Corey Heim capped off a dominant run by outdueling teammate Kaden Honeycutt in a thrilling finish to win the Black’s Tire 200 at Rockingham Speedway on Friday, April 3.
The reigning NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion from Marietta, Georgia, led three times for a race-high 178 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he started in seventh place and led for the first time on Lap 18. After sweeping the event’s first two stages and dominating a majority of the final stage period, Heim was one of seven competitors who benefited from a late caution that flew with 35 laps remaining to remain on the lead lap and pit for fresh tires and enough fuel to the event’s scheduled distance.
During a 28-lap dash to the finish, Heim had a steady advantage slowly evaporate as he had a potential tire issue while leading in the closing laps. This allowed teammate Kaden Honeycutt to reel in and challenge Heim with less than five laps remaining. Amid two tight challenges from Honeycutt, including a side-by-side battle on the final lap, Heim benefited from Honeycutt getting blocked behind teammate Tanner Gray. With enough horsepower to muscle ahead, he beat Honeycutt, adding another Truck victory. He also added a $50,000 bonus to his resume and part-time 2026 racing schedule.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Jake Garcia claimed the pole position with a pole-winning lap at 154.570 mph in 21.893 seconds. Garcia shared the front row with Tanner Gray, the latter of whom posted the second-fastest qualifying lap at 153.115 mph in 22.101 seconds.
Before the event, Chandler Smith dropped to the rear of the field to replace a broken shock on his No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford F-150 entry.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Jake Garcia gained a brief launch from the outside lane through the frontstretch, but Tanner Gray muscled back and drew alongside Garcia through the first two turns. After dueling with Garcia for nearly a full circuit, Gray used the inside lane through Turns 3 and 4 to muscle his No. 15 Black’s Tire Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry ahead. With the clean air to his possession, Gray led the first lap while Kaden Honeycutt and rookie Cole Butcher engaged in a three-wide battle with Garcia for the runner-up spot.
Over the next four laps, Gray maintained a steady advantage over Ty Majeski while Honeycutt, Butcher and Garcia followed suit in the top five, respectively. Meanwhile, Andres Perez De Lara, who started 12th but hit the wall on the right side on two separate occasions as he continued to race on the track, dropped to 28th place. Amid the early actions around The Rock, Gray retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Majeski at the Lap 10 mark while Honeycutt, Corey Heim, Butcher, Garcia, Layne Riggs, Parker Eatmon, Giovanni Ruggiero and rookie Brenden Queen were racing in the top 10, respectively.
On Lap 18, Heim, who exhibited a fast pace at the start, overtook teammate Gray to assume the lead for the first time. Heim proceeded to stretch his advantage to a full second by Lap 20 and he added another second to his advantage by Lap 25. As Heim dominated at the front, teammate Gray trailed in the runner-up spot while Majeski, Honeycutt, Riggs, Butcher, Garcia, Eaton, Ruggiero and Queen were racing in the top 10, respectively. Meanwhile, Landen Lewis, Dawson Sutton, Carson Hocevar, Grant Enfinger, Daniel Hemric, Stewart Friesen, Justin Haley, Christian Eckes, Tyler Ankrum and Sammy Smith were mired in the top 20, respectively, allowing Heim to grow his advantage to three-and-a-half seconds at the Lap 30 mark.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Heim, who increased his advantage to more than four seconds, cruised to his second Truck stage victory of the 2026 season. Majeski settled in second ahead of Honeycutt, Riggs and Gray. Butcher, Garcia, Eatmon, Ruggiero and Lewis were in the top 10, respectively. By then, 22 of 36 starters were on the lead lap. Several notables, including rookie Mini Tyrrell, Luke Baldwin, Ben Rhodes, Michael Christopher Jr., Kris Wright, Adam Andretti and Ty Dillon were a lap behind.
Under the event’s first stage break period, Carson Hocevar, who was scored in 13th place, pitted prior to pit road being accessible to the field. This was due to a mechanical issue with his No 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST entry. Once pit road became accessible to the field, the lead lap field led by Heim peeled off the racetrack to pit for the first time. Following the pit stops, Heim exited pit road first. He was followed by Grant Enfinger, Honeycutt, Majeski, Gray, Stewart Friesen, Ruggiero, Riggs, Daniel Hemric and Garcia, respectively. Amid the pit stops, Ruggiero received a penalty for speeding on pit road.
The second stage period started on Lap 54 as Heim and Enfinger occupied the front row. At the start, Enfinger, who only opted for a two-tire pit service during the first stage’s break period, received a push from Majeski from the inside lane to launch ahead of Heim through the first two turns. With the clean air to his advantage, Enfinger maintained the lead and led the next lap while Heim barely fended off Majeski to retain the runner-up spot. Enfinger then led up until Lap 57 before Heim used the outside lane through Turns 3 and 4 to reassume the lead.
On Lap 60, the caution flew when Adam Andretti, who was making his third Truck career start in the No. 5 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry for TRICON Garage, wrecked hard against the backstretch’s inside wall. At the moment of caution, Heim was leading by three-tenths of a second over Majeski. Honeycutt, Enfinger, Gray, Riggs, Friesen, Hemric, Garcia and Butcher were in the top 10 over Sutton, Eatmon, Lewis, Corey LaJoie and Queen, respectively.
As the event restarted under green on Lap 67, Heim, who restarted on the inside lane, rocketed ahead of Majeski and teammate Honeycutt through the first two turns. Heim proceeded to lead the next lap and Majeski retained the runner-up spot over Honeycutt while Queen, who was racing within the top-15 mark and within a three-wide battle, scrubbed the outside wall through the first turn, but he continued despite dropping to 23rd in the running order.
Through the Lap 75 mark, Heim was leading by six-tenths of a second over Majeski and by a second over third-place Honeycutt while Enfinger and Gray trailed in the top five ahead of Riggs, Friesen, Hemric, Butcher and Garcia, respectively. While Sutton, Eckes, LaJoie, Lewis and Eatmon occupied top-15 spots ahead of Chandler Smith, Ruggiero, Tyler Ankrum, Sammy Smith and Justin Haley, Heim continued to lead by a second at the Lap 80 mark.
When the second stage period on Lap 90, Heim captured both his second Truck stage victory at Rockingham and the 45th of his career. Majeski claimed the runner-up spot over Honeycutt, Riggs and Enfinger, while Friesen, Hemric, Butcher, Garcia and Sutton, respectively. By then, 22 of 36 starters were on the lead lap. Queen was in 23rd place after losing a lap to the leaders.
During the event’s second stage break period, the lead lap field led by Heim returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Heim retained the lead after exiting pit road first, while teammate Ruggiero, Majeski, teammate Honeycutt, Chandler Smith, Gray, Ankrum, Friesen, Riggs and Enfinger followed suit in the top 10, respectively.
With 102 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as teammates Heim and Ruggiero occupied the front row. At the start, Heim fended off Ruggiero through the first two turns to retain the lead. As Ruggiero fended off Majeski and Honeycutt, starting from the backstretch to the frontstretch, to retain the runner-up spot, Heim led the next lap. Heim stabilized his lead to half a second with 100 laps remaining while Ruggiero, Majeski and Honeycutt followed suit in close pursuit. Meanwhile, Gray outdueled Chandler Smith for fifth place while Enfinger was reeling in Ankrum for seventh place.
Down to the final 90 laps, Heim extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Majeski while TRICON Garage teammates, Ruggiero and Honeycutt, trailed by within three seconds. Gray, Heim’s fourth teammate at TRICON, trailed by five seconds in fifth place. Chandler Smith, Ankrum, Enfinger, Sutton, Riggs, Friesen, Hemric, Garcia, Eckes and Butcher ran in the top 15, respectively.
Fifteen laps later, Heim’s lead stood at three seconds over Majeski while Honeycutt, Ruggiero and Gray trailed by as far back as nearly nine seconds. Amid Heim’s dominance, Hocevar retired from competition due to a drivetrain issue. With Hocevar out of competition, Heim added another second to his lead as he led by four seconds over Majeski with 70 laps remaining while Honeycutt, Ruggiero and Gray retained top-five spots over Chandler Smith, Riggs, Ankrum, Enfinger and Sutton, respectively.
With 60 laps remaining, Heim led Majeski by six seconds while third-place Honeycutt trailed by eight seconds. Meanwhile, Riggs, who overtook Ruggiero for fifth place two laps earlier and was muscling his way to the front, trailed the lead by 13 seconds. Two laps later, Hemric, who dropped to 25th place and was voicing concerns of having a loose wheel, pitted his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST entry under green and lost three laps to the leaders. Amid Hemric’s late issues, Enfinger muscled his way back into the top five in fifth place over Ruggiero, Gray and Chandler Smith while Heim led by nearly six seconds with 50 laps remaining.
Then, with 50 laps remaining, Gray made a green-flag pit stop from the top-10 mark and he lost two laps in the process of pitting early. Teammate Ruggiero then pitted with 41 laps remaining before Sutton, Eckes and runner-up Majeski pitted over the next five laps.
The caution then flew with 35 laps remaining when Michael Christopher Jr. spun in front of Hemric through Turn 2 and entering the backstretch. The caution pinned Gray, Sutton, Eckes and Ruggiero, all of whom pitted two laps behind the leaders. Meanwhile, Majeski, after pitting for only two fresh tires, was pinned a lap down. By then, only seven competitors, including the leader Heim, were on the lead lap. During the latest caution period, the lead lap field led by Heim and including Honeycutt, Riggs, Chandler Smith, Friesen, Enfinger and Ankrum pitted their respective entries for fresh tires and fuel to the scheduled distance.
The start of the next restart, with 28 laps remaining, featured Heim motoring his No. 1 Robinhood Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry ahead from the inside lane through the first two turns. As Honeycutt fended off Enfinger for the runner-up spot, Heim led the next lap and he proceeded to stretch his late advantage to nearly half a second. Heim’s lead stood at four-tenths of a second over teammate Honeycutt with 25 laps remaining. Riggs, Enfinger, Friesen, Chandler Smith, Ankrum, LaJoie and Majeski, all of whom were scored on the lead lap, were racing in the top nine, respectively. Meanwhile, Garcia was the first competitor scored a lap down in 10th place.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Heim stabilized his lead to half a second over teammate Honeycutt. Behind, Riggs trailed by more than a second in third place while Enfinger, Chandler Smith and Friesen trailed in the top-six mark, respectively, by four seconds. Amid Heim’s dominance, Eckes, Sutton, Gray and Ruggiero, all of whom took the wave around to reclaim one of their two lost laps during the previous caution period, were all pinned a lap down while racing from 14th to 17th, respectively.
With 10 laps remaining, Heim, who methodically navigated his way through lapped traffic, slowly increased his advantage up to nine-tenths of a second over teammate Honeycutt while Riggs trailed by two seconds in third place. As Chandler Smith and Enfinger retained the remaining top-five spots over Friesen, Ankrum, LaJoie and Majeski, Heim, who started to have his steady advantage decrease, was leading by only four-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Honeycutt and the No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry.
Then, with four laps remaining, Honeycutt, who reeled in towards Heim’s rear bumper for nearly a full lap, gained a huge run and got to Heim’s bumper through Turns 3 and 4. Honeycutt then tried to make a move to draw alongside Heim’s right side through the frontstretch during the next lap, but Heim fended off the challenge as he proceeded to navigate past his lapped teammate of Ruggiero.
Two laps later, Heim reported a potential issue with his entry. This resulted in him being boxed behind the lapped competitors of Sutton and teammate Gray. Heim’s struggles through Turns 3 and 4, to go along with trying to lap Gray, allowed Honeycutt to use the outside lane as both he and Heim went side-by-side for the lead to start the final lap.
Amid the side-by-side battle, Honeycutt gained a slight advantage from the outside lane before Heim muscled back from the inside lane through Turns 1 and 2. Despite having the preferred outside lane, Honeycutt was boxed behind teammate Gray while also drawn alongside teammate Heim through the backstretch. Honeycutt then appeared to have the momentum by drafting Gray. But by still being boxed in between the wall, Gray, Heim motored back ahead and cleared Honeycutt entering Turn 3. Honeycutt then tried to mount a final challenge on Heim entering the frontstretch, but the former’s challenge was not enough as Heim had enough momentum to claim the checkered flag by 0.090 seconds and win at The Rock for the first time.
With the victory, Heim, a development competitor for 23XI Racing, notched his 25th career win in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series division, which is the fourth-most victories of all-time in the series. He also achieved back-to-back Truck victories in his career for a fourth time as he doubled down from his Darlington Raceway victory two weeks ago by winning at The Rock. By making Rockingham Speedway the 21st venue to which he has won a Truck race, Heim also recorded the first victory for TRICON Garage’s No. 1 Toyota team.
As added bonuses, Heim, who earned $50,000 for winning the first Triple Truck Challenge event at Darlington, received a $100,000 bonus for notching the program’s second bonus at The Rock. This tallied Heim’s current winnings within the program to $150,000.
Heim will drive for TRICON for next Friday’s third and final Triple Truck Challenge event of this season at Bristol Motor Speedway as he attempts to become the first competitor to sweep the program’s three events in a single season. Should Heim achieve this feat, he will pocket a $500,000 payday.
“I didn’t feel like I was pushing any harder than the previous run, so I didn’t feel like it did any more damage to the right front,” Heim said on the frontstretch on FS1. “All of a sudden, the thing was like with four [laps] to go, I had to turn more right down the straightaway to keep it straight and the wheel was clogged like 20 degrees to the right and then, we started to shatter really bad in the corner, so I was like, ‘Oh boy, here we go.’ We’re gonna lose this one in the worst way possible. [I] Hung in there and just had to use a couple of lapped car picks to fend [Honeycutt] off. Respect to Kaden for racing me clean there. I had to do what I had to do at the end.”
“Thank you to Toyota, TRICON [Garage] for having me back again,” Heim added. “I really enjoy doing this. Definitely a stressful ending there, but I got it done. Go for 500k next week. It means a lot. I don’t really think about [the bonus] in the truck, but it’s cool to reflect on it. I think I’d be the first person to sweep all three if I’m able to do it. Lot of motivation for these guys on the No. 1 camp. With Celsius as a primary [sponsor] next week, so I’m super excited about that. Glad that we come here to win with Robinhood today and get their first win.”
As Heim celebrated, teammate Honeycutt was left disappointed on pit road. He ended up 0.090 seconds shy of his first Truck career victory. However, he was also pleased with the run and contending for the victory. And now, he sets his sights on next Friday’s event at Bristol Motor Speedway to bid for the victory.
“That was everything I had, no doubt about that,” Honeycutt said. He added, “Thank you to Safelite and everyone on this No. 11 team. I had a really good truck today,” he continued, “I know Corey was definitely really good today. I finally got the adjustment at the end that I thought I needed and finally got the track position to be behind him and to race him at the end.
“We went down into [Turn] 3 and unfortunately, my teammate [Gray] was right there. It just kind of hindered our way to the finish, but congrats to Corey, the whole No. 1 team, TRICON [Garage]. This organization’s been really, really good the last five weeks and it just shows how good our trucks are…Our time will come. We got plenty of races to go and got a lot of good points today, so that was good. We’ll just keep cutting into that lead and see if we can go for the end of it in the title and win a lot of races this year.”
Layne Riggs, teammate Chandler Smith and Stewart Friesen finished in the top five, but Smith would be disqualified from his fourth-place result due to his entry failing to meet the post-race rear heights requirement. This resulted in him being demoted to the tail end of the results in 36th place. With Smith’s disqualification, Friesen and Grant Enfinger were promoted one spot each to the top-five mark. Tyler Ankrum, Corey LaJoie, Ty Majeski, pole-sitter Jake Garcia and Cole Butcher completed the top 10 in the final running order.
There were six lead changes for four different leaders. The event featured four cautions for 28 laps. In addition, nine of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the fifth event of the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, Kaden Honeycutt leads the standings by 11 points over Layne Riggs, 17 over Chandler Smith, 22 over Ty Majeski and 41 over Giovanni Ruggiero.
*Heim’s Rockingham victory tied him with teammate Kaden Honeycutt for the points lead in the standings. Despite competing for Truck Series points, Heim is ineligible for this year’s series’ Chase battle due to not competing in every scheduled Truck event this season.
Results:
- Corey Heim, 178 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner
- Kaden Honeycutt, one lap led
- Layne Riggs
- Stewart Friesen
- Grant Enfinger, four laps led
- Tyler Ankrum
- Corey LaJoie
- Ty Majeski
- Jake Garcia, one lap down
- Cole Butcher, one lap down
- Sammy Smith, one lap down
- Justin Haley, one lap down
- Christian Eckes, one lap down
- Landen Lewis, one lap down
- Dawson Sutton, one lap down
- Tanner Gray, two laps down, 17 laps led
- Giovanni Ruggiero, two laps down
- Ben Rhodes, two laps down
- Kris Wright, two laps down
- Connor Hall, two laps down
- Luke Baldwin, two laps down
- Ty Dillon, three laps down
- Michael Christopher Jr., three laps down
- Daniel Hemric, three laps down
- Mini Tyrrell, three laps down
- Parker Eatmon, three laps down
- Brenden Queen, four laps down
- Spencer Boyd, five laps down
- Clayton Green, five laps down
- Timmy Hill, six laps down
- Frankie Muniz, eight laps down
- Andres Perez De Lara, 13 laps down
- Caleb Costner, 13 laps down
- Carson Hocevar – OUT, Drivetrain
- Adam Andretti – OUT, Accident
- Chandler Smith – Disqualified
Next on the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee, for the Tennessee Army National Guard 250. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, April 10, and air at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM.
