In A Nutshell
Somehow, Corey Heim always finds a way to snatch victory, even from the jaws of defeat.
Despite leading 44 laps late, Heim took the lead back from Christopher Bell on a late-race restart and held on through all the chaos to win his sixth race of the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season.
Heim won on a day where it seemed like nobody had a good day and everybody ran into trouble at some point, but after three overtimes, it was No. 11 back in victory lane once again.
The Top Truckers at Watkins Glen International
Winner, Polesitter, Stage 1 Winner, Most Laps Led (44 of 81 laps): Corey Heim
Stage 2 Winner: Ben Rhodes
Fastest Lap: Andres Perez (72.761 seconds, 121.219 mph)
Biggest Mover: Ty Majeski (started 33rd, finished seventh)
The Winning Move
The aforementioned race of attrition was no match for Bell, who led a majority of the late stages of the race. In total, the No. 52 led 30 laps, only second behind Heim, and looked poised to take the victory in Halmar Friesen Racing’s first race after team owner/driver Stewart Friesen’s nasty crash in the Super DIRTcar Series.
Then, almost in succession, five cautions came out, forcing the race into three overtimes.
Fuel started to become an issue for several trucks, including race leader Bell. Heim, to this point, was all but out of the running, if anything, after he missed the bus stop late in the race and had to come to a complete stop before continuing.
But with restart after restart, he slowly worked his way up to the front, passing Bell for the lead outright in the first overtime attempt. At that point, Bell pitted for a splash of fuel and began working his way back up the running order.
On the final restart, Heim had a serious challenger in Daniel Hemric. On multiple occasions, Hemric got side-by-side with Heim for the lead but backed out of the throttle every time, allowing Heim to hold on through a last-turn charge to take the victory.
Rookie Report
Rookie of the Race: Gio Ruggiero continues his fantastic rookie season by quietly leading the charge for the rookies with a solid third-place finish. Ruggiero is still in the playoff hunt, and another finish like that next week could see him go chase a championship as a rookie. Ruggiero was able to avoid the carnage and sneak through to get TRICON Garage a second truck on the fictional podium, as well as a Toyota sweep, enough to earn him this week’s Rookie of the Race.
No. 2 — William Lambros (35th)
No. 5 — Toni Breidinger* (29th)
No. 7 — Sammy Smith (sixth)
No. 17 — Gio Ruggiero* (third)
No. 22 — Gian Buffomante (25th)
No. 26 — Dawson Sutton* (14th)
No. 33 — Frankie Muniz* (27th)
No. 45 — Connor Zilisch (eighth)
No. 62 — Wesley Slimp (12th)
No. 66 — Chris Buescher (22nd)
No. 69 — Derek White (19th)
No. 70 — Brent Crews (17th)
No. 77 — Andres Perez* (21st)
No. 81 — Connor Mosack* (16th)
*Denotes 2025 Rookie of the Year contender
One Big Takeaway From This Race
One. Race. Left.
Heim locked up the regular season championship at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. He already has a whopping 45 playoff points, which will become 60 playoff points when he gets his 15-point bonus for winning the regular-season title, plus whatever he gets at Richmond Raceway.
Heim could realistically have over a race’s worth of points in playoff points once the playoffs start. That’s unreal. Heim just might dominate the playoffs.
With Friesen out for the season, he relinquishes a playoff spot that a driver can snag on points alone. Here are all the winners so far this season who have clinched a playoff spot.
- Corey Heim (6 wins) (Clinched regular-season championship)
- Chandler Smith (2 wins)
- Layne Riggs (2 wins)
- Daniel Hemric (1 win)
- Tyler Ankrum (1 win)
- Rajah Caruth (1 win)
Of the four spots that remain on points, two have been clinched following Watkins Glen. Grant Enfinger and Ty Majeski can go into Richmond without fear of missing the playoffs thanks to their wide points cushions on the cut line, aided by Friesen sidelined for the season.
That leaves only two spots up for grabs, and it’s anyone’s guess who could get them. Provided there’s no new winner, Kaden Honeycutt’s spot in the playoffs is all but assured, as he has a 54-point lead on 10th and a 65-point lead on 11th.
But barring a new winner outside the top 10 (which could really shake things up), the battle for the final playoff spot will be between Jake Garcia, Ben Rhodes and Ruggiero. Garcia holds an 11-point lead over teammate Rhodes and a 21-point lead over Ruggiero.
Any one of these three could take the final playoff spot, and this battle alone will make Richmond worth watching — add in the potential for a new winner shaking things up, and suddenly the regular-season finale is must-see television.
Talkin’ Truckers
Heim on the win:
Hemric (second) explains why he didn’t try to rough Heim up to win the race:
Bell (fourth) talks about the new restart zone placement and what it meant to get a good result for Friesen:
Majeski (seventh), Garcia (15th) and Connor Mosack (16th) break down the attrition that broke out for each of them at the end of the race:
Wesley Slimp (12th) describes emotion of gaining 17 spots in second career race:
Rhodes (26th) breaks down his late-race crash and how evil his truck was throughout the evening:
Paint Scheme of the Race
In honor of a much-needed morale boost of a day for Halmar Friesen Racing, it’s time to recognize the beauty that is Slimp’s No. 62 that the team brought to the track.
This truck has a beautiful assortment of light blue, white, black and orange that certainly makes it stand out. Combine that with Slimp’s bright orange firesuit and it’s a winning combination.
This would have been the Paint Scheme of the Week in Slimp’s debut race at Lime Rock Park, but he caught fire in practice and had to go to a backup truck that looked almost like the No. 52’s normal paint scheme.
This time, however, Slimp was able to keep his primary truck unharmed throughout practice, qualifying and the race, bringing his truck home an impressive 12th when the dust settled.
Next Stop
The regular season ends in the Commonwealth.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads to Richmond Raceway for the regular season finale on Friday, Aug. 15. With Heim already clinching the regular season championship, the only thing left to decide is the final couple of playoff spots.
Majeski is the defending winner of the race.
Coverage for the eero 250 at Richmond Raceway begins at approximately 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday, Aug. 15. FOX Sports 1 will carry television coverage, while the all-new NASCAR Racing Network continues its exclusive season-long broadcast of the Truck Series.
Follow @AnthonyDamcott on X.
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 serves as an at-track reporter. He has also assisted with short track content and social media, among other duties he takes/has taken on for the site. In 2025, he became an official member of the National Motorsports Press Association. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight coordinator in his free time.
You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.