TRUCKS: Corey Heim Dominant -- Again -- in Win at Charlotte

For the 15th time in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career, the clock struck "Heim Time" for Corey Heim. The 22-year-old racer put his foot on the throat of his competition in Friday night's North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and he would not relent as he took yet another dominant victory.

After leading a race-high 98 laps in the 134-lap event, a race where he swept winning Stages 1 and 2, and turned the Xfinity Fastest Lap, Heim cruised to the finish line to win by a victory margin of 6.229-seconds over NASCAR Cup Series regular Ross Chastain.

RESULTS: NASCAR Truck Series NC Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte

"It felt really comfortable out front," Heim said about his race-winning No. 11 machine. "I feel like we were just as good as most people on the short run, and our truck really came to life after 15 to 20 laps there. Just was able to kinda put it on cruise control while the green flag cycle played out, and the pit crew did a really great job getting us through that whole cycle, as well, maintained the lead, and just kind of managed our gap from there."

Heim's margin of victory on Friday night was the largest in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series history at the 1.5-mile speedway in Concord, North Carolina.

Through the opening 11 races of the 2025 season, the driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota Tundra TRD Pro has led an astonishing 752 laps, is now up to four wins, and he's been in position to win several more, but late-race shenanigans and pit road mistakes foiled his hopes.

After being spun from the lead on the final lap while battling Layne Riggs for the win at North Wilkesboro Speedway, Heim said the frustration hadn't begun to boil over for him as he awaited his next win.

"I feel like we've had various amounts of things that have taken us out of the race. Most of them being circumstantial things like Homestead, we had that electrical issue, and had the spin last week on the last lap. Just kind of a mixed bag of things. I think the frustration would have been more built up for me if it were something more consistent," Heim explained. "But it just seems like inevitably something is going to go wrong throughout the day. And I feel like I've done a really good job myself, and also with my team, not letting that get to our heads."

While many were confused that Heim didn't land a full-time NASCAR Cup Series ride heading into this season, it feels more and more inevitable that Heim moves up to the top NASCAR National Series division next season as he continues to pile up hardware.

Usually, full-time NASCAR Cup Series drivers are expected to be the favorites to score the win when they drop down to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series to compete in races, but in this era of Heim dominance, Chastain and others are just battling to be runner-up.

"Best in class, for sure," Chastain said of his race in a post-race interview on FS1. "Heck of an effort for Niece Motorsports across the board for three of the top-seven, and Kaden [Honeycutt] right there on my back bumper. That's what we look for. We look for competition across all three trucks for Al [Niece], and Al is super happy to get a ton of points and just to have fast trucks."

Kaden Honeycutt, Chastain's Niece Motorsports teammate, would finish in the third position to secure his career-best finish. Honeycutt's previous career-best finish in NASCAR Truck Series competition was fourth-place, which he had achieved twice, both times at Kansas Speedway in 2024.

Layne Riggs, who has been knocking on the door of a race win the last few weeks, would settle for a fourth-place finish after battling with Chastain, Honeycutt, and Kyle Busch in the closing laps.

Busch, who is looking to snap a long winless drought in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600, got his weekend kicked off with a fifth-place finish driving the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado for Spire Motorsports.

Grant Enfinger, Matt Mills, Daniel Hemric, Rajah Caruth, and NASCAR Xfinity Series regular Brandon Jones rounded out the top-10 finishers on the night.

It was a devastating night for championship contenders Chandler Smith and Ty Majeski as they were swept up in a multi-truck crash on Lap 71 along with Gio Ruggiero and Connor Mosack.

Smith would see his race come to an end with the incident, and he would be credited with a last-place finish a week after picking up his second victory of the season. Majeski would continue on in the race, but would finish a disappointing 32nd, 31 laps off the pace.

Heim's latest win, coupled with a last-place finish for Chandler Smith allowed Heim to stretch out his lead in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular season standings. Heim now leads Smith by 100 points after just 11 races.

With his third finish of 31st or worse over his last six starts, Majeski, the defending series champion, has dropped three spots in the standings on Friday night and now sits ninth in the championship standings after Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Next up for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series drivers and teams is the Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway. That race is scheduled for Friday, May 30 and will be televised on FS1. The official race broadcast will kick off at 8:00 PM ET.

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