Corey Heim's win proves scuffed tires are a driver's best friend at Darlington

If you want to win a NASCAR race at Darlington Raceway, you'd better have fresh tires. It's been that way since the track first hosted a NASCAR race in 1950.

Corey Heim didn't have brand-new tires sitting in his pit late in Friday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, but he did have scuffs with a few laps on them that would at least be better than the worn tires being used by the rest of the field. 

After a turn 1 crash in overtime, the field was re-racked for a second overtime restart. Heim had a tire advantage, but was going to restart ninth with two laps to go. 

No matter. 

Heim blitzed his way through the field on the restart and was up to third at the white flag. Down the backstretch on the final lap, he had the race leader, Ross Chastain, in his sights. 

Heim's tire advantage let him do what nobody else in the field could: drive extremely hard into turn 3. 

Heim dove into the corner and passed Chastain, orchestrating a perfect move to steal a win. 

Corey Heim's thoughts on last-lap pass

"I didn't think we had much of a shot," Heim said. "I just feel like I made all the right moves. It worked out for me. Pretty crazy final restart there."

Heim said he thought Chastain, who admitted post-race that he didn't know how fast Heim was coming, would've run a lower line in the final corner. 

"If he went low and I was high, he could've fenced me," Heim said. 

Chastain didn't make that move, however, and Heim rode his momentum to the checkered flag. 

The victory shows that no matter what the race situation is at Darlington, tires are still a driver's best friend.

Quotes provided by NASCAR Media