In A Nutshell
There will never — never — be another season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series that will compare to what Corey Heim has done in 2025.
It’s as simple as that. After some late-race shakeups, Heim found his way back to the front via an absolutely incredible seven-wide move that propelled him to his 12th win of the season at Phoenix Raceway.
More importantly, it lifted the driver of the No. 11 Toyota to his first title after leaving the last two seasons empty-handed despite entering as a heavy favorite.
There’s no other way to put it: Nobody else in the field Friday (Oct. 31) was more deserving or more worthy of the title than the newly-crowned TRICON Garage champion.
The Top Truckers at Phoenix Raceway
Winner, Champion, Stage 1 and 2 Winner, Most Laps Led (100 of 161), Fastest Lap (27.59 seconds, 130.482 mph): Corey Heim
Polesitter: Layne Riggs
Biggest Mover: Matt Mills — started 33rd, finished 11th
Top Storylines of the Race
- Several drivers had their 2026 plans hinted at during or after the race.
- Dawson Sutton and Rackley W.A.R. will return in 2026, Sutton said at the care center following his lap 1 crash.
- The FOX Sports broadcast leaked after the race that Kaden Honeycutt will head to TRICON Garage.
- Matt Crafton said he will run part-time (i.e.: more than just one or two races) following his retirement from his full-time career.
- Ben Rhodes and Jake Garcia stated they will likely return to ThorSport Racing.
- Andres Perez stated he was “ready to be back next year” in his care center interview after crashing out of the race – presumably with Niece Motorsports.
The Winning Move
Polesitter Layne Riggs, who had to start from the rear and serve a pass-through penalty, had the strongest car toward the end of the race, running down Heim for the lead. Riggs’ No. 34 had made the Championship 4 in owners’ points, meaning that a Riggs win would’ve locked up the owners’ championship.
Then, inexplicably, Connor Mosack suffered a tire rub and refused to pit for three laps until the tire eventually gave way and he went careening into the wall, bringing out a caution and setting up an overtime finish.
Ensuing pit strategies left Heim buried in 10th for the restart with a front row that consisted of … Stefan Parsons and Cole Butcher.
Yeah, the next restart was as chaotic as you would think.
The ensuing stack-up as the field went green resulted in a seven-wide move for the lead.
I’m gonna say that again.
The ensuing stack-up resulted in a seven. Wide. Move. For the lead.
Parsons, Ty Majeski, Honeycutt, Butcher, Rajah Caruth, Grant Enfinger and Heim all engaged in an incredible seven-wide move for the lead in turn 1.
And Heim was on the very bottom, nearly touching the inside wall. Somehow, he made it stick, and while Majeski took off with the lead, Heim cleared to second right behind him.
The field crashed behind the leaders, setting up a quick red flag and second overtime restart. At that point, Heim set sail with the top spot and took off to his rightful championship.
Championship Rundown
Introducing your 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion.
Behind Heim, it was Majeski who finished second, both in the race and the final championship standings, coming up one spot short of going back-to-back. Honeycutt wound up third, again both in the race and the championship. Tyler Ankrum came home fourth in the standings after getting caught up in the final crash of the night, relegating him to a 14th-place finish.
Rookie Report
Rookie of the Race: How about that for your first career start? Tyler Reif made his Truck Series debut in the No. 41 for Niece Motorsports, and through all the chaos, Reif ended up leading all rookies with an impressive ninth-place result. Reif is expected to move up from ARCA Menards Series competition next season, and if that’s the case, he had himself a strong debut.
Rookie of the Year: It’s been a long, grueling year, but Gio Ruggiero rose above it all. The Massachusetts native scored a long-awaited victory at Talladega Superspeedway and was far-and-away the most dominant rookie of the season. Although he fell short of the playoffs, Ruggiero set himself up to make a splash next season. Though he clinched top freshman honors a few races prior to Phoenix, Ruggiero can now officially call himself the 2025 Sunoco Rookie of the Year.
No. 1 — Brent Crews (28th)
No. 2 — Clayton Green (20th)
No. 5 — Toni Breidinger* (25th)
No. 17 — Gio Ruggiero* (31st)
No. 26 — Dawson Sutton* (34th)
No. 33 — Frankie Muniz* (19th)
No, 35 — Greg Van Alst (18th)
No. 41 — Tyler Reif (ninth)
No. 44 — Andres Perez* (30th)
No. 62 — Cole Butcher (23rd)
No. 66 — Luke Baldwin (16th)
No. 74 — Caleb Costner (22nd)
No. 81 — Connor Mosack* (26th)
*Denotes 2025 Rookie of the Year contender
One Big Takeaway From This Race
We will never ever see another Truck Series season like what we saw from Heim this year.
Heim will end his 2025 season with 12 race wins — in a 25-race season — smashing the all-time win record for a single season in the Truck Series. But that doesn’t even begin to tell you just how dominant the No. 11 team was.
19 top fives. 21 top 10s. 23 stage wins. Over 1,600 laps led. The first driver ever to lead a lap in every single race. And zero DNFs.
Simply a remarkable season that will likely never be repeated.
It would have been nothing short of an absolute travesty if Heim went another dominating season without a title to show for it — especially one where he brought out the belt against the field.
And Heim was not going to be denied at Phoenix, either. His team made a bold pit call prior to overtime, a four-tire stop at the expense of precious track position, and Heim made a daring move to throw it seven-wide, making it stick. That moment single-handedly told the world that Heim is not going to go down without a fight.
In the moment, some might look at this season as boring. They’ll see it as when Heim Time ruined the fun of everybody else. But true race fans will appreciate the pure dominance from truck No. 11. And It’s a damn shame that we still have no clue what Heim will be doing next season. He’s the future of the sport and deserves a shot at a higher series.
But the reality is, 2025 is a Hall of Fame season in and of itself, even if Heim does nothing else in the sport — but we all know it’s just the beginning of Heim Time.
Paint Scheme of the Race
You mean to tell me that the Truck Series raced on Halloween and only Rhodes and his No. 99 team took advantage?
In a major departure from the bright orange livery normally seen for Rhodes’ Campers Inn RV truck, ThorSport Racing decked the truck out with some glow-in-the-dark-looking green and some haunting midnight blue that made the truck not only fit to be raced at night, but also befitting of spooky season, using all the right colors to do so.
The Campers Inn RV mascot, RV Artie, also got a makeover on the truck, dressing up as a mummy.
It’s truly the perfect paint scheme to celebrate. Well done to Rhodes and Co., but at the same time, shame on the rest of the Truck Series field for not even thinking to participate. I mean seriously, it’s not often you get to race on an exact holiday, and more teams definitely should’ve taken advantage.
Rhodes, the 2021 and 2023 Truck Series champion, started 10th but got caught up in a hard crash and finished a disappointing 29th in this spooky seat.
Next Stop
Time to hit the road — metaphorically speaking.
The 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season has officially come to a close, and now it’s time to get some much-needed rest before returning to Daytona International Speedway for the 2026 season opener on Friday, Feb. 13.
Heim is the defending winner of the race after Parker Kligerman’s disqualification. However, with Heim’s plans currently unknown, it’s unclear whether or not he will be able to defend his race win.
Coverage for the Fresh From Florida 250 will take place on the evening of Friday, Feb. 13. While a start time hasn’t been announced, expect it to be somewhere around the 7 p.m. ET hour.
Television coverage will be on a FOX network (likely FOX Sports 1), while radio coverage will likely be provided by the NASCAR Racing Network, which was introduced this year exclusively for Truck Series radio coverage. That can also be found on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
See you then, Truckers.