Heartbreak for Heim, Honeycutt as Sanchez wins Truck Series race at Charlotte

While Sanchez is certainly deserving of praise following his win at Charlotte, don't be fooled — he was far from the best truck in Friday's race. 

It looked like Heim was going to school the field once again, as he won both Stage 1 and Stage 2 in convincing fashion, but a slow pit stop on lap 83 sent him to the back of the field, forcing the driver of the No. 11 Tundra to rethink his battle plan. 

A testament to his maturity behind the wheel, Heim quickly stormed the field with a truck that seemed to be on rails, going wherever its pilot told it to with the slightest turn of the wheel. After storming into the top five, it seemed like Heim's fresh tires had finally evened out with the field, but he still had 15 laps to chase the leader down. 

However, a caution for Chase Purdy sent pit strategy in every direction. Heim chose to pit, but another slow stop, this time with a loose lugnut being the culprit, set him back in 11th for the race's final restart with just nine laps to go. Just like before, however, Heim made quick work of his competitors, driving all the way up to second place. The only truck left to pass was Daytona winner Sanchez, who finally had a chance to show what his truck could do in clean air. 

With the odds stacked against him and the fastest truck in the field on his tail, Sanchez put on a clinic in late-race defense, blocking Heim so that he was unable to put himself in position to pass Sanchez. As the laps withered away, so did the handling of Heim's truck, which was unable to pull one final rabbit out of its hat.

Sanchez finally crossed the line, grabbing his second win of the season in a race that saw him take advantage of Heim's pit road misfortune. 

Heim wasn't the only heartbroken driver at the end of Friday's race, however. 20-year-old Kaden Honeycutt, who finished fourth in a race won by Heim, had a fast truck throughout the night. After overcoming a penalty for taking pit equipment out of his pit box, he had put himself inside the top three when the final caution came out on lap 120. 

Like Heim, he made quick moves on the restart, but with a truck better suited for the long run, it was all he could do to watch the laps run down and settle for an eighth-place finish. In five races for Niece Motorsports this season, Honeycutt has recorded four top-10 finishes, with his worst finish of the year being a 12th-place effort at Bristol. His average finish for the season is a solid 7.8.

The Truck Series' next race is next Saturday, June 1, at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois. The race will go green shortly after 1:30 p.m. ET and will air on Fox, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.