Tracking the Trucks: Get Ready for Another Season of Heim Time

In A Nutshell

Guess who’s back … back again?

Anyone know what time it is?

That’s right, it took just three races into the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season for Corey Heim to get back into victory lane – physically, at least. The win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is technically Heim’s second of the year, though his first came after Parker Kligerman was disqualified from his win at Daytona International Speedway, giving second-place Heim a win by technicality.

Three races in, Heim already has two wins. Given his track record the last two seasons, it’s going to be a long season for his competition if the No. 11 team keeps this up.

The Top Truckers at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Winner, Most Laps Led (42 of 134 laps): Corey Heim
Polesitter: Corey Day
Stage 1 Winner, Fastest Lap (178.453 mph): Ty Majeski
Stage 2 Winner: Tyler Ankrum
Biggest Mover: Grant Enfinger (started 20th, finished second) and Layne Riggs (started 23rd, finished fifth) — both gained 18 total spots
Rookie of the Race: Gio Ruggiero

Top Storylines of the Race

• For the second straight week, a rookie won his first career pole, as Chevrolet prospect Corey Day led the field to green for the first time in his young career. Making his first start of the season, Day spent a good portion of the race in the top 10 but ultimately plummeted to 27th after making contact with Jake Garcia that forced him to pit late in the race.
• Friday’s race was a choppy affair, stopped twice for a lengthy amount of time due to rain in the area. The race, which went green shortly after 9 p.m. ET, didn’t reach the checkered flag until after midnight ET.
• Outside of that, there were only two cautions for cause, both occurring in the final stage. Kaden Honeycutt spun and forced Tyler Ankrum into the wall on lap 85. Jack Wood then brought out the final caution of the night after crashing into the turn 4 wall, ending his night. Wood joined Stephen Mallozzi as the lone drivers who retired from the event.

The Winning Move

Heim found himself up front for most of the final stage, but engaged in battles for the lead primarily with Stewart Friesen and Layne Riggs, though he also gave up an additional lap led to Chandler Smith as well.

After Riggs led 11 laps late, Heim took the lead back for good on the final restart and held off the late advances of Grant Enfinger to take home his second victory of the year.

Championship Rundown

Heim remains the only driver locked into the playoffs via wins, and now he has two of them. The Georgian now has more playoff points to carry with him into the playoffs and, as mentioned earlier, will absolutely be a force to be reckoned with once again this season and playoff season.

Rookie Report

For the third straight week, Gio Ruggiero led the way for the rookies. But Sin City wasn’t kind to the newcomers, as Ruggiero was only able to manage a 15th-place run to lead the charge.

No. 02 — Nathan Byrd (29th)
No. 2 — Stephen Mallozzi (31st)
No. 5 — Toni Breidinger* (21st)
No. 7 — Corey Day (27th)
No. 17 — Gio Ruggiero* (15th)
No. 26 — Dawson Sutton* (19th)
No. 33 — Frankie Muniz* (24th)
No. 66 — Luke Fenhaus* (23rd)
No. 77 — Andres Perez* (17th)
No. 81 — Connor Mosack* (20th)

One Big Takeaway from this Race

There were several drivers who were left wondering what could’ve been.

Friesen was again fast, leading 14 laps, but was unable to stay in the hunt for the win in the closing stages. Ankrum led 39 laps and won stage two, but fell behind on pit stops before getting caught up with Honeycutt. Wood’s No. 91 team almost gave the race away by pitting one lap before rain halted the race a second time — had the race been called, it would’ve been an all-time blunder from the group.

Enfinger mounted a late charge, but ended up coming just short of victory. The same goes for Tanner Gray, who is still seeking his first career win in the Truck Series but ultimately finished third. Smith claimed his No. 38 team was “one adjustment away from being in our own zip code,” but only led one lap.

Justin Haley found himself in the hunt several times throughout the night, but ended up fading to 11th. Garcia was a borderline top-five truck most of the night before contact with Day ended any chance at a good finish. Stage one winner Ty Majeski also had contact with Day, and his truck wasn’t as competitive after that.

It seems like Heim will be the only one leaving Vegas lucky. His rivals rolled the dice and came up with snake eyes.

Talkin’ Truckers

Enfinger (second), Gray (third) and Riggs (fifth) recap their nights:

Majeski (fourth) breaks down his earlier contact with Day and how that affected his truck the rest of the night:

Last year’s Las Vegas winner Rajah Caruth debriefs after his first top 10 of the season:

Matt Crafton (ninth) was hit with a penalty for unapproved adjustments following the first rain delay after a crew member reached down into the hood of his No. 88. He breaks down what he saw, as well as his evening overall:

Ankrum (10th) was irate with his pit crew after having arguably the truck to beat most of the night:

Wood (30th) describes what happened from his perspective after his lap 92 crash:

Paint Scheme of the Race

Sponsor-driver longevity is rare, especially when said driver jumps from team-to-team.

But the relationship between South Point and Daniel Hemric is one that has lasted through many race teams, and now extends to his new team, McAnally-Hilgemann Racing. On Friday, South Point (which is fittingly based in Las Vegas) made its first of two appearances aboard Hemric’s No. 19.

And boy, is it a beauty.

Rollin' the dice! 🎲🎲🎲@southpointlv is riding on board with @DanielHemric twice in '25!#NASCAR pic.twitter.com/nTJ4VoQUFw

— Bill McAnally Racing (@BMR_NASCAR) January 28, 2025

South Point paint schemes have always looked good, partially due to its unique gold-and-black design. But this scheme incorporates a little more red than what we’re used to seeing, and the gradient fades from gold to black really perfect this scheme.

Also, something about that white number against a paint schemes such as that is a nice touch as well.

Hemric finished 13th in this hot rod.

Next Stop

From Sin City to South Beach.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads to Homestead-Miami Speedway next Friday, March 21. Enfinger is the defending winner of the race.

Coverage for the Baptist Health 200 begins at 8 p.m. ET on Friday, March 21. Television coverage shifts to FOX (check your local listings), while the new NASCAR Racing Network continues its season-long exclusive radio coverage of the Truck Series.