Corey Heim: Driver, No. 51 JBL® Toyota
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overview:
Event: LiftKits4Less.com 200, Race 8 of 22, 147 Laps – 45/45/57; 200.1 Miles
Location: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway (1.336-mile egg-shaped oval)
Date/Broadcast: May 7, 2021 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
The Story on Corey:
- Corey Heim will make his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut behind the wheel of the No. 51 JBL Tundra in Friday night’s Camping World Truck Series event at Darlington Raceway. As part of his two-race deal, Heim will get back behind the wheel of the No. 51 Toyota Oct. 30 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway
- The 18-year-old Georgia native is the current points leader in the ARCA Menards Series standings, sitting 13 tallies ahead of Drew Dollar. Heim opened the season with a victory at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in February and also won at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in April. He has finished inside the top five in all four events this season, posting an average finish of 1.8.
- In addition to two ARCA Menards series this season, the Toyota Racing Development driver earned his first victory in the series finale last October at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City. Across 20 career ARCA Menards Series starts, the talented teenager has recorded three wins, 141 laps led, 14 top-five and 19 top-10 finishes, resulting in an average finish of 4.9.
- Heim has also found his way to victory lane in the Late Model Ranks the last few seasons. Most recently, the Georgia driver brought home a victory March 27 in the Super Late Model Georgia Spring Nationals at Crip Motorsports Park in Cordele, Ga. It was his second Super Late Model win at his home state track, where he also won CRA SpeedFest at the 3/8-mile track in 2020. On the CARS Tour, Heim has one Super Late Model win at South Boston (Va.) Speedway in 2018 and one Late Model Stock victory at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway in 2020.
- After seven events, the No. 51 is tied with KBM’s No. 4 team atop the Camping World Trucks owner standings but holds the tiebreaker with three wins on the year compared to the No. 4 team’s two. Owner-driver Kyle Busch has collected victories at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga. and in last week’s event at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, while Martin Truex Jr. got his first-ever Truck Series victory at the Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway Dirt Track. Combined with John Hunter Nemechek’s victories at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway and Richmond (Va.) Raceway, KBM has won the last five races on the schedule. It’s the first time in organization history that they have collected five consecutive victories, they had previously won four straight four different times.
- The No. 51 team also leads the series with 308 laps led. As an organization, KBM drivers have combined to lead 65.6% (627/956) of the total laps this season. KBM has also combined to win 11 of the 14 stages this season, including five by the No. 51 team.
- Mardy Lindley has guided the No. 51 team to three victories across seven races is in his first season as a crew chief at KBM. Before arriving at KBM, Lindley guided his drivers to 32 wins and four ARCA Menards Series East championships since 2013, including back-to-back titles with Sam Mayer the last two seasons. Additionally, he earned the ARCA Menards Series Sioux Chief Showdown championship with Mayer in 2020. Behind the wheel, the second-generation driver won 11 races on the Pro Cup Series from 2000 to 2006 and was crowned the series champion in 2001. Friday night will be Lindley’s first race atop the pit box at his home state track.
- Friday’s race kicks off the Triple Truck Challenge presented by Womply in the Camping World Truck Series. This year’s program will consist of the events at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, and concludes at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. An extra $50,000 is on the line for each of those three events. If a driver can win all three races, they will get a $500,000 bonus.
Corey Heim, Driver Q&A:
What does it mean to you to be getting the opportunity to make your Camping World Truck Series debut?
“I’m really excited to get started this weekend in Darlington. My JBL Tundra should be really fast. KBM has been on a hot streak the past couple of weeks. I have everyone behind me. Mardy Lindley is working on the truck and doing his best. Hopefully, I can bring my A game.”
Knowing that you will not have any practice, how have you prepared for Friday?
“It’ll definitely be tough this weekend. Darlington, from what I’ve heard, is a really challenging racetrack. To have no practice or qualifying and making my series debut, it’s going to be tough for sure. I know I have a really good team behind me. I’ve been doing things in the sim and everything I can online, like YouTube and some on board research to do everything I can to possibly research for it.”
Have you set any goals for Friday?
“I’m hoping to do the best I can and hopefully win the race. I think Mardy is going to bring me a fast Tundra. Kyle won this past weekend, so I know that I have the equipment to do so. I have to do everything I can to go out there and win the race. If not, a top five will be great too.”
Corey Heim Career Highlights:
- Across 20 career ARCA Menards Series starts has three wins, 141 laps led, 14 top-five and 19 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 4.9.
- Picked up his first career ARCA Menards Series victory at Kansas Speedway Oct. 16, 2020.
- Brought home a victory March 27, 2020 in the Super Late Model Georgia Spring Nationals at Crip Motorsports Park in Cordele, Ga. It was his second Super Late Model win at his home state track, where he also won CRA SpeedFest at the 3/8-mile track in 2020.
- On the CARS Tour, has collected one Super Late Model win at South Boston (Va.) Speedway in 2018 and one Late Model Stock victory at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway in 2020
- Captured the 2017 Atlanta Motor Speedway Thursday Thunder Pro Series championship and the 2016 Atlanta Motor Speedway Young Lions Legends Car championship
- Corey Heim’s No. 51 JBL Tundra:
- KBM-069: The No. 51 JBL team will unload KBM-69 for Friday night’s event at Darlington Raceway. The Tundra has posted an average finish of 2.5 across its two career starts. Kyle Busch finished second with it earlier this year at Las Vegas (Nev.) Speedway and Chandler Smith drove it to a third-place result at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway last November.
KBM Notes of Interest:
- KBM drivers have collected one win, 95 laps led, two top-five and three top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 11.2 across five starts at Darlington. Kasey Kahne led a race-high 95 laps en route to victory in the 2011 event.
- KBM holds the Camping World Truck Series records for most career wins (85) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). With his victory at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Track, Martin Truex Jr. became the 16th different driver to win a Truck Series event for KBM. In addition to collecting a series-record seven Owner’s Championships, the organization has produced two championship-winning drivers: Erik Jones (2015) and Christopher Bell (2017).
- With 37 victories, the No. 51 is the winningest number in KBM’s Truck Series fleet.
