In A Nutshell
Corey Heim has tied history.
Heim scored his ninth 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in dominating fashion, holding off a hungry Chandler Smith in the process. The victory ties Heim with Greg Biffle for the all-time winningest season in Truck Series history, a record the future Cup star set all the way back in 1999.
Heim won two of the three races in the Round of 10. He and Layne Riggs have combined to win the last eight Truck Series races in a row, cementing themselves as the drivers to beat for the title.
The Top Truckers at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Winner, Polesitter, Stage 1 & 2 Winner, Most Laps Led (124 of 175), Fastest Lap (29.886 seconds, 127.444 mph): Corey Heim
Biggest Mover: Christian Eckes (started 28th, finished ninth)
The Winning Move
It looked like strategy might be a factor in the race, as some trucks stayed out at the end of stage one and mired Heim’s No. 11 back in traffic. Rookie Andres Perez paced the field for 47 laps in stage two until he was eventually passed by Rajah Caruth for the lead.
Caruth then spent four laps out front. But all the while, some timely cautions and the speed of Heim’s truck allowed him to surge through the field. The Georgian ended up taking the stage two victory anyway.
From there, Heim took advantage of the clean air he’s become accustomed to, managing the gap between himself and Smith, who was desperate for a Round of 8 spot. Despite closing the gap ever so slowly, Smith ran out of time and Heim cruised to win No. 9.
Heim and Biffle now are tied for the winningest season in Truck Series history, but Heim has four more races to score another win and secure the record outright.
Playoff Rundown
For Smith and Jake Garcia, their quest for a championship has come to an end.
While Garcia never found consistent speed to advance, Smith saw his first two races of the playoffs sidetracked with mechanical woes, and was more than likely going to have to win New Hampshire to advance. He came up just one spot short of that goal.
The Round of 8 is now on deck, with three more races to decide who will compete for a championship at Phoenix Raceway. Here’s a look at the reset standings:
Rookie Report
Rookie of the Race: Gio Ruggiero is fast-tracking his way to Rookie of the Year honors now, as a fourth-place finish combined with Connor Mosack’s lap 1 crash has allowed the No. 17 to open up his lead in the rookie points. As a native of Seekonk, Mass., New Hampshire is his home race for Ruggiero, and a fourth-place finish is surely a showing he’s proud of — in any event, it earns him this week’s Rookie of the Race.
No. 1 — Brent Crews (17th)
No. 02 — Jayson Alexander (32nd)
No. 5 — Toni Breidinger* (25th)
No. 7 — Patrick Emerling (28th)
No. 17 — Gio Ruggiero* (fourth)
No. 22 — Blake Lothian (20th)
No. 26 — Dawson Sutton* (14th)
No. 33 — Frankie Muniz* (out with injury)
No. 33 — Tyler Tomassi (27th)
No. 44 — Andres Perez* (15th)
No. 62 — Michael Christopher Jr. (13th)
No. 69 — Derek White (30th)
No. 74 — Caleb Costner (33rd)
No. 77 — Corey LaJoie (eighth)
No. 81 — Connor Mosack* (36th)
*Denotes 2025 Rookie of the Year contender
Talkin’ Truckers
Biffle welcomes Heim to the 9-win club:
Heim on the win:
Smith (second) still calls his season successful for how late his team came together, despite his early playoff elimination:
Ruggiero discusses his fourth-place run at his home track:
Kaden Honeycutt (seventh) discusses relief of advancing to next round of playoffs:
Rajah Caruth (10th) led four laps and scored a top 10 en route to a spot in the Round of 8:
Conner Jones (31st) was taken out in a crash on lap 44 and gives his perspective:
Caleb Costner (33rd) breaks down his involvement in a lap 34 crash with front runners such as playoff driver Daniel Hemric:
Stewart Friesen is back at the track after his nasty Super DIRTcar Series accident in July. He gives his thoughts on how his two trucks did at New Hampshire and what’s next for Halmar Friesen Racing:
Paint Scheme of the Race
Despite it not being a night race, Christian Eckes’ NAPA NightVision Chevrolet won Best in Show this week.
Eckes, making his second and final Truck Series start of the season in a fifth McAnally-Hilgemann Racing truck, rolled into Loudon with a black-and-deep-purple No. 16, complete with golden yellow accents throughout the truck.
Eckes qualified 28th and was the race’s biggest mover, clawing his way up to a ninth-place finish in this beauty of a truck.
Next Stop
It only took seven years, but the Truck Series is going back home to the road course in Charlotte.
The series has another off-week before beginning the Round of 8 with its debut at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL. It’s the final road course of the 2025 season. Heim won the oval race in the spring, which was somehow the final 1.5-mile race of the year.
Coverage for the inaugural 67-lap showdown at the ROVAL begins at approximately 3:30 p.m. ET on Friday, Oct. 3. FOX Sports 1 continues its exclusive television coverage of the playoffs, while the NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 continue their exclusive season-long radio coverage 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.