HEIM KICKS OFF SEASON WITH TOP-FIVE FINISH
Last season’s regular season champion delivers in Daytona opener
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 16, 2024) – Corey Heim continued his impressive run of success in the NASCAR Truck Series, finishing third to lead Toyota in an incident filled race at the Daytona International Speedway on Friday night.
Heim has now finished inside the top 10 in 22 of his last 25 Truck Series starts. The Toyota development driver has also scored back-to-back top-10 finishes at Daytona.
Fellow Toyota development driver, Taylor Gray, was battling for the win on the final lap, before being taken out in an accident, which caused the New Mexico-native to flip. Gray was evaluated and released from the Infield Care Center.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series
Daytona International Speedway
Race 1 of 23 – 100 Laps, 250 Miles
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Nick Sanchez*
2nd, Rajah Caruth*
3rd, COREY HEIM
4th, Bret Holmes*
5th, Spencer Boyd*
8th, TIMMY HILL
14th, STEWART FRIESEN
16th, TANNER GRAY
19th, TAYLOR GRAY
24th, DEAN THOMPSON
27th, TONI BREIDINGER
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
COREY HEIM, No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 3rd
Can you take us through the last restart and final laps?
“Just wrecking a lot. First of all, I hope everyone is okay from that wreck. It looked pretty brutal in my mirror. I hope everyone is okay. That was a tough one. I really do anything. I avoided wrecks the whole race and I was there at the end and finished third. I really didn’t contribute to the draft at all. I just avoided wrecks and I just kind of figured this is what was going to happen. I didn’t feel like we had a truck to win tonight but I could run top five and we did. Thank you to everyone at Toyota Racing, Safelite and TRICON Garage. We’ll move on to Atlanta.”
How aggressive was the racing out there tonight?
“It was tough. I just avoided a lot of wrecks during the race. I can’t believe I didn’t get caught up in one at one point. My truck is somehow pretty clean. It was brutal out there for sure. A lot of wrecks and I didn’t really contribute much to the draft at all. I was there at the end. I’m really grateful to Toyota Racing, Safelite and TRICON Garage for their contributions. I don’t think we had a winning truck tonight but our Tundra TRD Pro was good enough to end up third.”
TAYLOR GRAY, No. 17 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 19th
What happened out there?
“I watched the replay. I like Rajah (Caruth) a lot. I don’t know what he was doing. If you look at the replay, there is no hole to get in. The 91 (Jack Wood) is still at his right front. I don’t know if he is trying to stall a lane and just misjudged it. He just got the 91 in the left rear, and you saw it from there. I don’t know who hit me to flip me over like that. We had a really good JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. It sucks really bad. We were in a really good position to win, and it got taken away from us.”
What is the feeling like when you are in the air?
“I think you are just happy to not get in the catchfence, honestly, at that point. I think when you are upside down you are just waiting to get up in the catchfence, so when you get back on four wheels, you are like thank goodness. I didn’t get up in the catchfence. The catchfence makes things a lot worse. It’s really not that bad. There’s been worse. I didn’t see the full flip, but I don’t think mine was that bad.”
DEAN THOMPSON, No. 5 David Mancini & Sons Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 24th
Do you feel the racing could’ve been less aggressive?
“Yeah, I do a lot of video review with my David Mancini & Sons TRICON Toyota boys, watching past races and more for the mistakes of others and trying to be better. I feel like that’s what got us up there. I just feel like there’s inexperience in the Truck Series – I’m not saying I’m the best but I’m certainly better than some out there. Just inexperience and aggressiveness.”
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 65 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs more than 63,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 45 million cars and trucks at our 13 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 14th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 26 electrified options.
For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.
