BROWNSBURG, Ind. — The 2024 Craftsman Truck Series season has been dominated by two drivers: Christian Eckes and Corey Heim. These two are far and away the favorites for the title.
The two have combined for eight wins in the 15 races that have been completed this season, with Heim’s five wins leading over Eckes’ three. The two have stayed close in results the whole season, but Heim crashed out at Darlington Raceway, then was disqualified from second place at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Those results alone have allowed Eckes to take solid control of the regular season championship.
Despite having more wins, Heim is feeling the pressure of the regular season championship battle slipping away from him, and on Friday night (July 19), it all came to a head at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
Shortly after the restart to begin stage two, the two got into a squeeze down the backstretch, resulting in contact between the two. That contact cut down Heim’s left-front tire, forcing him to pit.
But not before showing his displeasure with driver No. 19.
The caution came out, but by complete and fortunate luck, Heim was not the reason. Conor Daly somehow had a flat tire at the same time as Heim, and he was listed as the reason for the caution. Heim went a lap down while on pit road changing tires, but was technically scored as the first truck one lap down, immediately giving him the free pass as he was not listed as the cause of the caution.
Heim rallied back to earn stage points with his fresh tires, but his truck went away in the final stage, and he finished an uncharacteristic 17th. Meanwhile, Eckes went on to finish runner-up after Ty Majeski took the lead from him late.
Afterwards, Heim jumped out of his truck and marched directly over to Eckes, and the two had a conversation where it was clear Heim was upset and Eckes knew he was at fault.
“It’s not like I went straight to the wall, Corey,” Eckes said.
Heim didn’t see it that way.
“Ah, you pretty much did,” Heim retorted. “I was nosing into the wall, and I jammed the wheel left and I hit you.”
“I was giving you a lane and misjudged it,” Eckes replied.
“[…] by a lot. By half a truck length,” Heim finished before walking away.
You make the call.
Heim then gave his side of the story to reporters after the race.
“[I] basically had to turn away from the wall to not knock the fence down,” Heim said after the race. “I mean, it was minimal contact, but it just was detrimental to our night, so I wanted to talk to him about it.
“I don’t think he intended to, but I feel like he’s always raced me pretty tight. So I told him to just have some common courtesy and give me an extra lane next time. He said okay, so we’ll move on.”
Eckes continued to admit fault when he gave his side of the story.
“Yeah, I just misjudged it down the backstretch,” Eckes said earnestly. “He was upset; he should be. I don’t know if it ruined their night or not. I mean, they got back up to second and just kind of faded there that last stage.
“I hate it for them but it’s not like it was intentional or anything like that.”
Eckes’ great result combined with Heim’s mid-pack finish allowed the No. 19 to extend his regular season championship lead to a whopping 50 points over the No. 11. With just Richmond Raceway remaining before the playoffs, Heim will likely need a miracle to have a shot at the regular season title. He’d need to be near perfect in points while Eckes basically crashes out and scores little.
The 15 points that come with winning the regular season title would leapfrog Eckes over Heim in total playoff points, and he could realistically enter the playoffs as the overall first seed.
In a season dominated by these two drivers, one can only imagine the tempers at IRP will only continue to grow the more these two go tit-for-tat with each other in the fight for the 2024 championship.
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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