In a Nutshell
Corey Heim took advantage of both Front Row Motorsports trucks’ faltering and claimed his eighth race win of the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season at Darlington Raceway.
It was a rare non-dominant day for Heim, but overall still solid, as he won the first stage and led the second-most laps, staying on Layne Riggs’ tail all afternoon. It’s Heim’s third straight victory after scoring wins at Richmond Raceway and Watkins Glen International.
Saturday’s (Aug. 30) win locks Heim into the Round of 8 immediately as he continues one of the most dominant seasons in Truck Series history.
The Top Truckers at Darlington Raceway
Winner, Stage 1 Winner: Corey Heim
Polesitter, Stage 2 Winner, Most Laps Led (71 of 147): Layne Riggs
Fastest Lap: Chandler Smith (30.129 seconds, 163.218 mph)
Biggest Mover: Timmy Hill (started 23rd, finished eighth)
The Winning Move
It looked as though FRM was going to have the race on lock, as Riggs and teammate Chandler Smith swept the front row in qualifying and ran 1-2 early.
However, after just 14 laps, Smith’s day ended after making contact with the outside wall.
That put Heim as the second-best challenger to Riggs. After taking stage one from Riggs, the No. 34 got back out front to begin stage two and didn’t look back until Heim came bearing down on him with 20 laps to go.
Then, entering turn 1, Heim swooped low and took the lead just as Riggs blew a tire and smacked the wall. The caution then came out immediately afterward when Kaden Honeycutt spun down the frontstretch.
That gave Heim a clear path to his eighth victory of the season — he’s just one win away from tying Greg Biffle’s 1999 season for the winningest season in Truck Series history.
Playoff Rundown
As Heim locked himself into the next round, Riggs, Honeycutt, and Smith all found themselves with issues that resulted in dismal finishes of 17th, 18th, and 30th. The other seven playoff drivers finished in the top 12.
Fortunately for Riggs, his 19 stage points allowed him some cushion for a finish like 17th. While Smith did earn the bonus point for the fastest lap, it doesn’t help him much.
Smith and Honeycutt are currently the two drivers on the wrong side of the cut line after the first race of the Round of 10. Smith trails eighth-place Jake Garcia by two, while Honeycutt isn’t far behind, just five behind Garcia.
Of note, the owner playoffs see one change in who’s competing: the Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 qualified via wins from Kyle Busch and Carson Hocevar, which resulted in Garcia’s No. 13 not qualifying for the owner’s playoffs. So Smith’s No. 38 and Honeycutt’s No. 52 trail Rajah Caruth’s No. 71 on the owner’s side as things stand.
Rookie Report
Rookie of the Race: Welcome back to NASCAR, Trevor Bayne! In a surprise one-off for TRICON Garage (for whom Bayne serves as a driver coach), Bayne kept his No. 1 in the top 10 all day, eventually finding his way to an impressive fifth. Bayne hasn’t made a NASCAR start (or Truck Series start) since 2023, so this was an impressive drive, enough to earn him this week’s Rookie of the Race.
No. 1 — Trevor Bayne (fifth)
No. 5 — Toni Breidinger* (24th)
No. 17 — Gio Ruggiero* (22nd)
No. 22 — Clayton Green (32nd)
No. 26 — Dawson Sutton* (18th)
No. 33 — Frankie Muniz* (OUT due to injury)
No. 44 — Andres Perez* (16th)
No. 74 — Caleb Costner (28th)
No. 77 — Corey LaJoie (20th)
No. 81 — Connor Mosack* (13th)
*Denotes 2025 Rookie of the Year contender
One Big Takeaway From This Race
This season, the Truck Series did not race at Darlington in April with the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series. As such, the truckers did not get to participate in throwback weekend.
So when the series made the trip to South Carolina this time, some teams opted to run throwbacks.
The entire McAnally-Hilgemann Racing team participated, with all four drivers sporting paint schemes reminiscent of the past. Tyler Ankrum’s No. 18 honored Tommy Ellis, Daniel Hemric’s No. 19 honored Buddy Baker’s Grey Ghost, Connor Mosack’s No. 81 honored Kenny Wallace and Jack Wood’s No. 91 honored Dick Trickle.
Another team also participated, the No. 33 Reaume Brothers Racing Ford of Mason Maggio.
Maggio was supposed to drive the No. 22, but after Frankie Muniz suffered an injury over the off week, RBR put Maggio in the No. 33 and kept the throwback Maggio was supposed to run with the No. 22.
The throwback was based on Michael Waltrip’s Aaron’s Dream Machine Xfinity car from the early 2000s. It was a little bit of a rough transition to a truck, but it still looked nice on the track.
While only five of the 32 teams participated, it was still nice to see that there were Truck Series teams that recognized the fact that they didn’t get to be part of throwback weekend in April, so they took matters into their own hands and did it themselves in the fall.
Next season, the Darlington Truck Series race moves back to the spring, so they’ll get to officially participate again.
But still, bravo to those who did on Saturday.
In case you’re curious, the throwbacks finished second (Hemric), seventh (Ankrum), 13th (Mosack), 14th (Wood) and 26th (Maggio).
Talkin’ Truckers
Heim on the win:
Hemric on his second-place run and whether or not he had anything for the No. 11:
Grant Enfinger (third), Timmy Hill (eighth) and Garcia (10th) recap their afternoons:
Bayne discusses both his fifth-place drive as well as Tanner Gray’s sixth-place performance:
Caruth (12th) says he was off a little bit everywhere despite his respectable finish:
Riggs (17th) places the blame for his flat tire on himself:
Paint Scheme of the Race
Though it wasn’t on track very long, Smith had a sharp-looking truck at The Track Too Tough To Tame. Smith had run the Wheelers-sponsored truck previously at Nashville Superspeedway, but it made its return on Saturday.
Anyone who has read my work knows my well-known affinity for the color green, and this paint scheme is no exception. The color pattern of the truck only makes the truck look cleaner.
It’s a shame the truck only survived 14 laps, because this beauty deserved more TV time than that.
Next Stop
The annual Thunder Valley Thursday trip is on deck.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series has another week off before heading to Bristol Motor Speedway for the second time this season, for its annual Thursday night summer showdown. The race will once again cap a doubleheader with the ARCA Menards Series national/East combination race, where the ARCA East champion will be crowned.
Riggs is the defending winner of the fall race, while his teammate Smith won the most recent race at Bristol in April.
Coverage for the UNOH 200 Presented by Ohio Logistics begins at approximately 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, Sept. 11. FS1 continues its exclusive television coverage of the Truck Series playoffs, while the all-new NASCAR Racing Network continues its exclusive season-long radio coverage of the Truck Series.
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.