HEIM ADDS TO PLAYOFF POINT TOTAL, LEADS TOYOTA AT BRISTOL

Kaden Honeycutt moves to the right side of the cutline with a strong finish

BRISTOL, Tenn (September 11, 2025) – Corey Heim won the second stage, led a race-high 122 laps and finished third to lead Toyota in the NASCAR Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday evening. Heim’s teammate, Tanner Gray, added a second TRICON Tundra in the top-10, as he finished sixth for the second straight race.

Toyota’s second Playoff driver, Kaden Honeycutt, had a strong race as well – scoring stage points in both stages before a long final pit stop due to an injury suffered by a crew member. He drove his Tundra from the back of the lead lap to 12th and moved from 10th place, seven points below the cutline, to seventh – 18 points to the good – heading to New Hampshire Motor Speedway next weekend.

Toyota GAZOO Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS)
Bristol Motor Speedway
Race 19 of 23 – 106.6 Miles, 200 Laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS

1st, Layne Riggs*
2nd, Ben Rhodes*
3rd, COREY HEIM
4th, Ty Majeski*
5th, Daniel Hemric*
6th, TANNER GRAY
12th, KADEN HONEYCUTT
13th, GIO RUGGIERO
23rd, COLE BUTCHER
24th, BRENT CREWS
26th, TONI BREIDINGER
29th, GREG VAN ALST
35th, CALEB COSTNER

*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

COREY HEIM, No. 11 Yahoo Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage

Finishing Position: 3rd

Was it tough when you got back in the pack to get some passes done?
“Yeah, for sure. It was a debatable choose on that last restart, lining up behind the truck that stayed out – I think it was the 62 (Cole Butcher). He spun the tires really bad, and we fell back to seventh or eighth, and it was just super track position dependent race. I thought our truck was good. I think the best team won for sure, those guys were lights out. I thought we were second to him, and could run around him, like at the end of stage two. We were on older tires, and we could kind of fend him off. Really just dependent on who was ahead of who, and he happened to be ahead of me. Took us a while to carve through the pack, and get back to a decent spot. I think if we got a restart, we could have raced it out. Just really proud of my TRICON guys. This Yahoo Tundra was really good all day. I felt like we made really good gains throughout practice – I didn’t feel like we fired off great this morning, but huge thank you to them, Toyota and Yahoo and on to the next.”

TANNER GRAY, No. 15 A Place of Hope Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage

Finishing Position: 6th

Solid-run and back-to-back top-10s. How was your race?

“I thought we had a really fast Place of Hope Toyota Tundra. I felt like I kind of put us behind after qualifying. Just didn’t put a good lap down for us and kind of put us behind the eight ball so kind of put us a little bit off strategy for what we needed to be, but Jeff (Hensley, crew chief) and all of these guys made really good calls throughout the race to get me some track position. With us being already behind the eight-ball was at a tire deficit there late, and just felt a little bit tight through that last run. Felt if maybe we were on equal tires, maybe a top-three day, but two solid runs for us. It is nice to run where I feel like we should be, just a little bit bittersweet though, because you know if you had made the Playoffs, you would probably be in a decent spot going into New Hampshire to transfer. We just have to figure out what we have to do next year to be more in contention during the regular season, and then bring this same energy into the Playoffs.”

KADEN HONEYCUTT, No. 52 Halmar International Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, Halmar Friesen Racing

Finishing Position: 12th

Came from the back there on the last run and now you go into New Hampshire 18 points to the good. How was your night?

“Definitely wild for sure. Hate that we haven’t got the finishes that we deserve. This Halmar, Mohawk Northeast Toyota team deserves it. We’ve just had so many things happen to us – my pit crew guy getting hurt, there is nothing we can do about that, I just hope he is okay, first of all, regardless of my finish. I just want to say thank you to my guys for another amazing truck. Just didn’t have the luck we needed to finish it off. It is what it is unfortunately, we will move on to New Hampshire. I feel like we have a really good piece, fast race team, fast manufacturer – and we will just keep moving forward. That is all we can do.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 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 nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 49 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina began to assemble automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.

For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

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