Daniel Hemric came out on top amid a late turn of events and a late series of on-track carnages that wiped out a bevy of dominant front-runners. It was also his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career victory in the Boys and Girls Club of the Blue Ridge 200 at Martinsville Speedway on Friday, March 28.
The 2021 Xfinity Series champion from Kannapolis, North Carolina, led the final four of 200 scheduled laps. He started in fifth place, executing a methodically consistent event, keeping his No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing (MHR) Chevrolet entry intact. Hemric finished in the top 10 through the event’s first two stage periods, but it was no easy feat. He survived a flurry of late on-track carnages involving top front-runners Corey Heim, Kaden Honeycutt and Ty Majeski. He took advantage of the opportunity to battle for the race victory during an eight-lap dash to the finish.
During the eight-lap shootout, Hemric drafted teammate Tyler Ankrum to the lead. After trailing his MHR teammate over the next three laps, Hemric drew himself alongside Ankrum. He dueled with him for a lap before he muscled ahead and led with four laps remaining. With the lead in his possession, Hemric did not look back. He beat Ankrum by half a second to achieve his first career victory in his 55th series start. He also cashed in on the first Triple Truck Challenge bonus of the 2025 campaign.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Corey Heim notched his second consecutive Truck Series pole position of the 2025 season. He posted a lap at 96.347 mph in 19.654 seconds. Joining Heim on the front row was Ty Majeski, as the latter clocked in his best qualifying lap at 96.068 mph in 19.711 seconds.
When the green flag waved and the race started, pole-sitter Corey Heim gained an early advantage from the inside lane as he muscled his No. 11 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry away from Ty Majeski and the field entering the first two turns. Heim would proceed to lead the field through the backstretch before he cycled his way through Turns 3 and 4 and back to the frontstretch, where he led the first lap.
Over the next four laps, a series of early jostles for spots ensued within the field as Heim extended his early advantage to more than a second. Behind, Majeski fended off Kaden Honeycutt, Chandler Smith and Tanner Gray for the runner-up spot while Daniel Hemric occupied sixth place in front of Layne Riggs, Lawless Alan, rookie Connor Mosack and William Byron.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Heim maintained the lead by more than a second over Majeski while Honeycutt, Chandler Smith and Tanner Gray continued to follow suit in the top five. As Hemric, Riggs, Alan, Mosack and Byron also continued to trail in the top 10, Jake Garcia, Rajah Caruth, Stewart Friesen, Matt Crafton and rookie Giovanni Ruggiero followed suit in the top 15 while Ben Rhodes Jack Wood, Matthew Gould, Corey Day and Grant Enfinger were mired in the top 20.
Two laps later, the event’s first caution flew when Ryan Roulette, who was racing in 34th place, got bumped by the leader Corey Heim, spun on the frontstretch and made light contact with the inside wall. The incident occurred as Heim was attempting to lap Roulette.
Another seven laps later, the event restarted under green. At the start, Heim fended off Honeycutt and Majeski through the first two turns to retain the lead as he led through the backstretch. As Heim proceeded to lead the following lap, Honeycutt muscled his way into the runner-up spot over Majeski as Majeski was trapped on the outside lane. This allowed Tanner Gray to draw even with Majeski over the following lap while behind, Chandler Smith and Riggs battled in front of Mosack and Hemric.
Then on Lap 23, the caution returned when Riggs, who was racing behind Majeski and Tanner Gray in fifth place, received a bump from Mosack that sent Riggs spinning in Turn 4. Amid the incident, the field scattered to avoid hitting Riggs as the latter managed to continue without sustaining any significant damage to his No. 34 Infinity Communications Group Ford F-150 entry.
As the event restarted under green on Lap 31, Heim used the inside lane to muscle away from Honeycutt, Majeski and the field through the first two turns. With Heim clearing the field and pulling away through the backstretch, he would lead the following lap while Honeycutt fended off Majeski for the runner-up spot. By then, Mosack was in fourth place ahead of Chandler Smith and Tanner Gray while Byron navigated his way into ninth place behind Hemric and Alan. In addition, Ben Rhodes occupied 10th place ahead of Friesen, Giovanni Ruggerio, Rajah Caruth, Jake Garcia and Matt Crafton.
Just past the Lap 35 mark, Heim extended his advantage to nearly eight-tenths of a second over Honeycutt as Majeski, Mosack and Tanner Gray continued to pursue in the top-five mark. With a series of on-track battles ensuing within the field, Heim continued to extend his advantage as he led by more than a second over Honeycutt by Lap 40.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 50, Heim, who was navigating his way through lapped traffic, captured his third Truck stage victory of the 2025 season. Honeycutt followed suit in second place as Majeski, Mosack, Tanner Gray, Chandler Smith, Hemric, Lawless Alan, Byron and Stewart Friesen scored in the top 10, respectively.
Under the stage break, some led by Rajah Caruth and including Giovanni Ruggiero, Jake Garcia, Matt Crafton, newcomer Luke Baldwin, Jack Wood, Matthew Gould, Grant Enfinger, rookie Andres Perez de Lara, Matt Mills, Dawson Sutton, Patrick Staropoli, Spencer Boyd and Justin Carroll pitted their respective entries while the rest led by Heim remained on the track.
The second stage period started on Lap 61 as Heim and Honeycutt occupied the front row. At the start, Heim launched ahead of Honeycutt from the inside lane through the frontstretch as he led entering the first two turns. As Heim cleared the field and led through the backstretch, Majeski dueled with Honeycutt for the runner-up spot while a majority of the field behind trailed while stacked in two lanes. Heim would proceed to lead the next lap while Honeycutt used the outside lane to muscle ahead of Majeski and claim the runner-up spot.
By Lap 65, Heim maintained a steady advantage over Honeycutt, Majeski, Mosack and Tanner Gray while Chandler Smith, Hemric, Byron, Alan and Corey Day raced in the top-10 mark. Soon after, Friesen overtook Day for 10th place and Hemric would engage in a tight side-by-side battle with Chandler Smith for sixth place. In addition, newcomer Luke Baldwin muscled ahead of Rajah Caruth to claim 14th place and Riggs would join the latter battle. Amid the battles, Heim stretched his advantage to more than a second over Honeycutt at the Lap 70 mark.
At the Lap 80 mark, Heim continued to lead by more than a second over Honeycutt as the lead lap field scrambled to navigate through the lapped traffic. Amid the scramble, Majeski, Mosack and Tanner Gray trailed in the top five while Heim led by nearly two seconds by Lap 90.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 100, Heim, who extended his lead to more than two seconds amid heavy lapped traffic, cruised to his second consecutive Truck stage victory of the event and the fourth of the 2025 season. Honeycutt settled in second ahead of Majeski, Mosack and Hemric while Chandler Smith, Tanner Gray, Byron, Tyler Ankrum and Lawless Alan were scored in the top 10, respectively.
During the stage break, a majority of the front-runners led by Heim pitted while the rest led by Caruth, including those who pitted during the previous stage period, remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Heim exited pit road first and he was followed by Majeski, Honeycutt, Hemric, Mosack, Riggs, Chandler Smith, Tanner Gray, Byron and Ankrum, respectively. Amid the pit stops, Ben Rhodes was penalized for a crew member jumping over the pit wall too soon prior to a pit stop.
With 88 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Caruth and Matt Crafton occupied the front row. At the start, Caruth launched his No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead from the inside lane and he led through the backstretch while Crafton fended off the field to retain second place. As Caruth led the following lap, a series of late jostles for spots ensued between those who pitted versus those who did not. With the field fanning out, the caution returned when Luke Baldwin, who was fighting for a top-20 spot, made contact with Day and hopped the curb after getting squeezed by the latter entering Turn 1, which resulted with Baldwin getting sideways and spinning the No. 66 Mohawk Northeast Inc. Ford F-150 entry to the bottom of the track in Turns 1 and 2.
The next restart period began with 80 laps remaining and featured Caruth gaining another strong start from the inside lane as he rocketed ahead entering the first two turns while teammate Jack Wood battled Crafton for the runner-up spot. Soon after, Heim, who navigated his way up to fourth place, made a bold move beneath Wood to pass the latter entering Turn 3 and battle Crafton for the runner-up spot entering the frontstretch. Heim would then muscle ahead of Crafton and pursue the leader Caruth for the following lap while Majeski overtook Jack Wood for fourth place.
Then, with 77 laps remaining and amid a series of battles within the field, Heim navigated his way past Caruth through the backstretch to return atop the leaderboard. As Heim started to pull away, Wood, who was beating and banging with several front-runners, started to slip back as he got shoved up towards the outside lane and had a tire rub on his No. 91 Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet Silverado RST entry. With Wood proceeding under race pace and the field still jostling for late spots, Heim proceeded to lead by more than half a second over Caruth as Caruth was starting to be pressured by Majeski for the runner-up spot.
Down to the final 60 laps of the event, Heim was leading by more than two seconds over Majeski while Honeycutt, Chandler Smith and Caruth trailed in the top five. Behind, Hemric, Crafton, Ankrum, Byron and Ruggiero trailed in the top 10 ahead of Enfinger, Tanner Gray and Riggs while Friesen and Alan bumped and battled fiercely for 14th place in front of Rhodes, Baldwin, Gould, Garcia and Dawson Sutton.
Then, with nearly 50 laps remaining, the caution flew when Corey Day, who was racing in the top 20, was bumped by Dawson Sutton and sent spinning backwards towards the outside wall in Turn 2, where he would hit the wall and sustain damage to his No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST entry. During the caution period, some, including Caruth, Crafton, Lawless Alan, Enfinger, Byron, Tanner Gray, Riggs, Ruggiero and Rhodes pitted while the rest, led by Heim, remained on the track.
With the event restarting under green with 46 laps remaining, Heim rocketed ahead from the inside lane while Chandler Smith, Honeycutt and Majeski went three-wide through the backstretch while battling for the runner-up spot. Amid the three-wide action, the trio remained dead even against one another for a full lap until Majeski prevailed from the outside lane by muscling ahead. With Majeski in the runner-up spot, Honeycutt also fended off Chandler Smith for third place while Heim had stretched his lead to more than a second. The caution would then return with 44 laps remaining when Baldwin, who was racing in seventh place, got bumped by teammate Jake Garcia and sent for a spin in Turn 4. As the field scattered while trying to avoid Baldwin, the latter made contact with Gould while Day was also sent for a spin.
As the event restarted under green with 35 laps remaining, Heim rocketed ahead from the inside lane while Majeski briefly struggled to launch from the outside lane. Then, through the first two turns, Honeycutt, who restarted behind Heim, got into the rear of Heim as the latter got sideways. This allowed Honeycutt to get alongside Heim through the backstretch before he bumped and tried to duel with Heim through Turns 3 and 4.
Then, through the frontstretch, Heim, who got bumped by Majeski, sustained a flat left-rear tire amid his contact with Honeycutt and went up the track, where he then spun his No. 11 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry and drew a caution. As Heim plummeted below the leaderboard and pitted for repairs, Honeycutt emerged with the lead ahead of Majeski, Ankrum, Chandler Smith and Hemric, respectively.
Down to the final 27 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Honeycutt and Ankrum, the latter of whom opted to start alongside Honeycutt from the outside lane on the front row, briefly dueled through the first two turns before Honeycutt muscled ahead entering the backstretch. As Honeycutt led, Majeski made his move beneath Ankrum for the runner-up spot. With Honeycutt proceeding to lead with 25 laps remaining, Majeski fended off Ankrum for the runner-up spot while Hemric, Chandler Smith and Jake Garcia followed suit.
Then, as the field fanned out with more bumping and jostling for late spots ensuing, the caution returned when Tanner Gray, who was racing in 20th place, got bumped by Enfinger, which resulted with Gray spinning in Turn 3. As Enfinger went up the track, he then sent Jack Wood for a spin as all three came to a rest with damage to their respective trucks.
The beginning of the next restart, with 15 laps remaining, featured Majeski shoving Honeycutt ahead of Ankrum through the frontstretch. In the process, Honeycutt fended off Majeski and Ankrum through the backstretch before Majeski made his move beneath Honeycutt through Turns 3 and 4. Then, as Majeski drew himself alongside Honeycutt in a side-by-side battle for the lead through the frontstretch, Majeski got sideways and made contact with Honeycutt that sent both spinning up the track in Turn 1.
In the process, Honeycutt backed his No. 45 AutoVentine/Precision Chevrolet Silverado RST entry into the outside wall while Majeski sat backwards up towards the wall. Amid the incident, Ankrum emerged as the new leader while Hemric, Garcia, Chandler Smith, Andres Perez de Lara and Friesen were in the top six, respectively.
During the following restart with eight laps remaining, Ankrum and teammate Hemric rocketed away from the inside lane while Garcia, who restarted on the outside lane and on the front row, stumbled at the start. As a result, Garcia was challenged by Chandler Smith for third place while Ankrum retained a narrow lead over Hemric for the following lap.
With six laps remaining, Riggs, who was racing in sixth place despite sustaining a left-front tire rub amid late contact, nearly spun after Alan ran into the rear of Riggs through the first two turns. Despite keeping his truck straight, Riggs lost a bevy of spots and dropped out of the top-10 mark. With the race also remaining under green flag conditions, Hemric started to intimidate teammate Ankrum for the lead as the latter led with five laps remaining.
Then, with five laps remaining, Hemric made his move beneath teammate Ankrum’s No. 18 LiUNA! Chevrolet Silverado RST entry for the lead through the backstretch. They then bumped through Turns 3 and 4 while continuing to race dead even for the top spot through the frontstretch. As they navigated past Crafton, who was limping his truck around the track at a slow pace, Hemric would continue to duel with Ankrum for nearly a full lap before he used the inside lane to storm his No. 19 Gates Hydraulics Chevrolet Silverado RST entry ahead through Turns 3 and 4. Despite Ankrum fending off Garcia for the runner-up spot, Hemric would lead with three laps remaining.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hemric, who spent the previous two laps placing a reasonable gap between himself and teammate Ankrum, remained in the lead by half a second over Ankrum. With Ankrum unable to mount a late charge nor get close to Hemric’s rear bumper, Hemric was able to smoothly navigate his way around the Martinsville circuit for a final time before he cycled back to the frontstretch and claimed his first elusive checkered flag in the series.
With his first career win, Hemric became the 126th competitor overall to win in the Truck Series division and the first competitor to notch a first Truck career victory at Martinsville since Todd Gilliland made the previous accomplishment in October 2019. The victory was also Hemric’s first across NASCAR’s top three national touring series since he achieved both his first Xfinity Series career victory and championship at Phoenix Raceway in November 2021.
Hemric’s victory was the first for crew chief Joshua Graham and the third consecutive Martinsville win for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s No. 19 Chevrolet entry after the entry was steered to both Martinsville victories a year ago with Christian Eckes.
As an added bonus, Hemric, who performed his celebratory trademark, the backflip, on the frontstretch, was awarded the first Triple Truck Challenge bonus of $50,000 in 2025. This made the North Carolina native the 16th competitor overall to achieve the series’ bonus at least once.
“Man, I’ve been losing my voice here all week,” Hemric said on the frontstretch on FS1. “We found the way there at the end. I want to race Tyler [Ankrum]. Obviously, we got a long season ahead. I want to race him as clean as I could, but I’ve walked out of here twice thinking there’s a missing spot in my dining room for a clock. It’s cool to finally get one here. This truck’s now three-for-three here. That’s the exact same chassis. Huge, huge congrats. Thanks to everyone at [McAnally-Hilgemann Racing], [owners] Bill McAnally, Bill Hilgemann for this opportunity.
“I said I want to come back here and, not come back here to get back anywhere, just come back here to win, to stay humble, just enjoy this journey, man. I’m so thankful for the path I’ve been on and I see this extra 50 grand we won, so thanks to Craftsman and what a series. Super, super proud just to be here…So sweet to have a clock there sitting in the home here soon.”
Tyler Ankrum, who was within reach of notching his second series victory and first since Kentucky Speedway in July 2019, settled in second place for his third top-five result of the 2025 season. Amid the disappointment, Ankrum acknowledged teammate Hemric’s late move and drive to victory.
“Congratulations to Daniel, I can’t think of a nicer guy to win,” Ankrum said. “Yeah, he gave me the bumper, but you’re going to do that at Martinsville. I honestly would much rather have a teammate give me the bumper for the win, so we can just get a win for [McAnally-Hilgemann Racing].”
Jake Garcia finished in third place for his first top-five result of the 2025 campaign. Chandler Smith and Ben Rhodes claimed top-five results.
Corey Heim led a race-high 149 laps and won the event’s first two stages. He rallied to finish in sixth place after a late spin while battling for the win.
“A lot of frustration, of course,” Heim said. “[I] Really wanted to get a win for Toyota’s 500th Truck start, but obviously, [I] had the Tundra to do it today. Just feel like we got used up there [by Kaden Honeycutt with 35 laps remaining] a little bit. I don’t think he intended to cut my left-rear tire down. I think if he wanted to do that, he would’ve just wrecked me as it is. It doesn’t stop me from being pretty frustrated at him to begin with. I just feel like [I] just needed a better restart, I guess.”
Rookie Andres Perez de Lara, Rajah Caruth, Stewart Friesen and Lawless Alan completed the top 10 in the final running order.
Notably, Layne Riggs came home in 11th place, Ty Majeski settled in 13th place ahead of William Byron, Tanner Gray fell back to 21st place ahead of newcomer Luke Baldwin and Kaden Honeycutt ended up in 26th place. In addition, Matt Crafton limped home in 27th place, Grant Enfinger retired in 29th place due to not meeting the Damaged Vehicle Policy (DVP) procedure and Corey Day ended up in 32nd place due to a suspension damage from his late pair of incidents.
There were five lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 69 laps. In addition, 23 of 35 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the fifth event of the 2025 Craftsman Truck Series season, Corey Heim leads the regular-season standings by 20 points over Ty Majeski, 36 over Chandler Smith, 54 over Daniel Hemric, 62 over Stewart Friesen and 65 over Tyler Ankrum.
Race Results:
1. Daniel Hemric, four laps led
2. Tyler Ankrum, 10 laps led
3. Jake Garcia
4. Chandler Smith
5. Ben Rhodes
6. Corey Heim, 149 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner
7. Andres Perez de Lara
8. Rajah Caruth, 17 laps led
9. Stewart Friesen
10. Lawless Alan
11. Layne Riggs
12. Giovanni Ruggiero
13. Ty Majeski
14. William Byron
15. Matt Mills
16. Dawson Sutton
17. Spencer Boyd
18. Justin Carroll
19. Jack Wood
20. Patrick Staropoli
21. Tanner Gray
22. Luke Baldwin
23. Matthew Gould
24. Toni Breidinger, one lap down
25. Connor Mosack, two laps down
26. Kaden Honeycutt, two laps down, 20 laps led
27. Matt Crafton, three laps down
28. Nathan Byrd, four laps down
29. Grant Enfinger – OUT, DVP
30. Cody Dennison, five laps down
31. Alan Waller, 26 laps down
32. Corey Day – OUT, Suspension
33. Frankie Muniz – OUT, Rear End
34. Norm Benning – OUT, Brakes
35. Ryan Roulette – OUT, Handling
Next on the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is Bristol Motor Speedway for the Weather Guard Truck Race. It will also be the second Triple Truck Challenge event and is scheduled for April 11 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
