After a crash at Darlington Raceway on May 10 led to his first finish outside the top 10 all season, Corey Heim got right back in the saddle in just a week’s time, as he captured his third win of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season on Sunday (May 19) in the Wright Brand 250 at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
The No. 11 Toyota took the lead from Jake Garcia on lap 186 and never relinquished it. Heim led a race-high 66 laps on his way to the win in a race that began Saturday before being postponed due to a massive downpour that flooded the track.
“Definitely a crazy weekend with the weather and what not, but I knew since practice that we had the speed,” Heim told Fox Sports 1. “Can’t say enough about these TRICON Garage guys. What a truck and what a weekend. Knew we had potential from practice and put it all together and executed great today.”
With Heim firmly out front in the closing laps, the only drama was for second. Grant Enfinger took the runner-up spot for his best finish of the season.
“Overall, just the best execution of the season,” Enfinger told Fox Sports 1. “This is the third time, second time in a row, we’ve brought a really fast Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet.”
Layne Riggs also had a season-best finish in third with the help of some pit strategy, feeling he and Front Row Motorsports finally got the result they knew they could have. Riggs’ previous best finish was 10th at Bristol.
“We really needed this,” Riggs said. “We finally finished where we deserved to finish today. We knew we had a third or fourth place truck. It’s just hard with the way the track was changing to pit so early and guess what everyone was going to do.”
While Heim was celebrating on the frontstretch, it was one of his TRICON teammates who the crowd was going crazy for. Brenden “Butterbean” Queen, a regular in the CARS Late Model Tour, finished fourth in his Truck debut in the No. 1 Toyota.
“It’s what I’ve worked for my whole life and never thought I’d have this opportunity,” Queen said. “I just never knew if I’d get this opportunity and Bean Nation has stuck with me. I’m just blessed, man. I hope I can turn this into some more opportunities. I love racing my late model but it’s my dream to get to the next level.”
Queen was running near the front of the pack when he decided to pit midway through stage two and got tagged with a speeding penalty.
“I hated to put my team in a box with that penalty, but I told them we’re going to get back to the front one way or another and they deserve it,” Queen said. “Those guys at the shop, they put the hours in and that’s why the Truck is so fast. I’m the lucky guy that gets to hold the wheel.
Xfinity Series regular Sammy Smith took fifth in the Spire Motorsports No. 7 Chevy. Christian Eckes, Nick Sanchez, Tyler Ankrum, Daniel Dye and Stewart Friesen made up the rest of the top 10.
Eckes started from the pole thanks to rain Saturday (May 18) morning. Eckes started alongside Sanchez, and Eckes retained the lead as Ross Chastain moved to second on the start.
Eckes pulled away from Chastain at the start of the first green flag run, but as Eckes navigated lapped traffic, Chastain, Heim and Taylor Gray closed in.
The first caution of the day flew for rain on lap 59, setting up a three-lap dash to end stage one.
Ty Majeski and Ben Rhodes — who sustained damage on his right front fender — stayed out with others and lined the front row, and Majeski was able to hold on to the lead to win the stage over his teammate Rhodes. Rajah Caruth, Taylor Gray, and Heim completed the stage one top five.
Most of the drivers that stayed out made their pit stops, but Majeski stayed on the track during the stage break.
During the stage break, the field was brought into pit road for a lightning hold. That lightning delay eventually became a rain delay and eventually the flooded track forced a postponement.
When racing resumed on Sunday morning, Caruth took the lead away from Majeski until he spun just five laps after the restart.
Ankrum and Garcia were among those to pit under the ensuing caution and it paid dividends. Ankrum took the lead a caution later when most of the field pitted, and he secured the stage two win when Bret Holmes spun with two laps left in the stage. Garcia took second in the stage, followed by Friesen, Jack Wood and Riggs in the top-five.
Garcia led 40 laps and controlled the final stage early before a Conner Jones spin brought out a caution on lap 177. Heim restarted inside of Garcia on the front row and wrestled his way into the lead.
A caution on lap 212 for a Dean Thompson spin gave Garcia another opportunity to jump back ahead. Instead, Garcia began to backslide and finished 21st. During this time, Heim ran away from the field as Enfinger, Riggs, Queen and Eckes were in a dogfight for second. Heim ultimately took the checkered flag by a margin of 2.474 seconds over Enfinger.
Majeski led 50 laps early, but he had to settle for a 11th-place finish. Caruth recovered from his spin, but only enough to manage 15th.
Only two trucks failed to finish the race. Trey Hutchens went behind the wall for a mechanical issue, finishing 36th, 122 laps down. After his spin into the wall, Jones lost power steering and ultimately retired for a 35th place finish.
Wright Brand 250 Results
The Truck Series next stop will be at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 on Friday, May 24 at 8:30 p.m. ET. Broadcasting will be provided by FOX Sports 1.
About the author
Wyatt Watson has followed NASCAR closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretchas a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt writes breaking NASCAR news and contributes to columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monster. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media and serves as an at-track reporter, collecting exclusive content for Frontstretch.
Wyatt Watson can be found on Twitter @WyattGametime
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