#11: Corey Heim, TRICON Garage, Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra, Watkins Glen
(Photo: NKP)

Corey Heim Wins Chaotic Watkins Glen Truck Race

by

Corey Heim survived three overtime finishes and held off Daniel Hemric to win his sixth race of the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season at Watkins Glen International.

The driver of TRICON Garage’s No. 11 claimed his fourth-straight road course win and his 17th victory overall.

“I got behind on that last stage,” Heim said post-race. “I was scratching and clawing trying to get back through the field. … I had my brakes pretty much go out completely on me on that long green-flag run. I blew the bus stop and I made a lot of mistakes myself.

“I feel like we had a lot of them get away from us this year by cautions or whatever, but I felt like we had one go our way and had some more opportunities to finish off.”

2025 ARCA Phoenix Brent Crews (Credit: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR via ARCA Racing used with permission)

Truckin’ Thursdays: Who Will Replace Corey Heim at TRICON?

Hemric came up just short of besting Heim on the final restart, coming home in second. Heim’s TRICON teammate Gio Ruggiero took third.

Christopher Bell rebounded to finish fourth after running out of fuel from near the lead in the waning laps while filling in for Stewart Friesen.

Tyler Ankrum took fifth.

Heim took control early from the pole and pulled away to a two-second lead before a caution came for Gian Buffomante and William Lambros, who were stopped on track. 

Many of the leaders pitted under the caution flag, which handed the lead to Ruggiero, with Ben Rhodes alongside.

On the following restart, Rhodes took the lead from Ruggiero, with Heim emerging in second. Heim made quick work of Rhodes shortly after and took the stage one victory over Ross Chastain. 

Stage two restarted with Chastain taking the lead from Heim into turn 1. The two drivers battled hard, but Heim emerged up front once again.

A caution came toward the end of stage two for Jack Wood, who blew a tire while entering the esses. Wood made heavy contact with the barrier before rolling to a stop. 

Many of the leaders pitted, with many trucks behind staying out to potentially collect stage points.

Hemric restarted up front, but was passed by Sammy Smith and Rhodes as multiple trucks spun behind. Rhodes, who made an aggressive move on the restart, was able to take the top spot.

In the final two turns, Jake Garcia made contact with Connor Zilisch from behind, which sent Zilisch into the sand trap. Meanwhile, Rhodes cruised to the stage victory to collect 10 valuable points in his quest to make the playoffs.

With trucks pitting to top off with fuel, Bell restarted the final stage on point with Ankrum in second. Bell pulled away as Ankrum battled Andres Perez for second, with Perez surging ahead.

With 13 laps to go, Toni Breidinger’s truck burst into flames, which prompted the caution flag to fly with Bell leading and Perez in second, potentially short on fuel.

With nine laps to go, the race restarted with Bell taking a commanding lead over Perez, while William Sawalich was in third and Heim moved up to fourth.

Shortly after, Tanner Gray made an aggressive block across the nose of Ty Majeski before the chicane, which turned Gray head on into the barrier, causing a caution.

The race restarted with four laps to go, with Bell remaining up front and Heim moving to second as Perez and Sawalich made contact in the chicane.

Another caution followed as Rhodes lost a left-rear tire and slammed into the outside barrier.

This set up overtime, with Bell and Heim battling into turn 1 and Heim taking the lead.

Chaos ensued behind them with Connor Mosack spinning, which caused the trucks of Perez and Dawson Sutton to hit the tire barrier to set up a second overtime.

Bell’s truck ran out of gas under caution, which handed the front row to Hemric with Ruggiero in third. On the restart, Heim pulled ahead as the trucks of Garcia, Grant Enfinger and Mosack crashed in the chicane, leading to a third overtime.

Heim battled Hemric on the following restart, but Heim was able to keep his lead. Hemric made a late charge, but it wasn’t enough, as Heim was able to claim the victory for TRICON.

Watkins Glen Truck Results 

The regular season finale for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series takes place Friday (Aug. 15) at Richmond Raceway. Coverage begins at 7:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.