TRUCKS: Corey Heim Scores Watkins Glen Pole Over Christopher Bell

Corey Heim never ceases to amaze behind the wheel of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota Tundra in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Friday at Watkins Glen International, Heim continued his dominance of the series as he nabbed his 11th career pole position in his 81st career attempt. And in doing so, he topped some of the most talented up-and-coming racers in the sport, as well as a few NASCAR Cup Series stars.

Starting Lineup: NASCAR Truck Series Mission 176 at Watkins Glen

Heim secured his latest pole position with a lap time of 70.953 seconds (124.308 mph) in the qualifying session around the 2.45-mile road course in New York. Heim topped Christopher Bell, a 12-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner and 2017 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, for the pole by a margin of 0.192 seconds.

The 23-year-old racer, who was second-fastest in Friday's practice session with a lap time roughly a second-and-a-half off the pace of his pole-winning run, said the pole was won due to him finding some extra grip in the bus stop.

"I think the bus stop, for the most part, I've been struggling to get into a rhythm through there, it's such a technical corner, and I wasn't rolling enough speed through there on my first lap," Heim said in an interview on FS1. "I can't believe how much grip we picked up in qualifying in general, just everyone, really, lap time-wise. Just kind of had to adjust my speed and how much roll speed I wanted to carry in the center there. Sort of missed Turn 1 a bit there, but by the looks of it, I maintained. I was worried about that, but I thought I got through the bus stop really well."

Bell, who will start from the outside of the front row, is filling in as the driver of the No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota this weekend. Stewart Friesen, the team's primary driver, will miss the remainder of the season after sustaining an open-book fracture of his pelvis and a fractured right leg in a dirt racing crash in Canada a couple of weeks ago.

Sammy Smith, who drives the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, will start from the third position in Friday afternoon's NASCAR Truck Series event. Smith is piloting the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado in this event. Smith will be joined by NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Rookie of the Year contender Andres Perez de Lara in the second row.

Gio Ruggiero, the series rookie point leader, will start from fifth in the No. 17 TRICON Garage Toyota.

Layne Riggs, Ross Chastain, Chandler Smith, Ben Rhodes, and Connor Mosack rounded out the top-10 qualifiers for Friday's NASCAR Truck Series event at Watkins Glen International.

Other notable qualifying efforts in the session included Kyle Busch, a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, who clocked in 11th-fastest behind the wheel of the No. 07 Spire Motorsports entry.

Connor Zilisch, who paced practice earlier in the day and was expected to be the favorite to win Friday's Truck Race, only mustered a 14th-place qualifying run in the No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado. Zilisch is driving the truck in place of Kaden Honeycutt, who was released by Niece Motorsports earlier this week due to Honeycutt landing a contract with a rival team and manufacturer for the 2026 season.

Honeycutt, who is inside of the NASCAR Truck Series Playoffs cutline with two races remaining in the regular season, will start Friday's race from the 35th position after failing to log a lap in the qualifying session behind the wheel of the No. 02 Young's Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado.

Following this weekend's race, Honeycutt will move over as the driver of the No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing entry for the remainder of the 2025 season.

Brent Crews notched a 19th-place starting spot behind the wheel of the No. 70 Toyota in what will mark the debut race for his part-time Brent Crews Motorsports team.

Other notable qualifiers included Rajah Caruth (20th), Chris Buescher (21st in Truck Series debut), Grant Enfinger (32nd), and Ty Majeski (33rd).