COREY HEIM DELIVERS FIRST WIN OF SEASON IN DOMINATING FASHION AT COTA
First five-truck top-10 finish for TRICON Garage
AUSTIN, TEXAS (March 23, 2024) – Corey Heim dominated the afternoon at Circuit of the Americas and battled through multiple late race restarts to take his first Truck Series win of the season and sixth victory of his career. The Toyota development driver continued his streak of strong performances – delivering his 20th top-10 in the last 21 Truck races. Heim led 31 of the 46 laps.
It was a day of firsts for TRICON Garage as they earned their first 1-2 finish and the first time with five top-10 finishes in the same race. Taylor Gray tied his career-best with a runner-up finish, while reigning IMSA GTD Pro champion Jack Hawksworth finished sixth in his Truck Series debut. Dean Thompson (ninth) and Tanner Gray (10th) closed out the top-10 success for TRICON Garage in Austin.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series
Circuit of the Americas
Race 5 of 23 – 42 Laps, 144.32 Miles
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, COREY HEIM
2nd, TAYLOR GRAY
3rd, Ty Majeski*
4th, Connor Zilisch*
5th, Ross Chastain*
6th, JACK HAWKSWORTH
9th, DEAN THOMPSON
10th, TANNER GRAY
17th, TIMMY HILL
20th, STEWART FRIESEN
26th, DALE QUARTERLEY
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
COREY HEIM, No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 1st
Everyone was wondering if you were going to be good there on fuel. Can you take us through those last few laps? Were you nervous?
“Yeah, I was super nervous. On the last lap of the last restart, I stuttered a little bit on the right handers, because the fuel pick up is on the other side. The whole fuel load would go to the other side. I thought I was going to be out by the time I came around, but luckily I had a couple of left handers at the end of course – and I had fuel, but regardless of that, I’m super thankful for everyone at TRICON Garage, Toyota Racing. This Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro was just kickass all day long. We put a beating on them, so that is that a pretty good feeling. To do that at Mid-Ohio last year, and to come back here and do the same thing with better equipment, was really special. I can’t wait to see what the year has in store for us.”
Did this have a special meaning to you?
“I worked my butt off for this one. With the one (road course) race a year for the Truck Series, I felt like it was just so important for me to prove my road course ability. I knew I need to capitalize on today, and I did. After it was done with all of the late cautions, I was glad it was over and it was time to celebrate. It defintiely means a lot.”
TAYLOR GRAY, No. 17 Factory Canopies Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 2nd
So close to your first win. Can you tell us about your race?
“I can’t thank everyone at TRICON Garage enough for bringing me a really good JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. I thought I ruined our race at the beginning of the race by getting that penalty, but just can’t thank all of our guys enough. We put ourselves in position and Jeff (Hensley, crew chief) did a great job with the strategy, just couldn’t attack on those last couple of laps. Something to figure out on how to give him a little bit of a tougher race at the end, but those guys executed all day long and we have to keep executing ourselves.”
JACK HAWKSWORTH, No. 1 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 6th
Can you talk about your experience today?
“It was a lot of fun. The race was going well. The first two stints I was feeling pretty good. I definitely wasn’t the fastest but I had reasonable pace, and was able to keep in touch with everybody. Just in that last stint, I was trying to pass the 98 (Ty Majeski) and I smoked my right front tire, and I had a massive flat spot in that last stint. That made it pretty difficult. I was just hanging on there in the end, but it was a lot fun and I was glad to bring it home with a decent result in the Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. It was fun, and Corey (Heim) won – so good day all around for TRICON Garage.”
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