Toyota GAZOO Racing – Corey Heim
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Quotes
AVONDALE, Ariz. (October 30, 2025) – TRICON Garage driver Corey Heim was made available to the media on Thursday as part of NASCAR Truck Series Championship 4 Media Day.
COREY HEIM, No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD PRO, TRICON Garage
What is it like being the overwhelming favorite in this race where it’s one race, winner take all, essentially, but you are clearly the heavy favorite?
“If you ask what it’s like, I mean, it doesn’t really feel like it, you know? I’m kind of — since this is my third year, I felt like I was potentially the media favorite going into the last year. Maybe not the overwhelming, but we carried the most wins into Phoenix and kind of got our teeth kicked in a little bit last year. Yeah, I know we’ve statistically been the best truck and everything, but the way the format works everyone’s even, and if we miss it this week, then that’s the story. That’s it. So, just kind of focused on ourselves, not really looking at who’s the odds on, or odds off favorite. Just mostly kind of staying internal.”
With the year you’ve had, if you don’t culminate it with the championship does it feel less than great?
“It does. I think especially where we’re at as a race team. I think if we had had one to our name already and could call ourselves champions of the Truck Series, it’d be a little different, but that’s kind of been the hole in our team, I guess. And I don’t think it’s for a lack of a race team by any means. It’s just kind of circumstantial for how our two championship races have gone so far. I think we’ve showed up with good equipment both years and just kind of came up short. So, I don’t think it’s anything to hang our heads out about if it doesn’t work out, but certainly something that we definitely want to click off before it’s all said and done.
Ty Majeski dominated last year. Would you consider him probably your biggest threat this weekend again?
“Probably, but once again we won’t really know until after practice. I feel like you’ve seen guys kind of like him last year. I mean he had really good races last year, no doubt, and he dominated races, but I don’t think anyone came into this race expecting him to just absolutely kind of wear us out. So, it could happen to any of us – Tyler (Ankrum), Kaden (Honeycutt) too – they could bring really good stuff and kind of have the same result. It’s just part of the championship race.”
Where do you feel TRICON’s flat track, short track program is compared to years past and how important was a track like New Hampshire being added in the schedule to prep for this one?
“Regarding New Hampshire, I think it conceptually, I think the setup is similar, but certainly a little bit different in the sense than it’s a bit bumpier and you have to favor, forgiveness in your truck and your front end to kind of get around there versus here it’s pretty much smooth the entire way through. So, a little bit different of a package, but similar concept as far as setup goes. But I do feel like our package on short, flat tracks, like you mentioned, have gotten better. I think that was maybe our one weakness last year, it was our short track package, or maybe my weakness last year. That’s gotten a lot better. So definitely huge props to TRICON and Toyota for their hard work on that.”
Have you changed your approach at all this year as opposed to the last two years?
“To the weekend, no, but to this track specifically, I would say yes. I feel like kind of like I mentioned, I feel like one of my weaknesses was short tracks or flat tracks, and I definitely did a deep dive last offseason to see kind of why that might be. If it’s the truck, if it’s me, and lo and behold, I think most of it was actually on me. I did a lot of work as far as trying to get that better, working with Toyota and TRICON to understand, kind of where my weaknesses were on these kind of race tracks, and I think it’s really showed that we’ve been able to put two and two together and definitely improve that this year.”
Are you the kind of person that coming into the weekend might, like kind of take a step back, chill out, wherever you need to be or are you the kind that’s all in and focused?
“Yeah, I don’t know. I guess I don’t really know what to compare to as far as that. I feel like I’m a pretty laid-back dude, but at the same time, I’m very focused. This year has been probably my best year as far as just overall I guess headspace, for lack of a better word. Just being able to be focused without completely checking out. Just kind of finding a work home kind of balance kind of thing as far as just being able to be busy and be focused and continue to get better, but also just find some time for myself to kind of be in the right head space.”
Does that involve maybe doing things with your friends or your family?
“Yeah, just finding a healthy kind of disconnect time and understanding when is the right time and place to do that. We spend a lot of time or a lot of time nowadays looking at the sim and looking at TV screens and kind of looking at data and whatnot. So, any time that I can find to just get a breath of fresh air, go play some golf or fish, or get outdoors, I think it’s all really important for us.”
How do you step back from your confidence after the season you’ve had and not be overconfident for tomorrow’s race?
“Yeah, I mean, I think we’ve done a good job, just as a race team being in the right headspace and understanding where we’re at. I don’t think we’ve had a lot of highs and lows this year. We’ve been very even keeled and just carried momentum through the entire season. For us, I feel like just doing what we’ve been doing and had success with this year is going to be really important as far as just preparing the same way with maybe a slightly bigger push, considering it’s a championship race and kind of understanding the circumstances a little bit. But as far as our mental approach to it, I think we’ve had success doing what we’ve been doing, so we’re just going to continue to do that.”
You have 10 more wins than the rest of the championship 4 field coming into this race. Does that add any pressure or nerves going into practice just to make sure you have a car that you feel like can contend for a win?
“I’d certainly say, there’s pressure going into practice to make sure we can contend for a win, but I would never think about how many more wins or less wins we have than our competition, considering it doesn’t matter at this point. We’re all even on points and we’re all kind of in the same boat. So, definitely a lot of pressure to make sure that we dial our truck in, of course, for the championship race, but I don’t really think about statistics at this point.”
How do you feel like the 11 team has gotten closer to contending with the 98 here at Phoenix specifically?
“I think just in general, our flat track and short track program has gotten a good bit better. In years past, I think we’ve been good, we’ve been solid and able to compete and run top five and potentially take advantage of other people’s mistakes and win the race when it counted, but we just didn’t have that like cutting edge, dominant speed. This year, I think that weakness has been fulfilled a little bit, and we’ve been able to definitely get our stuff better and me as well. Like, I think looking at data last year, I was talking about a little bit earlier, just kind of, there was some obvious flaws in my driving style on these race tracks, including Loudon and Martinsville, and I feel like I’ve cleared those up. Haven’t had a chance to fulfill that at Phoenix yet since I’ve kind of gotten better since last year’s Phoenix race. So, I hoping that we can kind of close that hole up this weekend.”
What is your relationship with Scott Zipadelli like? Would you say you guys are more similar than different?
“Yeah, I don’t think we’re similar by any means. Scott’s (Zipadelli, crew chief) a unique dude, but I think he’d have the same answer. He’s a unique guy, but I love him, man. He does such a great job, and he’s such a determined, motivated individual and he’s a really good people person as well. Just does a great job keeping everyone satisfied with where they’re at, keeping everyone motivated. I think our consistency this year, as far as what we brought to the race track really shows that, and also just we’ve had the same roster of people since 2023. It’s pretty evident that everyone wants to work for him and be a part of this race team, and he’s definitely the captain of that.”
With the season that you’ve had, is there more pressure to get the job done tomorrow or is it just another race for you guys, basically?
“I don’t feel any more pressure than what we had last year. I think, media wise, I feel like we were probably the favorite going to last year, just because we had the most wins, and I think it’s kind of similar this year, but I wouldn’t say there’s more than years past by any means even though statistically have been better than years past and everything. I think it’s just, I don’t know if it’s my third year now and I’m used to it or what, but yeah, I don’t necessarily feel any added pressure.”
What’s been the difference this season to get you all to Phoenix?
“Yeah, this season, I think we’ve just really honed in on what the weaknesses were. In years past of course, we’ve been strong in 2023 and 2024, and I’ve been learning kind of what my weaknesses were and how to improve on that. But as a race team, I think we’ve just been so complete I guess, would be the best way to put it as far as just showing up everywhere and having speed, very limited mistakes as far as race execution and whatnot. So yeah, just definitely a complete race team. And I feel like I’m definitely happy where I’m at there.”
What do you think of all the support you’re getting from around the various corners of the garage. Do you hear that and pay attention to that?
“Yeah, I do. I think it’s really cool. I think we definitely had a very, very good season and probably one of the best that I’ve ever seen personally, or ever been a part of. It is the championship weekend, and anything could happen but at the end of the day, we’ve had a really good year, and I definitely don’t want anyone to be down on the probability of us losing this. I think we’ve definitely got the best chance to win it, but at the end of the day, we’ve had a great season to this point.”
What do you think you still have to get better at as a driver?
“On the Truck-side, I feel like there’s little nuances here and there that I’ve been, maybe not executing at the best of my ability – restarts, pit road, stuff like that. But I feel like as far as race craft and stuff have gotten a lot better, as far as limiting my mistakes, knock on wood. Hopefully I don’t do anything stupid this weekend. I think it’s just been a really nice progression the last three years with this race team of me getting better and them getting better and it’s truly a mutual effort.”
Have you gone back and tried to figure out how many wins you could’ve had if you didn’t have incidents happen earlier in the season?
“Yeah, I think earlier in the year, we were in that mindset of like, dang, we’ve had a bunch get away from us in a row now, and it’s getting frustrating. But honestly, I feel like our luck kind of turned around going into the Playoffs and we’ve had opportunities and maybe some late cautions where we were behind and allowed us to get chances at it. It’s kind of almost equaled out a little bit. I feel like there’s races that we have been the best truck and maybe the Roval where something happens to put us behind, but we’ve had opportunities late in the race to redeem ourselves. The issue earlier in the year was like, we had all these crazy things happen and they were like, middle to end of stage three and there was no time to make it up. Now, all the crazy things seem happen at the beginning of the race, we actually have time to recover from it. So, I don’t think anyone’s going into this race or looking at the season now at the point where, oh we could’ve have had this many more wins. I think we’ve had a really successful year and everyone’s really grateful for that.”
How do you anticipate the earlier race time impacting Friday’s race?
“Yeah, I think for us, looking at practice, it was always, practice was always at that 4:30 mark, and it was always a little bit colder going into the race so I think it kind of left a question mark as far as how practice is going to change to the race as far as the balance and our grip levels and everything. But how the schedule’s laid out this year, it allows us to look at practice and understand, like, this is exactly the conditions we’re going to be racing and are very close to it. Sometimes you feel like, okay, we’re close here, we’re close there, and the race temperatures will kind of fix our problems, but now you’ve got to really rely on the current conditions and kind of where we’re at to get our race truck exactly how we want it.”
Does this year feel similar to the last two years in Phoenix?
“I’d say it feels similar to last year. Last year, I came in with the most wins on the season, and I feel like we were kind of the favorite to win the whole thing, and I feel like it’s probably similar from a media perspective this year. But, at the end of the day anything could happen, and I feel like anyone could bring your best stuff and win the race. So, my first year, I felt like it was just different because I’d never been a part of it before, and I was I guess, not a rookie technically, but a rookie from a full time perspective so that was just a whole different animal just being in the Championship 4 for the first time, but kind of after that first year, I feel like I’ve sort of settled in and kind of understood the pressure a little better.”
How do you kind of size up the other three guys you’re competing against?
“Yeah, I mean, I think Ty (Majeski) next to me here is definitely going to be tough to beat. They’ve always had a really good package here. Definitely more of a question mark as far as the other two. Kaden’s (Honeycutt) got a lot of talent, a lot of raw speed, and the 52 is historically run really well here, so I’m sure he’ll be strong. And, Tyler (Ankrum) always seems to be kind of there when it counts at the end. Different factors kind of going for all of them. They’re all a little bit different in their own ways, but definitely just kind of focus on ourselves and focus on our race.”
What do your friends and family think of the year you’ve had?
“Yeah, I mean, honestly, regardless of good, bad, ugly, I think all my family and friends have been very, very supportive of me. Even when I had the disastrous 2023 race, I think all my friends and family reached out to me and said, “Hey, you know, we’re here if you need anything.” And anytime I’ve won this year, it’s kind of the same thing – Congratulations. Let’s go hang out soon” or something like that. I’ve got a lot of good people around me and a lot of supportive friends and family so regardless of good, bad, ugly, I think they’ve all been very supportive of me.”
What’s it like to have your dad being your number one supporter and being at almost every race you compete in?
“I could probably count on one hand how many races he’s missed in my entire life. He’s always been my number one supporter and certainly wouldn’t be here without any that. So, just really cool to kind of see his investments and hard work in myself, kind of pay off throughout the years. I mean, I’ve been racing for 18 years now, and he’s been to just about every single race. He’s always been my biggest fan, my biggest supporter, so to see him kind of be fulfilled and all that is very rewarding.”
Are you going to stay no matter what happens on Friday night to watch Taylor Reimer in Saturday’s ARCA race and what advice have you given her about Phoenix?
“Yeah, I’ve had a shared note section with her as far as kind of what to look out for. A lot of it doesn’t apply just because the ARCA race will probably shake out a bit different than the truck race. But every note that I’ve taken as far as my truck stuff here, she’s seen all of it in the shared note sections. Obviously, I got a lot going on and a lot to focus on but definitely feel like I’m doing my best to help her out too.”
She hasn’t finished outside the top 10 in her ARCA career. What does that say about her abilities?
“Yeah, she’s got a lot a lot of natural talent, for sure. She does a really good job. Definitely very green to the sport and how it all works and what to look out for, but you put her in something with the gas and a brake and a steering wheel and she’s going to figure it out. So, it’s pretty impressive.”
Do you do a lot of film study on your competitors?
“Yeah, for sure, especially when you look at last year and he (Ty Majeski) just faster, in general, the whole race and had a lot of glaring differences from me to him last year and just what those separations were and what to look out for. It’s definitely a lot harder when if I were to come to a race that I had dominated the year before or done really well at, and it’s hard to improve just because there’s nothing to really look at from a get better perspective. But when you look at last year, he stopped us out pretty good, so it’s pretty easy to kind of figure out what those differences were and what to improve off.”
Does the film study help show you the tendencies of your competitors?
“Yeah, I feel like that’s something that I’m pretty calm about as far as this Championship 4. It feels like everyone is on really even terms. I’ve had really no issues with any of these guys I don’t think ever really. I mean, me and Kaden (Honeycutt) got into a little bit of Martinsville, but I think it was just an incidental deal. But that’s the only thing that really comes to mind. So, both of the last two years, I felt like there’s always possibilities of kind of chaos ensuing and one of the two races it did, you know? So no, I definitely feel pretty secure with my competitors.”
How long has it taken you to be content with what is at stake this weekend?
“I haven’t really accepted anything yet. I think that’s going to be post race for me. I’m always kind of an eyes forward type of person. I don’t look back at this year and be like okay, cool, our season’s complete whether we win or lose at the championship race. I’m a very eyes forward person, kind of focusing on the championship and definitely I’ve prepared to win this race. That’s kind of what we’ve worked for all year is to compete for a championship, whether we have zero wins or 11 wins. I definitely want to kind of keep my eyes that way and focus on tomorrow.”
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