Corey Heim: Driver, No. 51 Crescent Tools Toyota
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overview:
Event: Baptist Health 200, Race 22 of 23 (Race 3 in the Round of 8)
134 Laps – 30/30/74; 201 Miles
Location: Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Date/Broadcast: Oct. 22, 2022, at 1 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 Homestead-Miami Speedway for the final race in the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series owner’s playoffs 26 points below the cutoff line for advancing to the Championship 4 after a disappointing ending at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. Heim was running inside the top five as the field approached the tri-oval on the final lap when he made a three-wide move to the outside lane in an effort to win the race. As he made his move, he got turned from behind into the outside wall and was relegated to a 26th-place finish, leaving the No. 51 team eighth on the owner’s playoff grid.
The Talladega finish ended a stretch of five consecutive top-10 finishes in Camping World Truck Series action for the Georgia driver. Heim finished the regular season with a fourth-place finish at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, propelled the No. 51 team through the Round of 10 with three top-10 finishes and opened the Round of 8 with a 10th-place finish at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
Saturday’s 134-lap event will mark Heim’s first Truck Series start at Homestead-Miami Speedway in any series. He has finished inside the top 10 in three of his four starts on mile-and-a-half tracks this season in Truck Series action this year, including his victory at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway in March.
The No. 51 team qualified for the owner’s portion of the playoffs via Heim’s two wins this season (Atlanta 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.
Across 14 Truck Series starts this season, Heim has produced two wins, two poles, 64 laps led, five top-five and eight top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 15.2. The 19-year-old driver leads the Truck Series rookie of the year standings by 153 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 14 of the 21 events, and is ahead of six full-time competitors.
The Georgia driver picked up his first career Truck Series victory in just his fifth start earlier this season at Atlanta and won again at Gateway in is ninth start. With two victories across his first 10 Truck Series starts; Heim 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 picked up his ninth career ARCA Menards Series victory Sept. 10 at Kansas Speedway. 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. Saturday’s race will be Lindley’s first atop the pit box at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Crescent Tools, a premier hand tool brand from Apex Tool Group, will be the primary sponsor on Heim’s No. 51 Tundra TRD Pro for the final two races of the season.
Corey Heim, Driver Q&A:
How have you prepared for your first race in any series at Homestead-Miami?
“Without any real life experience, it’s been a process to figure out Homestead because it is really unique. Luckily with Toyota providing the sim time, I’ve been able to get a pretty good idea of what it is going to be like this weekend.”
Are there any other tracks that you’ve raced at that are similar to Homestead-Miami?
“Homestead is definitely unique in its own, but if I could compare it to anywhere it would have to be Kansas, just because of all the different grooves you can run. Kansas is a track that I really like and have had a lot of speed at in both the ARCA and Truck Series, so hopefully that’s a good sign for our Crescent Tools team this weekend.”
Being 26 points below the cutoff line in the owner’s playoffs do you feel that you are in a must-win situation?
“I feel like it is definitely a must win for us, but it doesn’t change out mindset. We try to win every race, so this weekend is business as usual with our Crescent Tundra TRD Pro.”
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 17 career starts has two wins, two poles, 66 laps led, five top-five and eight top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 15.6.
- 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-74: The No. 51 Crescent Tools team will unload KBM-74, a brand new Tundra TRD Pro, for Saturday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
KBM Notes of Interest:
- KBM drivers have collected five wins, one pole, 416 laps led, 11 top-five and 16 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 9.9 across 29 starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Owner-driver Kyle Busch has three victories at Homestead-Miami, winning in the series most recent visit in 2020 as well as in 2010 and 2013. Darrell Wallace Jr. (2014) and William Byron (2016) each have one at the Florida track.
- 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, 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.
