Corey Heim – No. 51 Crescent Tools Tundra TRD Pro Camping World Trucks Bristol Preview

Corey Heim: Driver, No. 51 Crescent Tools Toyota

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overview:
Event: UNOH 200, Race 20 of 23 (Race 1 in the Round of 8)
200 Laps – 55/55/90; 106.6 Miles
Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (half-mile concrete oval)
Date/Broadcast: Sept. 15, 2022, at 9 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90

The Story on Corey:

Corey Heim and the No. 51 Crescent Tools team head to Bristol Motor Speedway for the opening race in the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series owner’s playoffs. Heim propelled the team to the next round with three top-10 finishes in the Round of 10, putting them 33 points above the cutoff line for advancing. Overall, the Georgia driver has put together a stretch of four consecutive top-10 finishes, including his seventh-place result last week at Kansas Speedway. With the points reset to start this round, the No. 51 team sits sixth on the playoff grid, four points below the cutoff line for advancing to the Championship 4.

The No. 51 team qualified for the owner’s portion of the playoffs via Heim’s two wins this season (Atlanta Motor Speedway and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway). They are tied with the No. 18 and No. 38 teams with a series-leading three wins this season. In addition to Heim’s two wins, Kyle Busch was victorious at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway in June. The No. 51 team has captured the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series owner’s championship three times (2013-2014 & 2019) and as on organization KBM has collected a series-record seven owner’s titles.

Thursday night’s 200-lap event will mark Heim’s first Truck Series start at the half-mile oval. He has one ARCA Menards Series start at Bristol, a fifth-place result in last year’s race. Heim finished third in the 100-lap Super Late Model feature at the U.S. Nationals at Bristol in 2018.

Across 12 Truck Series starts this season, Heim has produced two wins, two poles, 64 laps led, five top-five and seven top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 14.8. The Georgia driver picked up his first career Truck Series victory in just his fifth start earlier this season at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway in March and was also victorious in June at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

With two victories across his first 10 Truck Series starts, the 19-year-old driver became one of just 12 drivers in series history to net multiple victories in their first 10 starts. Kasey Kahne and Mike Skinner each produced five victories, Mark Martin collected four wins, Ron Hornaday Jr., Ted Musgrave and William Byron brought home three checkered flags and Heim, Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Rich Bickle, Clint Bowyer and Tony Stewart all delivered two wins.

Heim leads the Truck Series rookie of the year standings by 124 points over 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). Overall, Heim sits 15th in the driver point standings, despite only starting 12 of the 19 events, and is ahead of six full-time competitors.

On Sunday at Kansas Speedway, Heim picked up his ninth career ARCA Menards Series victory. Across 43 career ARCA Menards Series starts he has produced 814 laps led, 31 top-five and 41 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 4.3. Heim finished second to Ty Gibbs in the 2021 ARCA Menards Series championship standings.

Mardy Lindley returned to KBM for his second season atop the pit box of the No. 51 team. Lindley has led his team to six wins since coming to KBM at the start of the 2021 season, including two with Heim and one with Kyle Busch this year. In 2021, his drivers produced three victories, two with 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. Lindley’s drivers have an average finish of 27.5 across two Truck Series starts at Bristol.

Crescent Tools, a premier hand tool brand from Apex Tool Group, will be the primary sponsor on Heim’s No. 51 Tundra TRD Pro Thursday night and for two more races this season. JBL, the authority in engineering superior sound, returns for their final race of the season at Talladega (Ala.) Motor Speedway.

Corey Heim, Driver Q&A:
The No. 51 team starts the Round of 8 four points below the cutoff line for advancing the Championship 4. What is it going to take to advance?
“It’s going to take a good effort from everyone on this No. 51 crew. Kyle Busch Motorsports has been giving me great Tundras, I think executing at the track is the last piece of the puzzle.”

You’ve raced ARCA and Late Models at Bristol, but this will be your first start in a truck at Bristol. How much different will the racing in the Truck Series at Bristol be?
“Running the truck at Bristol will definitely be a challenge, with all of the experienced drivers on a technical racetrack like that.
Regardless of that I’m really excited to see how I fare against the field.”

You won the ARCA race at Kansas on Sunday. Even though it’s not in the same series, can you build off that momentum heading to Bristol for the Truck Series race Thursday night?
“Anytime I can get some momentum I definitely think it helps. Kansas was good in both the arca and the truck, and the extra seat time should help me knock the rust off and get right up to speed at Bristol.”

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 15 career starts has two wins, two poles, 66 laps led, five top-five and seven top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 14.8.
  • With two victories across his first 10 Truck Series starts, the 19-year-old driver became one of just 12 drivers in series history to net multiple victories in their first 10 starts. Kasey Kahne and Mike Skinner each produced five victories, Mark Martin collected four wins, Ron Hornaday Jr., Ted Musgrave and William Byron brought home three checkered flags and Heim, Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Rich Bickle, Clint Bowyer and Tony Stewart all delivered two wins.
  • 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 43 career ARCA Menards Series starts has nine wins, 814 laps led, 31 top-five and 41 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 4.3. Picked up his first career ARCA Menards Series victory at Kansas Speedway Oct. 16, 2020.
  • Corey Heim’s No. 51 Crescent Tools Tundra TRD Pro:

KBM-62: The No. 51 Crescent Tools team will unload KBM-62 for Thursday night’s UNOH 200 at Bristol. This Toyota has two starts in 2022, a third-place finish with KBM owner-driver Kyle Busch at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in April and a fifth-place finish with Heim at Indianapolis Raceway Park. KBM-62’s best result across 10 starts was a runner-up finish with Busch at Richmond (Va.) Raceway in 2021.

KBM Notes of Interest:

  • KBM drivers have collected four wins, five poles, 534 laps led, 11 top-five and 16 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.7 across 31 starts at Bristol. Smith won last year’s race at Bristol. Owner-driver Kyle Busch collected the first three of his organization’s victories at the half-mile oval, winning the Camping World Truck Series race as a part of his historic Bristol Sweeps in 2010 and 2017 and he also won the 2013 event.
  • KBM holds the Camping World Truck Series records for most career wins (98) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). With his victory at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway earlier this year, 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 40 victories, the No. 51 is the winningest number in KBM’s Truck Series fleet.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

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