laps remaining, Caruth, who has yet to pit, was leading by a tenth of a second over Garcia while Heim trailed in third place by more than 13 seconds. Caruth would then pit his No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST entry from the lead a lap later and Garcia, who assumed the lead, pitted his No. 13 Quanta Services Ford F-150 entry another two laps later. This allowed Heim to cycle his No. 11 Safelite/Foster Love Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry back into the lead as he was leading by more than five seconds over Hocevar with 30 laps remaining.

Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Heim was leading by double-digit figures over Smith while Friesen, Rhodes and Enfinger were in the top five. Meanwhile, Hocevar, who was racing in the runner-up spot but had been battling a race-long voltage issue, returned to pit road to have a battery changed, which in turn, dropped him out of the lead lap category.

Then with nearly 20 laps remaining, the caution flew when Frankie Muniz, who was racing in 21st place, hit the outside wall in between the first two turns. By then, Heim was leading by more than 20 seconds over Smith while Friesen, Rhodes, Enfinger and Crafton were the only competitors scored on the lead lap. During the caution period, the lead-lap competitors led by Heim returned to pit road for service.

With the event restarting under green with 14 laps remaining, Enfinger gained a slight advantage at the start, but Heim muscled back ahead to lead from the inside lane. As Heim led through the backstretch, Friesen would follow suit with the runner-up spot over Enfinger as Heim led the following lap. The caution would then return during the following lap after Friesen, who was locked in a tight side-by-side battle with Enfinger over the previous two laps, got loose in Turns 3 and 4 before he shot up the track and clipped Enfinger. Both Enfinger and Friesen collected Smith as all three collided into the outside wall.

In the aftermath of the accident, the event was then placed in a red flag period for nearly five minutes. Amid the accident, Rhodes navigated his way into the runner-up spot and he was followed by Caruth, Parsons, Hemric and Currey while Heim retained the lead.

When the red flag lifted and the field led by Heim proceeded under an extensive cautious pace due to ongoing repairs made to the outside wall from the recent carnage, the race restarted under green with six laps remaining. At the start, Heim fended off Rhodes and Caruth to maintain the lead and the former would proceed to lead by three-tenths of a second during the following lap. The caution, however, returned when Garcia and Mosack collided and wrecked in Turn 2.

The start of the next restart with two laps remaining nearly lasted a lap as Heim and Rhodes dueled for the lead. With Rhodes maintaining the same level as Heim from the outside lane through the first two turns, Caruth would then join the battle by going three-wide on both through the backstretch. Then with Caruth, Heim and Rhodes locked dead even against one another for the lead through the backstretch, the caution flew and the event was sent into overtime due to Matt Mills clipping the frontstretch grass. At the time of caution, Heim was ruled the leader over both Rhodes and Caruth while Gray, Hemric and Ankrum were in the top six.

The start of an overtime shootout featured Heim and Rhodes dueling for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch as neither lifted off the gas peddle nor gave each other room. Amid the battle, Rhodes used the outside lane to gain an advantage through the straightaways and he would remain even with Heim despite Heim using the inside lane to his advantage through the turns.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Rhodes held a narrow lead over Heim and Hemric, the latter of whom attempted to make a three-wide move beneath both through the frontstretch. Then as Hemric tried to launch ahead from the inside lane, Heim used the middle lane to muscle alongside Hemric and clear him for the lead through the backstretch. Meanwhile, Rhodes, who was pinned up towards the outside groove, briefly lost his momentum and fell out of race-winning contention as Heim drove away from Hemric. With Hemric unable to mount a final-turn charge through Turns 3 and 4, Heim was able to retain the lead, cycle back to the frontstretch and claim the checkered flag by two-tenths of a second.

With the victory, Heim, who last won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March, notched his 14th career win in the Craftsman Truck Series division, his third of the 2025 season and his first at Texas. The victory was also the third of the year for both TRICON Garage and the Toyota nameplate, with the manufacturer notching its 23rd Truck victory at the Lone Star state.

Prior to his Truck victory at Texas, Heim led a combined total of 295 laps over his previous four Truck starts of the 2025 season, three of which were the most in the event (Homestead, Martinsville and Rockingham). Overall, Heim’s Texas victory occurred in an event where he also led the most laps at 96.

“I wasn’t letting [the field] take that [win] away from me,” Heim said on the frontstretch on FS1. “I’ve given up too many this year so far. Just so proud of these TRICON guys. Just overwhelmed. Obviously, so many restarts there at the end. Guys were trying to slow me, three wide, all they could do. Man, I wouldn’t let them taking that [win] from me right there. [I] Can’t even speak. I’m so overworn, but they tried to take me three wide into [Turn] 1 and [I] just drove until I couldn’t anymore.”

Daniel Hemric, who utilized pit strategy to muscle his way back to the front, claimed a runner-up result while Rajah Caruth, Tyler Ankrum and Tanner Gray finished in the top five.

Meanwhile, Ben Rhodes, who was in position of notching both his first victory of the year and his first in nearly two years, fell back to sixth place. Despite being pleased with his result, Rhodes was also left bitter towards Heim forcing him up the racetrack and the high line, which prevented Rhodes from contending for the victory on the final lap.

“We had a good showing tonight,” Rhodes said. “I was a little upset and even still watching the replay with how I was ran in [Turns] 3 and 4 by Heim. You could see him come off the bottom [lane] and the groove is extremely narrow here. That’s why all those wrecks kept happening. I had to lift. I think he had to lift and that’s what opened up for three wide down the frontstretch and then why we’re in sixth place. It all stems from that corner back there. When you get pushed up out of the groove and you start having to come out of the gas, that’s a big deal and that’s what opens up for three-wide racing. Not the happiest about that. I’ll get [tonight’s racing] in the memory bank, but when you have an opportunity to win races with this Playoff format, it’s really important to do that.”

Matt Crafton, Bayley Currey, Dawson Sutton and Ty Majeski completed the top 10 in the final running order.

There were 15 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured 11 cautions for 57 laps. In addition, 16 of 32 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the eighth event of the 2025 Craftsman Truck Series season, Corey Heim leads the regular-season standings by 46 points over Chandler Smith, 80 over Daniel Hemric, 82 over Tyler Ankrum and 106 over Ty Majeski.

Results:

1. Corey Heim, 96 laps led, Stage 2 winner

2. Daniel Hemric

3. Rajah Caruth, five laps led

4. Tyler Ankrum, 24 laps led

5. Tanner Gray

6. Ben Rhodes, two laps led

7. Matt Crafton, three laps led

8. Bayley Currey

9. Dawson Sutton

10. Ty Majeski, 12 laps led

11. Jack Wood

12. Stefan Parsons

13. Nick Sanchez

14. Nathan Byrd

15. Spencer Boyd

16. Chandler smith

17. Carson Hocevar, two laps down

18. Josh Reaume, two laps down

19. Cody Dennison, three laps down

20. Matt Mills – OUT, Accident

21. Jake Garcia – OUT, Accident, three laps led

22. Connor Mosack – OUT, Accident

23. Grant Enfinger – OUT, Accident, 19 laps led, Stage 1 winner

24. Stewart Friesen – OUT, Accident

25. Frankie Muniz – OUT, Accident

26. Toni Breidinger – OUT, Electrical

27. Luke Fenhaus – OUT, DVP

28. Layne Riggs – OUT, Accident, 10 laps led

29. Andres Perez de Lara – OUT, Accident

30. Brandon Jones – OUT, Accident

31. Giovanni Ruggiero – OUT, Accident

32. Kaden Honeycutt – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season is Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas, for the Heart of America 200. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, May 10, and air at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.