TRICON Garage Tundra TRD Pro’s finish 1-2 with Ruggerio and Corey Heim
TALLADEGA, Ala. (October 17, 2025) – Gio Ruggerio won his first career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) race at Talladega Superspeedway on Friday. Ruggerio and TRICON Garage teammate Corey Heim worked together in the closing laps to capture the top two finishing positions. Ninteen-year-old Ruggerio started from the pole position in the TRICON Garage No. 17 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro and led six times for a race-high 37 laps (90) on his way to his first Truck Series victory in his first season competing in the series.
Heim is already locked into the NCTS Championship 4 at the season-finale at Phoenix Raceway in two weeks with his win at the Charlotte Roval, and Kaden Honeycutt also made up ground in the standings with his 10th place result. Honeycutt is now fourth in the championship standings and five points above the cutline going into the penultimate race at Martinsville Speedway next Friday.
Toyota GAZOO Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS)
Talladega Superspeedway
Race 23 of 25 – 226.1 Miles, 85 Laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, GIO RUGGIERO
2nd, COREY HEIM
3rd, Ty Majeski*
4th, Dawson Sutton*
5th, Layne Riggs*
10th, KADEN HONEYCUTT
12th, TANNER GREY
25th, GREG VAN ALST
28th, BRET HOLMES
33rd, TONI BREIDINGER
35th, CALEB COSTNER
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
GIO RUGGIERO, No. 17 First Auto Group Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 1st
How was it working with your Toyota teammate to get your first Truck Series win today?
“Yeah, it was great. He (Corey Heim) did a great job all day helping me. He was the best pusher, and I was really happy when he was behind me for sure. I knew I had a good shot there at the end. I just didn’t want to let our group down. We had such a fast truck, and I know a superspeedway can be a bit of a wild card race sometimes, but I feel like truckwise we dominated this one.”
How much did you have to hang on in the final corners of the race?
“Yeah, for sure I had to hang on a little bit there, but he (Corey Heim) was doing a great job pushing me and just had to keep it straight and keep it square.”
How does it feel to be a winner in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series?
“It feels great. It’s a great accomplishment. We’ve been working so hard at this all year and to win in my rookie season like this is awesome especially with the last couple weeks with the top-fives and top-threes that we’ve had. I think we can have a good end to our season and have a good chance to win at Martinsville or Phoenix.”
COREY HEIM, No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 2nd
Can you describe your choice on the final restart and then your run to the checkered flag?
“It was a debatable choice for sure. I wasn’t sure which lane would work. I thought the 17 had good speed and he did a good job kind of keeping the gap close and stuff. The 98 said he was going to commit to us as well. I thought we had a good enough line on the bottom to keep the line rolling. Our truck is clean like it unloaded right not so I thought we had enough speed to push him out and stay out there. The outside was just too risky for people leaving us so that was kind of my mindset. Overall, a great day. Gio (Ruggerio) did a great job. He deserved to win that one. I’m proud of those guys in the 17 group and I’m also proud of our 11 crew.”
About Toyota
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