This time, Corey Heim would not be denied.
Heim claimed his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway, avoiding a Halloween House of Horrors with a wild ending that nearly cost him the title. Heim’s 12th victory of his historic 2025 Truck campaign came with a late charge, from 10th to second and then the lead after a four-tire stop cost him track position heading into overtime.
“I was so stressed out ever since we won the Roval, because I knew we had to defend this insane year we’ve been having,” said Heim after putting the exclamation point on his dominant season. “This is just such a relief, to say the least.”
Ty Majeski came up just short Friday (Oct. 31) on claiming his second straight Truck championship, ending the night in second.
“I wish we could’ve been two-time tonight, but just really proud of the effort and thankful for this opportunity,” said Majeski post-race.
Kaden Honeycutt put up a valiant effort in third, leaving Championship 4 contenders 1-2-3 in the final rundown. Tyler Ankrum, the fourth eligible driver, got caught up in an overtime crash and sank to 14th after struggling most of the night.
Heim took it seven-wide on the first of two overtime restarts, going from 10th to second exiting turn 2. He lined up on the front row the following restart, following an incident in turn 3 that was sparked from contact between the No. 62 of Cole Butcher and the No. 18 of Ankrum. He then made quick work of Majeski over the final two laps, pushing ahead and pulling away out front.
“I don’t care if I was on 100 lap (old) tires,” Heim explained. “No one was going to beat me tonight, it wasn’t going to happen.”
Layne Riggs and Rajah Caruth rounded out the top-five finishers. Jake Garcia, Corey LaJoie, Chandler Smith, Tyler Reif and Jack Wood ran sixth through 10th.
The opening portion of the race saw Smith lead the first 21 laps, after an incident in opening two turns of the race took out Dawson Sutton and Daniel Hemric, before handing the lead to Heim. Heim never looked back from that point on, as he swept both stages before going on to score the win.
Heim held strong through a few cautions during the race, including a four truck incident that saw a huge impact for Andres Perez in the No. 44 and Ben Rhodes in the No. 99.
Afterwards, Heim was challenged the most for the title by Majeski.
Meanwhile, Riggs scooped the lead from the No. 11 a few laps after the restart due to the Front Row Motorsports driver having fresher tires than anyone else up front. Riggs was battling back from having to serve a penalty under green due to failing pre-race inspection.
Their battle opened the door for Majeski to hound Heim for the closing laps as it was one of the few times in the night he was in someone else’s dirty air. Heim held off the challenge and set sail, looking to win the title with four laps left.
That’s when Connor Mosack had a huge left front tire rub sparked from contact at the same time. NASCAR had urged him to pull it down pit road to not spark a late-race yellow. The No. 81 stayed on the racetrack. One lap later, the truck was in the fence and the caution flag flew.
Everyone apart from Stefan Parsons and Butcher came down pit road. The three chasing Heim took two tires, along with a few others, while Heim took four.
But what looked to be his demise, sending Heim back to 10th, was a blessing in disguise. It was then Heim took those four tires and worked his magic on the aforementioned overtime restarts to claim his title.
Another Craftsman Trucks Series season is now in the books. It’ll be 105 days until the Trucks return to the track, running their season opener at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 13, 2026.
