With a career-high five victories accumulated through 16-scheduled events, Corey Heim enters the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs as a key favorite to contend for his first series’ championship a year after having it slip out of his grasp in the closing laps.
The 21-year-old Heim from Marietta, Georgia, wasted no time igniting an eight-race hot streak of finishing no worse than 10th place on the track that started by finishing in the runner-up spot at Daytona International Speedway after he dodged a final lap multi-truck wreck. Then after finishing third, third and sixth, respectively, during his next four starts, Heim made it his time at Circuit of the Americas in March by leading a race-high 31 of 46 laps and having enough fuel to survive an overtime attempt by grabbing his first Truck victory of 2024.
Three races later, Heim doubled down by winning at Kansas Speedway in May before he dominated en route to another victory at North Wilkesboro Speedway another two races later, during which he led the most laps for both victories. Then after having a runner-up finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway stripped due to three loose lug nuts, Heim responded back by winning at World Wide Technology Raceway for a second time and cashing in on a $50,000 bonus from the Triple Truck Challenge. The Georgian would then tally his current win totals of this season to five with a dominant run at Pocono Raceway, where he led all but 15 of 70 laps.
Despite falling short of winning his second consecutive regular-season title to Christian Eckes, where he also finished 17th and 16th, respectively, during his latest two series’ starts, Heim will commence the 2024 Truck Series Playoffs with the top seed at 2,041 points and with a three-point advantage over Eckes this upcoming Sunday at the Milwaukee Mile. He strives to redeem himself with his first overall championship in the Truck circuit after ending up in fourth place in the 2023 final standings due to being involved in two late-race incidents during the 2023 finale at Phoenix Raceway.
Currently, Heim’s five victories are the most he has ever garnered in a Truck season. In addition, he holds the second-highest average-finishing result of 8.2 a year after concluding the 2023 season with a season-best average-finishing result of 6.8. With 10 top-five results and 12 top-10 results recorded through 16-scheduled events, he only needs two additional top-five results and seven additional top-10 to tie both stats from his previous season. At six stage victories, he is two away from tying Eckes for the most.
Amid the frustration of finishing within the top-20 mark during his latest two series’ starts, Heim, who has made select starts between the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series divisions throughout the 2024 campaign, is primed to make it his time to emerge as the next NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion that would enable his career to grow with bigger opportunities within his horizon.
“I feel like these last two races have been a little bit of a slump for us,” Heim said after the regular-season finale at Richmond on FS1. “We’ve had fifth- to sixth-place speed, but our standards are to go and try to win every race. I feel like we’re going to be really good. We got a lot of Playoff points, more than last year. I’m ready.”
Corey Heim’s 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs commences at the Milwaukee Mile with the LiUNA! 175. The event is scheduled to occur this Sunday, August 25, at 4 p.m. ET on FS1.
