In A Nutshell
Corey Heim is inevitable.
The Marietta, Ga. native earned his fifth win (yes, five) of the season at Pocono Raceway on Friday (July 12), overcoming near disaster on the first lap to lead 55 of 70 laps and sweep both stages.
The win comes as redemption for Heim, as he was two corners away from winning this race last year until his former boss Kyle Busch pulled an epic last-lap pass on him in turn 2 to take the win.
Despite the pure dominance, it wasn’t an easy win for Heim. He nearly wrecked his truck in turn 2 on lap 1, losing several spots and spending most of the first stage recovering. Eventually, he passed polesitter and championship rival Christian Eckes after just 11 laps.
In the final stage, Heim had to hold off Grant Enfinger, who looked to have a slightly faster truck as the laps ran down. However, Heim remained mistake-free, and despite a halt for rain with under 10 laps to go, he held on to take win No. 5 in just the 14th race of the season.
The Top Truckers at Pocono Raceway
Winner, Stage 1 & 2 Winner, Most Laps Led (55 of 70 laps): Corey Heim
Polesitter: Christian Eckes
Biggest Mover: Ross Chastain (started 27th, finished fifth)
Rookie of the Race: Connor Mosack (15th)
Top Storylines of the Race
- Thad Moffitt returned to the track after missing Nashville Superspeedway. However, he was not with Faction46, instead joining Young’s Motorsports for the rest of the season. Young’s acquired the number and owner points of Faction46 to accommodate Moffitt, who will now join Mason Massey as the team’s full-time drivers the rest of the season.
- Aside from the stage cautions and the late rain, the only caution for cause came on lap 44, when Rajah Caruth got loose in turn 1 and spun his No. 71. Despite the setback, Caruth received minimal damage (if any) and rebounded to finish 10th.
- Bryan Dauzat crashed on the final restart with three laps to go, hitting the wall down the Long Pond Straightaway. NASCAR withheld the caution, and Dauzat only managed to bring his mangled No. 28 back to his pit stall, settling for 34th at the checkered flag.
- The race was extended an additional 10 laps (25 miles) this year compared to year’s past. This additional distance came as a deterrent to the race’s finish, as rain hit the track with less than 10 laps to go. Had the race remained at 60 laps (150 miles) like it did in previous years, the race would have been over before rain fell.
The Winning Move
Despite Heim taking the lead seemingly for good from Eckes, the short race brought along some pit strategies. After the caution flew for the conclusion of stage 1, Heim, Eckes, and a few other leaders stayed out. That forced them to come in at the end of stage 2 in order to have a shot of making it to the end of the race on fuel.
Jake Garcia stayed out under the caution in hopes of a Hail Mary victory with weather in the area. (Quick sidebar: This wasn’t the first time Garcia’s team has left him out strategically in hopes of sneaking away with a win. Kudos to the No. 13 team for trying new things in hopes of pulling an upset.)
Meanwhile, Eckes had a really bad pit stop that forced him to restart in 18th. Heim restarted in fifth, as some drivers ahead of him took two tires only.
But that wasn’t a problem for Heim.
By the end of the first lap following the restart to begin the final stage, Heim was back out front. He made quick work of Garcia and all the other two-tire trucks. Despite two late cautions (and some red flags), Heim was able to hold off Enfinger for the victory.
Eckes was able to rebound from 18th to finish third to limit the damage in points.
Championship Rundown
The gap has closed a little bit, but not near enough for Heim to be within striking distance of Eckes for the regular season championship. The gap is 32 points. While Heim has been riffing off wins left and right, he usually has Eckes not too far behind him; therefore the No. 19 is able to limit any points damage Heim could do with a win.
Meanwhile, Ty Majeski has managed to lock himself into the playoffs on points with two races remaining. The cut line heats up as well, as Daniel Dye jumps up into the playoffs by one point over Tanner Gray. Stewart Friesen isn’t too far behind, trailing Dye by four points, while Ben Rhodes is only 18 points ahead of the cut line.
Everyone 21st and below in points are now in a position where they must win to make the playoffs. No one below Bret Holmes in 20th is mathematically able to point their way into the playoffs.
With two races remaining (already?), there’s still a lot to be decided.
Rookie Report
It wasn’t the hottest day for any of the rookies, as a couple of them either ran into trouble or ran considerably off the pace the entire day. Connor Mosack was able to lead the rookie charge by mustering.a 15th-place finish.
No. 7 – Connor Mosack (15th)
No. 21 – Sage Karam (34th)
No. 27 – Stephen Mallozzi (35th)
No. 38 – Layne Riggs (30th)
No. 46 – Thad Moffitt (29th)
No. 66 – Luke Fenhaus (22nd)
No. 90 – Justin Carroll (28th)
Conner Jones Update: Jones was scheduled to miss this race, as well as the next race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, in his part-time Rookie of the Year quest. Jones will return on Aug. 10 at Richmond Raceway, while Fenhaus will remain behind the wheel of the No. 66 at IRP.
One Big Takeaway From This Race
With two races remaining before the playoffs, there are still only four drivers locked in by virtue of a win, partly in thanks to the dominance by Heim and Eckes.
But some of the drivers who may have been expected to win even so much as a month ago not only haven’t won, but seem to have fallen off in performance compared to the beginning of the year.
Two, in particular, are worth addressing.
After setting off on a career-best pace to begin the season with his new team, Tyler Ankrum has gone completely cold. In the first six races of the season, Ankrum had a stage win and only one finish worse than 11th.
Then a crash at Texas Motor Speedway handed Ankrum his first DNF of the season. Even worse, it began a three-race run of finishes of 20th or worse. He rebounded with a stage win and an eighth-place finish at North Wilkesboro Speedway before crashing out again at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
He followed that up with a mediocre 15th at World Wide Technology Raceway. A fifth-place showing at Nashville stopped the bleeding, but Ankrum only mustered a 14th-place finish at Pocono on Friday. Once the points leader, he has now slid back to sixth in points, just 46 points above Gray on the cut line.
The younger Gray, Taylor, hasn’t fared much better. Had he not flipped in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, he very well might have ended up in victory lane. Nevertheless, Gray went on to finish in the top 10 in seven of the following eight races, including a runner-up at Circuit of the Americas. His lone finish outside the top 10 was a 27th at Kansas Speedway after a flat tire derailed his night.
Then North Wilkesboro came around, and Gray couldn’t find a top 10 result the next four races. Two were just mediocre top 15s, one was a mechanical issue that put him laps down, and Nashville saw him crash out early.
A fourth-place showing at Pocono stops the bleeding for Gray, but he still only has a 36-point gap over his brother.
For both Ankrum and Gray, one more bad result could put them right in the thick of a playoff race that no one ever expected them to be a part of just a couple of races ago. These two need to find whatever luck and speed they can, otherwise they may be, unthinkably, left out of the playoffs should more bad finishes come their way.
Talkin’ Truckers
Heim on the win:
Enfinger was “really happy with how we unloaded” in runner-up effort:
Third-place Eckes recognizes that its between him and Heim for the regular season title:
The Brothers Gray (Taylor fourth, Tanner 19th) break down their afternoons at the Tricky Triangle:
Friesen (seventh) and Dye (16th) share their thoughts on the looming playoff battle between them and Tanner Gray:
Paint Scheme of the Race
It’s about time we give some love to a melon scheme driven by the Melon Man.
Of all the schemes that Ross Chastain has run throughout his career, this has to be one of his best. With sponsorship from Mar-Del Watermelon Association, vibrantly colored watermelons adorn a truck with a white base color. The scheme is complete with melons all over the rear decklid of the No. 45.
This bright red and green truck stood out above the rest on Friday, and it was certainly a fun scheme to see aboard the Melon Man himself. Despite a power issue late in the race, Chastain finished fifth after starting 27th, earning himself the biggest mover of the race.
Next Stop
We’re off to Indianapolis, but not the track you’d expect.
While the Cup Series and Xfinity Series heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway to their big return to the famed 2.5-mile instead of the road course, the Craftsman Truck Series returns to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in nearby Brownsburg, Ind., for the third year in a row. Majeski is the defending winner of the race.
Coverage for the TSport 200 begins at approximately 8:30 p.m. ET on Friday, July 19. Television coverage shifts from network FOX to FOX Sports 2, while Motor Racing Network continues its season-long radio coverage of the Truck Series.
About the author
Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and secondary short track writer. He also serves as an at-track reporter and assists with social media when he can. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight-choreographer-in-training in his free time.
You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.
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