Corey Heim: Driver, No. 51 JBL® Toyota
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overview:
Event: Heart of America 200, Race 8 of 23, 134 Laps –30/30/74; 201 Miles
Location: Kansas Speedway in Kansas City (1.5-mile tri-oval)
Date/Broadcast: May 14, 2022, at 8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
The Story on Corey:
Corey Heim returns to the No. 51 JBL Tundra TRD Pro for this week’s Heart of America 200 at Kansas Speedway. For Heim, who ran three races last year and is running a limited schedule again this year, it will be the first time that he has raced in consecutive races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in his budding career. Despite having just seven starts under his belt, the talented teenager already collected his first series win earlier this year at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway. Overall, in six starts, he has tallied 24 laps led and an average finish of 17.8.
Despite not being slated for a full-time schedule this year, Heim is competing for the 2022 Truck Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year award. Having only competed in three of the seven events this season, he sits fourth in the standings, 34 points behind Lawless Alan. Heim will look to join three other KBM drivers that have won the award, reigning winner Chandler Smith, William Byron (2016) and Erik Jones (2015).
While he has yet to tackle Kansas Speedway in a truck, it was the site of his first career ARCA Menards Series victory. Heim led 82 of 100 laps en route to his first series victory on Oct. 16, 2020. In addition to his victory, he has four other starts at Kansas in the ARCA Menards Series, all finishes of fourth or better. By the time the Truck Series takes the green flag on Saturday night, Heim will have another ARCA start under his belt as he is pulling double duty this weekend driving the No. 20 Camry in Saturday afternoon’s ARCA race.
Saturday’s ARCA Menards Series event is part of Heim’s six-race schedule for Venturini Motorsports. Heim led 74 of 90 laps en route to the victory at Daytona in February to pick up his eighth career ARCA Menards Series victory. Across 38 career ARCA Menards Series starts he has produced 588 laps led, 28 top-five and 37 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 4.1. Heim finished second to Ty Gibbs in the 2021 ARCA Menards Series championship standings.
Heim made three NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts for KBM in 2021, with a best result of 11th coming at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Heim had an impressive Truck Series debut at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway last May, where he led two laps, finished Stage Two in the runner-up position and was running second when he got turned from behind on a restart with just under 30 laps remaining. The incident forced him to the garage and ended his night with a disappointing 23rd-place finish.
Mardy Lindley returns to KBM for his second season atop the pit box of the No. 51 team. In addition to this year’s with Heim, the No. 51 team produced three victories in Lindley’s first season as a crew chief at KBM, two with owner-driver Kyle Busch and one with Martin Truex Jr. 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. In his lone Truck Series race at Kansas, Lindley was victorious with KBM owner-driver Kyle Busch last year. Busch led a race-high 59 laps to give Lindley his third career Truck Series victory as a crew chief.
JBL, the authority in engineering superior sound, returns to KBM for an eighth season and will be the primary sponsor on Heim’s Toyota for 10 races this season including Saturday’s race at Kansas. Crescent Tools, a premier hand tool brand from Apex Tool Group, will serve as a primary sponsor for four of Heim’s races, beginning July 29 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis (Ind.) Raceway Park.
Corey Heim, Driver Q&A:
Corey Heim | Kansas Speedway Preview
Kansas was the site of your first career ARCA win. Is it a special track to you?
“Yeah, absolutely. As you mentioned my first ARCA win was huge for me. I’ve been their four times – which I think is more than any ARCA track or any NASCAR style track that I’ve been to in the past – so I’m really looking to getting out there in my JBL Tundra TRD Pro this weekend and hopefully having a good run.”
You won in your last mile-and-a-half start at Atlanta. Does that give you confidence going into Kansas?
“For sure, as a driver Kansas is a lot different than Atlanta as far as the package that you have to bring to the race track and how you drive the track is a lot different. It will be a lot less throttle time than Atlanta for sure, but I’m confident that KBM gave me a really good truck at Atlanta and its going to be a similar downforce package and everything with how we set the truck up, so I feel like that is going to be a really good advantage going to Kansas.”
You’re in a stretch where you are in the JBL Tundra TRD Pro for three consecutive races. Does that help you get in a rhythm?
“One-hundred percent. The months off were definitely rough from Daytona to Atlanta and then Atlanta to Darlington. To be back in the truck on a consistent basis – I think I’ve got six of the next eight or something like that – and working with Mardy Lindley and my JBL crew is definitely going to be an advantage for sure.”
Corey Heim Career Highlights:
- Picked up first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway March 19, 2022 in just his fifth start. Across six career starts has one win, 24 laps led, one top-five and one top-10 finish resulting in an average finish of 17.8.
- Made three Truck Series starts in 2021 with a best result of 11th coming at Martinsville Speedway in October.
- Finished runner-up in the ARCA Menards Series championship standings in 2021 after collecting six wins, three poles, 406 laps led, 16 top-five and 20 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 3.1 across 20 starts.
- Across 38 career ARCA Menards Series starts has eight wins, 588 laps led, 28 top-five and 37 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 4.1. Picked up his first career ARCA Menards Series victory at Kansas Speedway Oct. 16, 2020.
- Corey Heim’s No. 51 JBL Tundra TRD Pro:
- KBM-54: The No. 51 JBL team will unload KBM-54 for Saturday’s 134-lap event at Kansas. KBM owner-driver Kyle Busch has two victories driving this Tundra TRD Pro, including at Kansas Speedway last May. The other victory came at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway in 2018 in its first career start.
Click here to see KBM-54 Performance Profile
KBM Notes of Interest:
- KBM drivers have collected five wins, four poles, 621 laps led, 15 top-five and 24 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 9.6 across 37 starts at Kansas.
- Owner-driver Kyle Busch has collected three wins at Kansas (2014, 2017 and 2021). Noah Gragson led a race-high 128 laps and swept all three stages in the 2018 event and William Byron earned his first career Camping World Trucks victory there in 2016.
- KBM holds the Camping World Truck Series records for most career wins (93) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). With his victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway Corey Heim became the 18th 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 38 victories, the No. 51 is the winningest number in KBM’s Truck Series fleet.
